10 ways to waste your money this weekend

In this period of economic recession and nationwide belt tightening, it goes without saying that excesses are expected to be curbed.

As the weekend begins, it’s imperative to be conscious of your finances as it can be very easy to get carried away… and just splurge.

TheCable Lifestyle will do you a solid and bring certain things to your attention to help you be more careful and less of a spendthrift.

Why go out and pay N5,000 for a plate of rice that will leave you unsatisfied when you have a perfectly functional cooker at home?

If you decide to stay at home and cook, you would only spend about 20% of what you would spend eating outside.

Everyone loves to let loose every now and then, but when you start paying N50,000 for a bottle, you’re driving yourself into financial instability without even realising.

Why not buy your own booze for a fraction of that and relax with the boys over football consoles.

Paying with cards are great but you’re less conscious of your spending as oppossed to when paying with physical cash.

So before you go out (with a purpose), prepare your budget and make sure you use cash to pay.

Weekends can get boring when you have nowhere to go and nothing to do.

People start out window shopping just to feed their eyes but you won’t realise when you start “adding to cart” and before you know it, you’ve expended your whole month’s salary.

When you’re hungry, you literally want to eat everything!

So when you’re walking through the food section at the shopping mall, be rest assured that your basket or cart would be fuller than what it would have been if you weren’t hungry.

Hence, eat before going shopping for edibles.

Sometimes we forget change, other times we consciously leave change because we feel like it’s a small amount.

But tiny drops of water make an ocean and that’s your hard earned money.

Except you’re a billionaire or a trust fund kid, you have no reason to leave change behind this weekend.

Some people are born with the gift of bargaining.

Nigerian mothers can beat down an item of N10,000 to N1,000 within the blink of an eye while others simply flash cash at the buyer or service provider.

Most people are ignorant of how bargaining works so they fall prey to cunning businessmen and women of course.

Weekends are most people’s relaxation period because of how tedious work can get.

So it’s easy to leave everything plugged-in which will run your electricity bill faster than you can say “there’s light”.

Nigerians like to leave above their means.

But sometimes when you have a plan for your finances, you need to give up certain comforts like paying a steep price for a private taxi as opposed to taking a bus.

Uber might be comfortable but it drains the account.

If you offered to take your friends out, then it’s fine to foot the bill.

However, in many instances, you can be coerced or ‘guilt tripped’ into footing the bill when that may not be in your original spending plan.

Be wise. Don’t fall into that trap.

Stand your ground.