Someone talked about small drops of water from a tap that eventually got a bucket filled overnight. I call it the principle of droplets. A little naira here, a little kobo there, you are loosing money. You see banks posting profits in billions, those billions are actually from the 1naira, 5naira, 50kobo from you. You can achieve transformation in your finance by using the principle of droplets to your advantage.

1. Use your Bank ATM (Automatic Teller Machine): It is no longer news that banks will charge certain amount from the transactions on their ATM with another bank’s debit card after a number of transactions. You should plan your withdrawals such that you don’t have to keep running to ATMs, use your bank’s ATM machine as much as you can and don’t use other bank’s machine more than the stipulated time.

2. Go for quality products: You are actually not saving money when you go for cheap products that will soon loose its worth. Consider the effectiveness of what you are buying and go for it even if you have to pay more. It is better to pay a little more for a product that will last long than buying a product whose durability cannot be guaranteed at a lesser price.

3. Ask for the best deals: Don’t be deceived, everything is negotiable including bread and school fees. We grew up to believe that certain things are not negotiable, nothing can be more untrue. Ask for the boss and negotiate. Many discount deals are usually not publicized. A man got a huge rebate on the fees of his children in a tertiary institution by simply asking to see the bursar and got the fees discounted since he is paying for more than two children.

4. Plan your buying: Be a smart buyologist. You will save some money when you plan what you need to buy. Buy in bulk from the major markets instead of running around your street when you suddenly remember you need to get an item. For example, buying 10 bulbs of onions from a neighborhood market will save you some money than buying 1 bulb of onion from the shops on your street.

5. Cut on utilities: It will amaze you how much you can save by cutting on unnecessary phone conversations. Talk is actually not cheap, most times, you are either wasting time or wasting money. Nigeria is one of the highest spenders on recharge cards in the whole world! Drop the call as soon as you’ve passed the message, do a text if it will be cheaper to do so. Switch off the light if you are not using it at the moment, switch of the generator if there isn’t any need putting it on.
6. Budget: Prepare a budget that capture your monthly, weekly and daily spending. Organise your spending including giving so much that if a spending is not captured in your budget, it has to wait and of course, avoid budget padding. If its such an emergency, prepare a supplementary budget and record your expenditures. If impulsive spending will land you anywhere, it will either land you in debt or make a begger of you.

7. Avoid debts: Why buy what you don’t need on credit? Buying anything on credit is running on a negative account. If you have to borrow, it should be on something that has the capacity to pay for itself e.g business and then you can apply the principle of “borrow not a few”.

8. Automate your saving plan: You’ve heard about paying yourself first i.e saving first before spending. But truth be told, this may not be easy! As a way forward, walk to your bank and make a standing order that certain percentage of your income be automatically debitted into a dedicated savings account. You can also set limits to how much can be withdrawn from your account in a month.

9. Don’t go if going is not very important: If you track your finance, it will shock you how much you can save by avoiding unnecessary trips and moving up and down hopping motorbikes, cabs or burning fuel. If it’s not important, don’t bother going.

10. Avoid get rich quick schemes: Many of them are traps to make you loose money. Check all the ponzi schemes, they have one thing in common, they sound too good to be true. Thats enough reason why you should run. And if you look closely enough, you will notice that these schemes change the rules in the middle of the game.

A very Happy New Year to you.

source: http://www.loftycentre.com/?p=409#more-409

On point.

A savings culture is great

one Origin lager for you. okaree

Thanks, very interesting!

Very insightful!


That point number 10, especially, our youths really need to take heed to it.

Ponzi schemes has been killing our youths' creativity and ability.

austinereds:
one Origin lager for you. okaree

Thank you but I only take origin zero

austinereds:
one Origin lager for you. okaree

Thank you but I only take origin zero

This is sure to the point.
An average Nigerian remains poor because of lack of knowledge.

Lalasticlala Mynd44

At least there is something the "I don't give a f**kc crew must give a f**kc about if they still want to be able to buy data