Budgeting makes me consult my means rather than my wishes

I have learned the difference between wants and needs and how to manage them. I trailed my fingers on the eye-catching dress sitting perfectly on a mannequin. The salesman was somewhere within the small stall where he kept other clothes looking for more dresses similar to the one I was currently interested in. The price of the dress I loved was 15,000 naira but according to him, he had similar dresses for 9,000.

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I don't remember ever buying a dress for myself. I had always gotten pairs of shorts, trousers, t-shirts, and face caps, but dresses? It must have been years ago since I got one.

The man soon emerged with about 5 other dresses in his hands,

“Sister look at this one, it's peach and would fit your black skin so well,” I took it from him. It was beautiful and like he said, would fit my skin, but I already knew what I wanted so I shook my head.

“Oga, what's the last price for this gown?” I asked him, touching the dress on the mannequin again. He eyed me warily. We had been under the sun for more than 10 minutes bargaining the price of that dress before he went in to bring the others.

“That gown goes for 15k sister. That's the price”

I apologized for the trouble I caused him then walked away even when he kept shouting, “Sister! Sister come and get it for 12,500!”

I could afford 12,500 naira, I could even afford 15,000 but not for a single dress. If I did that, what would happen to my other expenses like transportation to school for the week, miscellaneous buyings, data, snacks and so on?

Since it was what I wanted and not what I needed, I crossed to the other side of the market and went to look for the yams that actually made me leave home.

According to my budget, I was supposed to spend 2,000 naira on yams, then 1,000 on transportation and snacks in case I got hungry outside. There was no plan for a 15k gown anywhere so I took my mind off the dress once and for all.

My motto that month was “Stick to the budget!” It was even the display message on my screen.

The month before taught me the biggest financial lesson of my life and while I was never that exorbitant, I had just decided to throw all caution to the wind and spend on myself like never before.

I didn't just wake up with the idea to throw all my money on irrelevances, I was hurrying home after school one afternoon when I heard my name from a distance. It was Kate, the assistant course representative of our class. I stopped to hear her out. She said one of our lecturers wanted to see me.

I had mid-week service to attend in 20 minutes so I pleaded with her not to tell the lecturer that she had met with me. She eyed me with feigned contempt as I blew her a kiss and hurried along. The next morning after my first class, I went to Professor Ini’s office. He was speaking with the student staff adviser and they said they wanted me to do a short script for them since I was the chairman of the departmental Editorial board.

That script was what brought in some extra cash aside from my income.

Since I had some money to spare after taking care of all my expenses for the month, I decided to become a little reckless in my spending. I even went to the cinema once to see a movie even after paying for Netflix subscription on my phone.

When that spare money in my hand was completely exhausted, I realized that I had forgotten to start up the savings I wrote in my financial plan book. If I had saved up that extra 20,000, it would have profited me a lot more than the burgers and ice creams I bought for myself and my girls.

It was this experience that caused me to divide my income the next month according to a budget. Of course I left a small amount for miscellaneous items, but I had my mind made up. Come rain or shine, if the amount budgeted for miscellaneous was exhausted, then there was no spending on frivolities again till the following month.

Assuming I had gone ahead to save some or most of the 20k, my budget wouldn't have been so strict.

While I regret my financial irresponsibility, I am grateful that things played out the way they did, if not who knows? I may have taken out 15,000 to get a dress I wasn't even going to wear often.