Savings and Discipline

Savings does not only help you achieve financial freedom, it also disciplines you. I used to be very terrible when it comes to handling money, not that am now perfect, but things really began to change when I learned to save. I immediately became aware of how much I earn, what it could afford to do for me and what it could not do for me. I realized that in order to have some money left for me to save by month end, I need to give up some lifestyle that I cannot afford. Things changed, I became aware and conscious of what I earn. That consciousness about my income and what it can do was everything.

Imagine when you earn money and you don’t know what that money can do for you more so, what it cannot do for you. Imagine when you earn fifty thousand naira and think you can afford to live like celebrities. The result, you become a financial mess. You spend and spend till you have nothing else to spend. Then you borrow and borrow till no one will lend you. Then you go back home and curl up on your bed and wonder what kind of life is this.

Back then, by the time I receive my salary, I must have spent more than sixty percent of it. What I have to do when I receive it is pay off my debt, spend the rest and wait for the end of the month (end of the month that would refuse to come whenever am in that situation) to get paid again. But with saving money, you plan your life in such a way that your income can be able to finance your lifestyle and have more left. And that is not easy. It takes lots of discipline.

Why I am making so much emphasis on discipline is that some people do not realize that the life they are living is so big that their earnings cannot finance it. That is why year in year out it seems you are not making any progress financially despite the fact that as the year goes by you are earning more. Savings will help you achieve the discipline you need if you are honest about it. You will start gradually to build your way to financial freedom.