It’s a Monday evening, 9th January 2012 to be specific, it happens to be the day when the university of Nairobi students resume school and as usual, a lot of human traffic can be seen along University way as students rush to town (for shopping) or back to the hostel area. My girlfriend and I set out for town for a similar errand. A drop at Uchumi Supermarket (which is the closest from Lower Statehouse and Mamlaka road) lands us in a store packed with young people who obviously are university students. And as we walk around to pick our items, I notice that most students are closely scrutinizing the prices of commodities before picking and the cheapest priced items win the day. If you are keen enough, you can hear low whispers about which item from a shelf of substitutes should be picked as it costs less.
I hadn’t planned to do any shopping, I had bought what I believed would have been sufficient through the whole semester in the previous year. So roughly, that would cost me ksh 1,000. But when I got to the counter, surprisingly the cashier bill read 1500+. For many people this was the order of the day as I later found, a group of students had to leave some items in a trolley when their shopping cost turned out overly higher than what they had budgeted for. I’m sure there were more victims of this circumstance.
The first day at school usually has time set by friends to do “a lot of catching up”. And in my chat session, we were bitterly arguing about how expensive things have turned out to be! There is a bit of nostalgia of the olden days when goods were favorably priced. As we converse, we come up with a few tips that students should perhaps apply to survive in school. Because first of all, I don’t think the prices will ever drop to what we wish was the case. I gave up on ever shifting to the olden days where ksh. 16 could buy a whole loaf of bread.
Are you one of those students who are almost getting into depression because you simply can’t keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living? Some people have already mastered the game and are to a good extent managing through the economic hardship.
Here are a few things you might want to try to see you through that seemingly long/ broke semester:
Well it is obvious and human to complain whenever we’re pushed to the limit. But don’t you think it is unwise to always spend your time bitterly complaining whenever spending that coin you dearly struggled for? It is time that you as an individual should come up with a tactics on how you will spend smartly. Complaining? Yes we can, but it will not change the situation, no manna miracle will come from it! Figure out viable solutions and adaptation tricks to the situation. It is difficult but with time, you may learn to make the best out of it. Perhaps it is time to practice a few things we’ve always known:
i) When shopping, cut down expenditure and stick to needs for now. Wants can wait. Also it beats logic to buy a collection of the same things for purpose of diversity in your room when you know you don’t need them.
ii) Buy in bulk as opposed to buying small quantities of an item whenever it runs out. This depends on your current cash inflow available for expenditure. You do not want to spend all you have to buy items in bulk and end up with no money for emergency/day to day needs. For instance, it is better to buy 2 kg packet of sugar as opposed to 1 kg which may not last you the entire semester.
iii) Learn to economize the little you got, or it is time to apply opportunity cost. If you have been taking 3 spoons of sugar in you tea for instance, how about you cut it down to 2? Or if you drink too much tea in a day then maybe it is time to slow down on the cups you hit? How about the cologne or perfume you use? Can you reduce the quantity you wear if you think it’s a little too much?
iv) For snack lovers, it is time to change the snack types. Cereals and carbs have become expensive. And again, some of these snacks we buy are not very healthy to our bodies. How about you decide to snack more on fruits from the local vendors if you really must snack? A visit to some of the open markets like Muthurwa, Toy and Gikomba can enable you to buy fruits supply for a week at an affordable cost. They are healthy and good compared to puffing up on starchy snacks.
2. Avoid Idleness. This sounds awkward as a university is a place where people come to learn. There are students who always seem to have more free time than their fellows. That is not a problem; the problem arises on how you decide to spend this “free time”. Did you know that when you have nothing constructive planned for your day, especially over weekend; you may end up sitting around and misusing your cash on unnecessary items. You may even do more meals in a day than you need when you are idle. If you having nothing better to do indoors, how about you spend some hours volunteering at a children’s’ home, or engage in sport activity or choir singing. Campus always has a lot of activities going on over the weekend; both constructive and destructive. You can also decide to do some part time work such as tutoring primary/high school students at a small fee and make some income for yourself, after all you need it, or you could apply your talents and skills to do freelance work over the weekend. Find out what is available for you to engage besides your co-work. 3. Change your lifestyle. There are various categories and clicks of based on their lifestyles. Is your lifestyle making you dig too deep into your pocket? Is it making you lead a reckless life? Are you comfortable with your spending habit? I went through a workshop on financial literacy where the core message passed across was “Spending Differently = Savings”. How we spend now affects what the future holds for us, for some of us, that future is now! Weekends at my university begin on Friday (of course not for everyone) and can go all through to Monday morning for some people. Meet the party freaks that can party all weekend, and even forget that an assignment was due Monday morning. We also have shopaholics who will always want to shop every other day. There are alcoholics (I’d call them drunkards) who drink their heads off and get severe hangovers come a new week. It is not easy to change an adult’s lifestyle, but you need to know as an individual that you may not have the grounds to complain about the tough economic times owing to your lifestyle.
4. Don’t play the host always to Friends. This might seem as a bad idea. No one wants to appear selfish to their friends. But when the economy proves harder than you can imagine, it calls for action. Hosting our friends and catching up as we sip coffee or snack, or prepare meals and eat together can be fabulous. But remember, you need to live through the semester. Don’t stop hosting your buddies, but if you do it too often perhaps it is time to reduce the frequency. And don’t always be the one to host your friend, let it be a tit-for-tat is a fair game scenario; I host you today and you host me tomorrow. That way, you share costs and you will not eat into your budget more than you can handle.
5. Eat Healthy. The fact that the economy is not favorable doesn’t mean you should starve yourself. Did you know that serious studying consumes so much of your energy? And for that brain surgery you take your brain through every day, it needs a reward, by ensuring that you are healthy and strong. Imagine taking a decision to stop having your meals when you need them just because you want to save an extra coin and then later, you end up with nutrition complications forcing you to seek medical care. You may then probably spend more money than you saved while not eating. Who ends up the looser?
No comments:
Post a Comment