COUNTING MY COST FOR THE SEASON

Spending has never been my strong point, I only spend when I deem it necessary. It doesn't matter how much I am spending, as long as I deem it necessary I spend it. There's however one thing I'm good at, and that is planning. Since spending isn't my strong point, I like to plan what I would do with whatever money comes to me. So even when I plan to save, in my head that money has been spent on saving, and by the time I have done everything I wish to do with money, I say I no longer have money because in my reality there's nothing to spend on and whatever needs to be spent on, would wait in line for my next spending schedule.

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Since I would be celebrating Christmas by myself, it's okay to say I wouldn't be spending much, and everything I would be spending wouldn't just take me through Christmas itself, but also take me through the next month to a large extent. I already listed out important things I would be spending on this Christmas season and they include; data, family, foodstuffs, transportation logistics for Christmas, and of course my transportation to work in January. I have also planned for what I would do if I get more than expected for Christmas and would be to travel home. But apart from that I'm probably cool.

Now this is where my bad spending habit comes in. I spend to my last zero, and that includes savings which I would be doing when I said I would spend on my next month's activities. This habit is something I've grown up with over time, so often when I say I don't have money, it's not that there's no cash per se, but I don't just have the money my brain is ready to spend at that point. In the process of my spending, I can readjust my budget anytime if I probably need to give out money to someone who needs it more than what I am going to be using it for. But then again once I have hope of getting new funds I might end up touching the money I have decided to spend on saving.

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Yesterday, for example, when I was coming from work I saw I was expecting some money, and for that reason decided to touch the money I had already spent on my transportation to work next week. I was craving Market Square bread (one of the richest and sweetest Bread in Nigeria) knowing I was expecting money, I went ahead to first withdraw all the money I had stocked up after sending someone some money from it too (because I was expecting). To instill a little form of discipline in myself, I withdrew all the money so I wouldn't be tempted to send money to anyone again. But that didn't stop me from buying what I was craving 😂.

I wasn't surprised some hours later when a friend called me asking for financial assistance, I had to turn her down because truly I was no longer having anything in my savings account to send to her. And just like what I did there, I would be withdrawing all the money I hope to spend and sending the one I plan to spend on saving to an account I can't transfer with. This is necessary so that I don't end up injuring myself and become the one who needs help after helping others.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 92 EPISODE 2