Christmas and New Year festivities come with the usual demands and spending with most people over shooting their budgets in the spirit of the season and promising to be more careful next year, however, they end up repeating the same mistake, PAUL OKAH reports.
How often do you see people selling their mobile phones or gadgets in the village to raise money for beer or transportation to return to base, after spending more than they budgeted during yuletide?
It happens every year, with culprits promising to take precautions but often fall as they try extra hard to foot the bills of family members or even buy extra drinks for friends in the spirit of Christmas.
For many people, the Christmas and New Year festivities are the best times of the year. The preparation and frenzy is usually contentious with shopping and travelling plans being put in place.
One of the mistakes people make every year is insisting on travelling home during yuletide, even when they are not financially buoyant, but succumbing to pressure.
It is common knowledge that transportation fares skyrocket with as much 100 per cent increment during festivities hence commuters are forced to spend more than they budgeted on fares alone, even as extra charges are imposed on travellers with luggage.
Flowing with the tide
This is an age long mistake people make as many spend more than they budgeted for yuletide by trying to belong and showing off. For some it is in form of buying drinks for people they meet at beer parlours in the spirit of the season.
In a chat with Blueprint Weekend an Eboniy-based entrepreneur Okpani Blessing Isu said many Nigerians go borrowing to please a few friends during yuletide, but live to regret it.
“People tend to overdo things in the village during yuletide, thereby spending their last card just to give the impression that they also belong or better off. In fact, many persons use their transportation and later try selling off their phones or bed and go borrowing to save up transport. What a shame, trying to spend more than you can afford, just to please others!
“Regrettably, every Christmas, people do that, repeating year old mistakes. That’s one mistake I know people always make. Spending more than budgeted is even okay.
“Like I said, people empty their accounts just for Christmas and also go borrowing. The borrowing has also caused problems between friends as they spend any money in their care just to please people.
“As to spending on women or trying to meet the endless demands of women, women respect that man that is firm. Not really firm when it comes to her but to everything. Not when you are firm to her then you will be loose to other type of spending. Carbonated drinks like Pepsi and Lacasera still foam like champagne when shaken, so spend according to your pocket, not to impress people,” she said.
Poor planning
Unfortunately, many people return from the village to face the possibility of eviction from their homes due to expired house rents as they often spend more than they budgeted.
It is common to see people who just returned from the holidays scouting for new accommodations and others being chased out of their old apartments due to either inability to renew or looking to cut costs.
Speaking with our correspondent a civil servant Mr Musa Yusuf said lack of planning is one of the reasons people plunge themselves into debt at the turn of every year.
He said: “Things like school fees, house rent, child birth bills are not things that can be called emergencies. For instance, if you live in a house, your last payment determines when your rent will expire and when your next rent will be due. So, you are expected to start saving immediately after your last payment.
“Be that as it may, I usually laugh when people complain of facing accommodation challenges every year as a result of spending all their money in celebration of Christmas, which is usually a day affair.
“It makes no sense to spend all your year’s savings in a few days then start facing accommodation issues. People should be very wise while spending especially as the economy is no longer favourable to many businesses in the Nigeria of today.”
Similarly, a journalist Mr Collins Yakubu, in a chat with Blueprint Weekend, urged Nigerians to guard against overspending during the yuletide as the consequences were usually far reaching.
“Christmas is only one day, don’t kill yourself. The children that demand expensive clothes for Christmas will be the same children who need school fees in January.
“The very friends you spend money on are the same friends who will be laughing at you while your children are at home when their mates return to school. Enjoy responsibly. Don’t get too excited, Christmas is only one day.
“Spend with future in mind. Don’t compare yourself with anyone. Enjoy according to what you have. If you don’t control your budget, January will have 60 days for you. Don’t try to be a good parent for one day while you have failed for a year. Do the best for those who really need it. Spend responsibly.”
Double January
January is always difficult for many as a result of many people not receiving salaries until the end of the month as they go through the weeks by borrowing from friends and family members while awaiting salaries.
Often, the salaries are delayed for one reason or the other, thereby leading to frosty relationships, altercations between friends and family members as a result of unfulfilled promises.
On the other hand, those that are into business often experience slow business as a result of people not buying much things due to lack of money, having spent so much during the festivities.
Also, factory workers often resume late at work, leading to some companies laying off staff for late resumption, while others have to search for new jobs and start life afresh.
Discipline as panacea
Speaking to our correspondents, the Chairman of Amaka Chiwuike-Uba Foundation (ACUF), Dr Chiwuike Uba, said that discipline and proper budgeting would rescue people from the yearly mistake of overspending every Yuletide.
He said: “Christmas, no doubt, is a period of celebration and it comes with so much pressure to spend. Truthfully, by experience, it is evident that a lot of people make extra cash during Christmas. How this happens is something I do not have the explanations for.
“Unfortunately, in the euphoria of the Christmas celebration or rather in a bid to belong, many of us, year in, year out, end up spending all our savings during Christmas. What a world!
“As I stated above, the major reason for over-spending is our quest to belong. Most of us do not want to be seen as not doing well or not belonging to the happening clique. Some go as far as borrowing to achieve the fretting and soon-to-be realised painful (mis)adventure. Most of us are like Nigeria. We increase our consumption every Christmas even when our revenue is shrinking.
“To address this problem requires budgeting anchored on real planning. There is no idle fund. Any money that is not allocated or used for something will always end up being spent, one way or the other. Therefore, I advise people to articulate and write down all their accrued and expected bills before, during and after Christmas.
“These expenses include the children’s school fees, house rents, food items needed in the house for at least 2-3months after Christmas, some money for emergencies, etc.
“Let me say this: it is not enough to write them down (budget), it is important to make the needed payments for the items listed and keep the money for the emergency somewhere else. Christmas purchases/spending can only commence after the settlement of the bills identified.
“The truth is that almost all the festive spending creates significant waste and causes more sicknesses afterward. Some gifts are significantly unwanted and unappreciated by even those you give them to. Such wastes come at huge costs to the family’s budgets and should be discouraged.”
