Maybe you feel like you’re at a dangerous place with your finances.
You’re always broke. Even though you receive money regularly whether from your stipends or salary, you just feel like that money is never enough.
You’re actually not alone.
Many many people have issues with balancing their finances and find themselves living from paycheck to paycheck— spending all their current income, waiting for the next one and even acquiring debt on the way.
This post is for you if:
You always have a tight budget and never have enough for your ‘unexpected expenses’.
Your friends are already avoiding you because you are always looking for money to borrow.
Your salary cannot spend a day in your account because of all the debt you have to pay off.
You’re always anxious when you think about the things you need because you know you just can’t afford them.
You cannot enter any shop to check things out even though you see ‘SALE’ at the entrance.
You open your bank app and the numbers there are scary.
Then there’s that feeling of anxiety about what you can afford to spend money on.
You promised yourself to change after last month when you were buying all sorts of things to keep up with your friends’ lifestyle. You remember the time when all the ‘investment’ you made in some business you knew nothing about went down— they promised to double your capital and pay you triple every month.
Anyways, there’s still hope for you. It’s just three tips today:
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Be conscious of how you spend money: It may seem this advice has gone around so much but some people still don’t know how to manage their finances.
Do you know exactly how much you receive every month? Do you think about and calculate your recurrent expenses– rent, giving, saving, phone bills, groceries (food stuff)?
Or do you just take money out of your bank account as expenses arise. Just sit down now and write out everything you earn and do an estimate of what you spend on.
Rule 1: Your expenses must not be more than your income.
Next step: You need to decide to cut your spendings, increase your income or do both.
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Cut your spending: For this step, you will have to be humble and try not to live like a baller at least till you get out of the reds.
Think of all the ways you’ve been living beyond your means– staying in an expensive apartment, using taxis indiscriminately, buying the most expensive clothes and shoes, eating out and trying out all the expensive restaurants in the city, lending money out without even thinking.
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Increase your income: If you have time on your hands or skills, then you can immediately start earning some extra money to improve your living standards and get money to save (as some sort of security) for the future.
Money will not suddenly appear at your doorsteps so you must be willing to do the work…
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Find a job: Find out what the ‘serious’ people around you are doing. That’s part of being an adult. Negotiate to get a raise at the job you currently do– offer more hours or bank on the time and experience you’ve gathered there to boldly ask for a higher pay.
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Monetise a hobby: You can literally make money off anything these days, especially if you are hardworking and dedicated. Don’t be afraid to start small. Make some research and start asking questions about how you can convert some of your interests to salaries.
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Pay your debt: This looks counterintuitive but trust us, you need some control over your life. Once you have some extra money coming in, approach your debtors like a boss and make a plan to pay it all off so you can breathe and stop avoiding people.
Like we already said, it’s never too early or too late to transform your mindset about money and be in charge of your finances. Start today.
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