Christmas is in the air! If you are still in doubt, drive around your city at night and you may be convinced. We all love the feel of the holidays and opportunities to spend time with friends and families. Everyone wants to have a good time and even most employers pay salaries between the 20th and 24th of the December, probably the only month your employer pays you in advance. It is indeed a special season.
But it has been said that January turns out to be the longest month of the year😍, because salary payment returns to the usual date, between 25th and 30th of the month and for some first week of the next month. School fees will be paid early January and a lot of people will have gone on a spending spree during Christmas and New year celebrations.
I will share with you how you can manage money during the festivities and still be financial buoyant till the end of January;
1. Prioritize your expenses: All your expenses are not equal. Your children school fees or house rent is more important than that party in the village or that aso-ebi. List out all expenses due from now till the next pay day and prioritize them. Put an estimate for each expense and find out if you have enough funds for all. Remember to include miscellaneous spends because you will get lots of them this season.
2. Settle the high priority expenses first or put their funding aside (where you will not be tempted to spend it). You can pay your children’s schools fees in December once you get your salary so that you won’t be under any pressure in the first week of January.
3. Plan your giving: It is part of the festivities to give and I encourage you to do so. In fact, that is the whole essence of the season because God gave the world a saviour, Jesus Christ. However, have a plan for your giving. You can list out all those you want to give to and what you want to give them. This helps you to be sure you are not ‘under’ giving some and ‘over’ giving some. If you don’t plan your giving, you may give all you have to the first people you encounter and have nothing left to give to the others later.
4. Make your purchases as early as possible: Remember the laws of demand and supply. A few days to the festivities everyone wants to buy and sellers increase prices because there is a lot of demand. I advise you to buy the things you will be needing as early as possible, possibly this week. You can book your items now and pick them very close to the holidays.
5. Be more logical than emotional: I have realized a lot of people go after promos and end up with items they don’t really need. There are always a thousand and one promos happening this season, be wise to only buy what you need. A lot of marketing tactics are meant to get you to spend emotionally but help yourself by being more logical. Look out for alternatives and avoid wastage.
6. Lastly remember to still enjoy yourself. Make sure you budget something to give yourself and your family a good treat because everyday won’t be Christmas 🤣🤣🤣.
Stay blessed.
