If these past two or so years has taught me something, it’s better managing my cash. Budgeting is a very necessary skill to master and the earlier you have it figured out, the better.
It’s not rocket science but at the same time there’s a lot of us out here who are not really versant with the ins and out of managing our finances well. If you fall in to this category, which we all have at some point of our lives, usikuwe na wass. It’s a continuous learning process which can always be improved.
On the fourth episode of ‘Why Don’t We Know This’ we delve into budgeting. Which BTW, ebu m-watch hiyo episode hapa so you can better catch my drift.
To show you I haven’t always been on top of my game with finances, let me muse you with this ka storo of how admin mastered the art of budgeting… Ulimwengu ilinifunza wasee.
Circa 2010 when man dem joined uni. I was in a gichagi high school so let me tell you how pumped I was to be back in the cirry, with all the independence in the world. There I was, with my few belongings all settled in my tiny bedsitter, making new friends and being reunited with some old ones aka Sospeter and Wafula (yaani hawa tumefwatana for years and years. Fate has a way of always bringing us together).
Wazazi walikuwa wanajua wamesort their very responsible boy child with two month’s rent and pocket money enough to get me through that first month. The first three or so weeks of uni went smoothly… Until someone ingizad me box and I entered some pyramid scheme. Tafadhali don’t judge me. I was kidogo naïve and was looking to make an extra buck so why not? Heh!
Doh ya rent sijui nikapuuzwa aje and I gave it up knowing that by the end of that first month I would have made the cash back plus a little something extra on top. Let me tell you Maina that was the beginning of the end. I was also down to my last scrapes of the pocket money I had so now I was really just surviving. I think that was the first test of budgeting my cash I had to master. As much as kibandaski and co. came through when it came to meals, I really was down to my last few hundreds of shillings.
Then came the end of the month and rent was due… Hapa ndio kulikuwa na matata. There was no way I was going to tell my folks that I had lost the cash they gave me. Wajameni I was not even a month old in uni. That was not an option. Admin had to find other means of surviving and I had to crash at Wafula’s place for a month. So I moved with my few belongings and cramped up his already tiny studio for that month. I had to give a very silly excuse to the landlord as to why I had to move out and of course he was not at all amused.
I have never told my paroz this story because one, the hembarassment and two, it was honestly just plain irresponsible of me. I thought I could make cash appear out of nowhere and that’s not how the world works. If I better managed my cash I would be comfortable enough to know how to allocate it and make it last for as long as it was supposed to. You live and you learn though. It’s safe to say that from that incident, I never missed a beat when it came to budgeting. I always made sure I sorted bills and important expenses and what was left I could play around with kidogo.
Guys, when I tell you me, Sospeter and Wafula are thick as thieves, believe it. Sitawashow but I get emoshono every time I think about these guys for real… Day ones!
Over & Out,
The Witty Banker.
