Nairobi News

It’s a difficult financial year for many in Kenya. Kenyans are feeling the pinch of spending each coin from their pocket following inflation, new and increased taxes. Commodities are super expensive and they run out much faster. Homes have to make due with smaller, inadequate supplies to cater for the entire family as businesses count losses on steeply decreased purchasing power. All this, and salaries and profits remain either unchanged or reduced.

So how can one save money in this hustler economy? How can one stretch their salaries to cater for an entire family without having to turn to money lending apps, shylocks and asking for friendly loans from friends or the bank? They can live by money saving rules and Nairobi News will list the top seven that are easier to maintain.

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1. 50-30-20 rules- A person can budget how their income will be spent. Once an income hits the account, 50% of it should be allocated to taking care of needs such as paying bills and taking care of all the household expenses. 30% of the salary should go towards what you want to do and 20% should go into savings accounts. Choose to remain non-negotiable on the limits, especially on your savings.
2. You can build an emergency fund which will see you save at least six months worth of your living expenses. This money will see you through unexpected events such as job loss or health issues.
3. Automate your income division. Set up direct transfers to various accounts in order to separate your money. You will know which account to turn to for savings and investments, which one for current expenses and which one to enjoy life on.
4. Bulk buying and meal planning- As opposed to buying food stuff daily, choose to buy raw food in bulk such as cereals. For perishable foods, buy in bulk and meal plan. Cook the food and freeze it. This will prevent you from having to order food or go out to restaurants; as well as reduce food wastage.
5. No spending challenges- Set up days, weeks or months in which you will purpose to not spend money on unnecessary purchases, and if you have to spend, you won’t go past a pre-set limit.
6. Do-It-Yourself- You don’t have to send for the home cleaning services, you don’t have to call a carpenter to fix your loose cabinet door and you don’t need to order Lyonnaise potatoes from the deli. You can do all this by yourself at home. You should consider handling these tasks yourself instead of spending money, time and energy to get other people to do them for you as you simply scroll on your phone or watch from the side.
7. Cancel unnecessary unused subscriptions- You don’t need that premium access to certain social media pages, if you work longer than 9-5, then subscriptions to streaming sites will be unnecessary during the week and only good for utmost 5 hours over a weekend. Either review your need/want for these subscriptions including to gyms, magazines and apps or cancel them altogether if you no longer have the time or energy to use them.
8. Saving challenges- Join in on savings challenges, the bigger the number of participants, the motivated you will be. The most popular one is the 52-week saving challenge. This will encourage you to save and purpose that money for something at the end/beginning of the year.