A longer January, or not.

"January is about 550 days long” is a phrase I’ve learnt about for a long time. This does not literally mean that January has five hundred and fifty days in it, but because of the unusual money scarcity in the month, so it seemed to be longer before the last day finally comes.

The length of January is usually different for many people depending on an important factor which is money. December just ended, and many people would’ve gotten their salary and bonuses mid-month, and would’ve explored ‘Detty December’ (having a fun December), without properly making plans for the next month which is January because the next salary or income wouldn’t happen until the end of the month hence, it’s mostly a broke January for many, and rich January for the few who have a properly planned expenses while making sure that they enjoyed December on a budget.

The fear of missing out (FOMO) have made a lot of people broke just because they want to feel among, they end up spending beyond their means.

Imagine travelling to the UK for vacation and Christmas celebration in a first class because your friends circle planned to when you can only afford to travel to the nearest country to you on a business class ticket. Of course, the money scarcity that’ll visit you by January will not be little. Rather, why not just try and live within your means?

A friend called me yesterday and said, “why are you indoors? You stay in Lagos where everything fun happens, and you are indoors this season when everywhere will be bubbling. You should go outside and spend some time”.

Of course, I understand that having fun is part of life, but not at the detriment of my account because last last, the owner of the account (me) will suffer. I said to him, “I can’t afford to be outside now. But in the future when I can, I’ll enjoy it”.

I’ve known to always plan for this time of the year because I still want to be able to settle my bills in January. I don’t even earn much yet, but starting now is a good step towards having proper plans on my finances when I finally start earning huge.

If I could have proper plans with my little money, then planning for the big money wouldn’t be a hassle. So, here’s what I do to make sure I don’t become broke till the last penny in January.

Firstly, I plan what my December will look like. Before the end of the year, I already know what my account would be like, so I plan around it. How much am I spending on myself? What or where do I intend to go? Can I afford to go to the beach or not? Can I afford to watch a cinema movie or just stay at home and Netflix instead? After proper analysis, I go for the cheaper option that is in line with my account balance.

I don’t let the fear of missing out get to me. I get called up by my friends who would be going out to celebrate on a very expensive cruise, but I told them I couldn’t afford it. And that’s the truth. The money in my account could afford all the itinerary and everything, but that would mean that after all the outings, I will be broke. I hate that situation with all of me, so, I opt out.

I plan the amount of money I send to the people that matter to me, and once the money set aside for that is exhausted, it’s until the next time. I try as much as possible not to attend to black taxes when the money set aside for that is exhausted because if I don’t learn to say No to them, I’ll end up broke, and they’ll move on to the next person.

January could be 30 days long or 550 days long depending on how you choose to explore December. But the important part is make sure you don’t cry with your account balance by the time December is over.

Images are mine.

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