Six Effective Steps to Achieving a Sapa-Proof Budget

It’s just the beginning of the month but you’ve already finished your salary. I know that feeling. For some of us, before money even enters our accounts, we don spend am finish! 😂

Does sapa show you shege regularly? Trust me, you’re not alone.

Comrade, these are symptoms of budgeting deficiency (lack of having a proper budget) and the only remedy is to pick up the habit of budgeting.

Without big big grammar, a budget is a statement of income and expenses over a future period. So, if you have not done this before or you don’t even know how to, well, don’t feel bad… 

Let me take you through some simple steps you should take to create a sapa repellent budget.

1. Review Past Spending

In preparing your budget, the first thing you should do is to have a mini reflection of your past spending habits. Those impulse purchases, buying things because ‘na only one life you get’ and other habits that have inadvertently led to your encounter with sapa, think about them. 

Do you see how chaotic it is? That is evidence of lack of planning. For an effective sapa-proof budget, you need to look back on how you’ve been spending your money, spot your mistakes and imprint it in your mind that you will not make such mistakes again or elseeeeeeee, it will be you vs sapa.

And trust me, the fight will be bloody!

2. Take Record of Incoming Funds

You need to accurately gather data on all the amounts of money coming into your account.

This means that you should sit down and calculate the sums of money you will get from all your sources of income – no matter the source.

Whether the funds are your salary or a gift from your loved one, write them down. Those of you that have multiple sources of income (bossss🙌🏻🙌🏻), indicate it there.

So far it is money and it is yours to spend, it goes into the ‘what to budget’ file. 

3. Divide Your Income

The mistake people make that causes sapa to always find them is spending their money anyhow – without allocating it. 

If you don’t divide your income and plan what you will spend on what, there is a big chance that you will not maximize your income and you’ll end up spending money on what you don’t need. 

To avoid this, divide your income into parts – expenses, savings, debt (if any) and miscellaneous. Expenses are your day-to-day costs; transportation, feeding, electricity, data, etc. 

Miscellaneous are varying expenses that may come up in future. Even if they don’t come up, it is good to plan for it. Iwo ma dira oo! 

4. Rank Your Expenses and Debt; have a scale of preference

Netflix is not more important than getting groceries or electricity bills. After you have divided your income, rank them from most important to least important so you can settle the important ones first. 

Note that the total of your income may not completely cover your expenses and debt, this is why it is important to rank them so you can settle them before others. 

The same goes for your debt. If your landlord is threatening to throw you out but your car dealer is still giving you the grace of 3 months, pay the most urgent one first. Not that your Netflix subscription will be running and your fridge will be empty. 

Is it Netflix you will eat? 😏

5. Set Spending Goals

After you have determined the most important bills to cover, it is wise to set goals and limits for your spending. 

Your network provider dey drink your data but you will still buy another one when it finishes. Was that in your budget? If not, that is unnecessary spending and it can be avoided if you set spending limits. 

Be faithful to your spending goals and your budget will work out for you. Just make up your mind and say; “this month, I will not finish my money, any unnecessary spending, I will not indulge.”

6. Constantly Review Your Budget

Your journey into achieving an effective anti-sapa budget is not over until you come back to constantly review your budget to see if you have been following it judiciously or to make some adjustments if need be. 

Check for errors and correct them immediately. If a new source of income has come into play, include it. 

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Reviewing it is just to see if there are any updates and if it is working for you. Don’t be like those who will make a budget and forget about it only for them to go back to it and see how wrong they have spent their money.

There is no point in a budget if you don’t plan on following it judiciously. If you don’t follow your budget, sapa will follow you.

So, for 100% protection against sapa, you should create your budget and make sure to follow it. Comrade, always remember, following your budget day after day keeps uncle sapa away.

Have you read THE ARREST OF KONJI?