Manage Your Money Like a Pro: How some students are managing their finances
Favour Etinosa
Nigerian students face many challenges, especially financial ones. There’s always something taking money out of your bank account, whether it is an expensive textbook, a weekly data subscription, or an outrageous hike in transport fares.
This can be frustrating if you depend on a fixed allowance from your guardians that hardly covers your bills. Moreover, since school life is probably your first experience managing money, you might spend more than you bargained for.
Still, some students can manage their funds efficiently and set aside a reasonable percentage for emergencies without punishing themselves. We interviewed these students and gathered a list of seven life-saving hacks to help you manage your money like a boss. If this piques your interest, stick around.
1. Emotions should not Control Your Spending
Impulsive buying involves purchasing items without prior thought and on the spur of the moment. It means spending your funds haphazardly on things you don’t need but find irresistible, like expensive jewellery or clothing. Mental health experts concur that emotional triggers cause spontaneous spending, which leaves victims full of regret and low on cash. This is summed up in the Swedish proverb “he who buys what he does not need steals from himself.”
If this is an issue you struggle with, inform someone you trust. Observe the moods that trigger this activity and learn to handle them through other rewarding activities—for example, taking a walk, engaging in sports, or conversing with a close friend.
Remember to delay the purchase for at least 24 hours to determine if your desire for the commodity dwindles with time. Also, make spending carelessly unattainable by going out with a limited amount of cash or without your ATM card until you can control this urge.
2. Don’t Shop Without a Budget
Budgeting involves incorporating a scale of preferences into your spending. John C. Maxwell defined it as “telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” Whenever you receive a fresh cash inflow, draft a list of needs requiring immediate attention. Food and data subscriptions would be at the top of that list, but a gym membership or Netflix subscription might not.
After every shopping spree, observe if you overspent or adhered to your budget. Doing this can detect unnecessary indulgences and exclude them from your expenditure.
3. Invest in Your Cooking Skills
At the top of our daily needs sits our craving for tasty meals. Satisfying this desire is virtually effortless, thanks to the many eateries on and off campus. Snacks, drinks, and exotic dishes are the tummy’s delight but your pocket’s biggest enemy. To win this saving game, you’ll need to spend less time eating out and more time in the kitchen.
Investing in your cooking abilities is an excellent way to feed yourself and satisfy your sweet tooth. YouTube is a perfect platform for anyone eager to improve their culinary skills. With channels like Zeelicious Foods and Onga Nigeria, you can learn to cook your favourite meals through simple recipes within your budget and schedule.
4. Don’t Be Scared to Negotiate
Nigerians call this “pricing.” Negotiating with retailers is a valuable skill to learn if you want to spend within a budget and save money.
If you’re new to negotiating, here are a few tricks to remember: Never feel pressured to settle for the initial price of an item, especially when you know you can purchase it at a cheaper rate at another establishment. Instead, be friendly and polite with the seller while stating the amount that works for you.
Also, feel free to wave that cash around subtly. If retailers can see that you’re financially ready to buy, they’ll compromise. Finally, use the tested “walk-away” method, which displays less interest in the seller’s product, as they might agree to your terms if you don’t appear too desperate.
5. Steer Clear of Expensive Relationships
These sorts of entanglements could be romantic or platonic. Unfortunately, many students have overspent themselves to impress a love interest or please a needy friend. While expressing your affection through gifts is commendable, this is something you should pursue with caution as a student who depends solely on allowances.
If you must date, go for someone more considerate of your financial situation or a partner who doesn’t feel too entitled to your savings. Only give gifts when you feel financially buoyant enough and not due to pressure or fear of rejection. Plus, feel free to turn down that friend who never repays your loan or fails to pay it back on time.
Ensure that you act in your interests, remembering that these folks would likely do the same if they were in your shoes.
6. Have Fun…but cheaply
With the deplorable state of the nation and university life, it is crucial to relax regularly with entertainment. Though heading to Ventura to watch a movie would be incredibly interesting, at the end of the day, you’d discover you wasted money and had less fun than you’d hoped.
You also want to save your limited data plan for research instead of streaming movies or scrolling through TikTok. The solution? Have fun, but stay within your budget.
Swimming, for instance, is a sport you and your friends will enjoy during your leisure hours. The University of Ibadan’s pool is 500 naira for students who can prove their identity with school ID cards. You can also engage in other sporting activities on campus or read novels online for free. These activities keep you fit, improve your focus, and heighten your knowledge of various topics while saving you money.
7. Learn a Skill and Make Some Money
Who says you have to wait for a monthly allowance? By earning money, you have enough to cater to your needs as you save the stipend your guardians would usually give you.
There are numerous lucrative skills you can learn online for free. These will be useful when you hunt for remote job opportunities that won’t negatively affect your studies.
For instance, YouTube channels like Hubspot Academy and Ahrefs provide detailed resources for anyone eager to learn web content writing. Their tutorials teach SEO best practices, link building, and other vital skills needed to succeed in the freelance writing industry, and they’re all free! Other marketable skills you can learn are web design, data analytics, graphics design, video editing, and many others.
Once you’ve empowered yourself with marketable skills, you can source clients on platforms like LinkedIn, Upwork, or Fiverr. This will provide you with a stable source of income.
Final Thoughts
Being a student shouldn’t be synonymous with being broke. You can take charge of your financial situation by focusing on what is pivotal at a given time. Be realistic about the purchasing power of your available funds and spend within a budget. Johann Wolfgang says that “many people take no care of their money till they come nearly to the end of it”— Don’t let this be you!
Students like Favour Lucy Aya, Ekighawogho Benson-Osagie, and Olorunfemi Prosperity live above this narrative by spending wisely, living on a budget, and acquiring lucrative skills. Via these simple hacks, you can join this league and become a pro at managing your money.
