As a little girl, I can still recall vividly how my mother would construct a box for me. This box was meant to be used in saving the extra money I got. According to her, this was to enhance my ability to save no matter how little I got. At the end of the year, the box will be broken and the money that was saved was used to buy me a lovely shoe.
I grew with this habit and continued to save up whenever I had a need or project to accomplish, I save up specifically for it. I opened a dedicated account for this purpose and disciplined myself not to touch the money in that account.
As a young woman, it is expedient to cultivate a culture of saving. This will assist you in becoming less dependent on people hence, you would not be vulnerable to them. You can achieve more by saving no matter little as little, a little drop of water will get the tank full.
Below are tips you can use to improve your ability to save and achieve more.
1. Spend within your limit: You do not need to impress anyone so learn to spend within your available resources.
2. Only get what you need: Often, we find young women having so many clothes, shoes, etc that they don’t get to use. This only translates to unnecessary spending and wastage which can be avoided. Only buy what you need.
3. Save even if it is little: We must not wait until we have a huge amount of money before we can save. Save from the little you have now. Make it a priority to save first before spending and not the other way round.
4. Use my box/account approach: Always ensure to put in a certain amount of money into an account dedicated to saving. This can be done daily, weekly, or monthly. This will enable not to be caught unaware by the unplanned situations.
5. Have a financial goal: Setting a financial goal gives you a direction of how your saving should be. This goal should have a timeline as this would keep you in check.
6. Learn to invest: Become deliberate about investing. Invest in real estate, agriculture, and most importantly people as this has a huge return on investment.
In summary, saving is crucial to our growth as young women, and as Warren Buffet said ” Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago”. It is not too late to start saving only be intentional about it because in line with the Jamaican proverb, it is money you save today will save you tomorrow when confronted with unexpected need.