CULTIVATING A SAVINGS HABIT IS KEY TO COPING WITH UNEXPECTED EXPENSES

over 2 years ago

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog at this hour. The first thing that comes to mind when we get our paycheck is to pay off every bills and sometimes we have some amount of money leftover. In a blink of an eye we tend to suddenly grow a long list of things we need to buy or pay for and oftentimes we do not hesitate - we give in. In your mind you'd be giving yourself accolades for at least sorting out the most important bills out first and it'd not be a bad idea to give yourself a good treat. Right? Then you starting thinking of buying that bag you have had an eye on for a while or even deciding to get a new phone, afterall you have been tired of the present one or even decide to go on a trip to cool down. Hmm. These are the thoughts that comes first to mind rather than saving or investing. Well, sit back, relax and enjoy all that I have packaged for your reading pleasure.

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So, life happens after you had "squander" your leftover on things that you do not need and you start to ask yourself how people successfully have a backup - savings. It takes time, self discipline and persistence to have a successful saving habit. It takes a continuous commitment to not spend beyond your means to always have some money saved for unexpected circumstances. Apart from this, you should always think beyond the present moment and think about the occurrences that can happen in the future that you didn't plan for. At a particular moment, some amount of money may seem best to be spent but you constantly need to think about what tomorrow or the day after tomorrow will offer before spending it on unnecessary things.

If you are of the school of thought that "you will enjoy yourself today and tomorrow will sort itself out", then you may be far from a successful saver because you are not thinking ahead. Speaking about thinking ahead, you must set specific financial goals and targets that you must not default. These goals are tailored towards solving your financial issues that arise (unexpectedly) in the future. These goals can be achieved by inculcating it into your daily, weekly or monthly budget just the way you have a constant budget for internet subscription, cable subscription, groceries and so on. This way you will be faithful and not spend unnecessarily on the things that you do not need. Well, it is not enough to create goals and targets but being consistent is also important.

Consistency is key to being a successful saver. It is not going to be effective if you save this week or month and you skip the other and like that like that. There must be consistency in your saving routine. You must develop the ability to stick with your plan for a long time if you want to be successful and also to make changes when need be especially when you get a pay raise or there is another stream of income. You must not necessarily increase your spending just because your income have increased.

All contents are originally written by me, @williams-owb

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Williams Oluseyi is a Linguist by discipline from one Africa's Most Prestigious Citadel of Learning, Obafemi Awolowo University. He developed interest for blogging at very early stage which motivated him to study English Language in College. He is a prolific writer, an inquisitive and judicious reader, to say the least. To get his daily bread, he is currently working in a Logistics company in Nigeria.