Festive season is a period of celebration with lot of sentimental attachment, each person being grateful to their creator for the privilege of seeing the end of the year. As humans one of the many ways we usually use to ensure our appreciation is known is to celebrate the festivity with lot of goodies depending on the level of spirituality of the household. Showing of gratitude can come in many ways such as sharing of gifts to the needy , celebrating among family and friends, which ever way that is chosen there will definitely be the need to spend a sizable amount of money.
In the mood of celebration, the amount spent does not really matter to many people, they believe no amount spent is too much to show their appreciation. While there are others whose reason for spending during the festivity season has nothing to do with showing of appreciation, it is just all about having fun with family and friends. It is quite obvious that each individual have different financial capacity, which means an amount I would spend and feel I have over-spent might just be the beginning for another individual which is why it is advisable to always spend according to what you have but not everyone gets this memo, I mean you can't really dictate to anyone how they choose to spend their money.
The same applies to me, I came home early this month to celebrate Christmas with my family, since it is a collective celebration my input in the resources needed for purchasing necessary items for the celebration is limited. Not just that, I'm currently a corp member which puts me in the category of a salary earner. For anyone with close relation with a reasonable salary earner would know our set of habits when it comes to spending. For a salary earner it doesn't really matter if it is Christmas or festive period, if you spend beyond what can afford then for the coming month you will have to go through series of inconveniences before the next month pay comes in. I needed No one to remind me of this, it is like a blue print in my brain and an attitude I have cultivated over time.
Everything was going smoothly while I keep my eyes off flashy goodies with "Come and purchase me" vibes. We are all aware of the fact that during festive period there are always lot of luxurious items in display. As times goes on, few days ago I noticed my salary for December was paid, it is quite strange how my brain reacted, suddenly my brain received a new memo that says "Christmas don set", it was really an unusual feeling and it took me few minutes to reconfigure my mind and remind myself of the importance of maintaining my spending habit. It is quite funny how the festive period only last for few weeks and we all forget about what comes after, it is not as if after the festive period life will suddenly pause or we would all receive some kind of spending accolades from the government.
To ensure I do not forfeit the salary meant to cover my expenses for January, I did what I'm good at. I transferred the money to my piggyvest account. Piggyvest is an App meant to assist people in controlling their finances and enhance saving habits. It has lot of features but the one I love the most is "Safe lock" this feature allows you to lock your money for specific time you would set in the app and you will be given an upfront interest. Nothing on earth can break out that money, even if you sue piggyvest because there is already an agreement you have to acknowledge before the lock is successful. It is a set of rules guiding the conduct of the safe lock feature on piggyvest, which means until the due date for the amount of money you have locked piggyvest is in control of the money.
There are other saving features in the app but safe lock happens to be one with the toughest saving conditions. I have been using this app for years and it seems like it will be saving me from making impulsive financial decisions. So even if the thought of going overboard with my spending suddenly pops up in my head, I have very limited amount of money in my account to do so.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Check your finances" in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
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