Christmas Shopping: How you should spend in this festive season

The ember months are here again and we are smelling Christmas all over Nigeria.

The festive season in every part of the world is a time for huge sales and deals, we all tend to spend so much money against our best judgement during this season and after the season ends we ask ourselves how did I spend so much money? There are so many reasons why you should watch your spending in the next few months especially this year.

The ember months are here again and we are smelling Christmas all over Nigeria. If you are out shopping, especially at the Malls, you see Christmas lights and decorations hanging from everywhere especially at ShopRite. If you haven’t caught the Christmas fever yet, just go by any ShopRite store across Nigeria and you will see huge green and red decors dangling everywhere at the store.

Christmas in Nigeria and every part of the world is synonymous with shopping. We think “oh my house is looking too shabby for this celebratory period” and we want to glam it up the Christmas way and that means going by the stores to buy decorations, new rugs, new chairs, meet a painter to paint the house, change your curtains and so on. All the following activities equals MONEY, yes you spend money to paint, clean and buy new home decorations and don’t even get me started on the wardrobe adjustments.

We do not experience winter in Nigeria but so many people will be changing their wardrobe like a new season is upon us. Yes, the harmattan season is coming but we all know we aren’t out there shopping for the cold we are shopping for the fliest Christmas clothes for our children and ourselves, the owambe goers are out there shopping for aso-ebis’ for the December weddings which seem to be  an endless list this year. That is expected as it is basic human nature and as Nigerians we love shopping especially during the festive periods but there are so many reasons we must try our best to spend less money.

This year has been a tough year for a large majority of Nigerians. If Nigerians foresaw in 2016 how 2017 would have been, a lot of us would have been wiser with our money. So many people were so careless with their funds last year but were not bothered because the money was coming in smoothly, little did we know that our beloved country will be hit by the economic genocide we never saw coming “recession”.

Last Christmas we were out on the town partying, shopping and having a blast, going for every December show happening in all the happening parts of town, the “extra privileged” ones that spend Christmas oversees went visiting their respective vacation destinations and all said and done 2017 started and the recessive months began and most of us had regrets. Like the opportunity cost regret “oh I should have not spent hundreds of thousand on VVIP seats for the December shows”, “I should not have bought so many clothes and designer bags that I don’t need or spent money so loosely” those were a few examples of regrets this year. The recession made most realize how their excessive nature have hurt them financially.

The festive period is one to kick back, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor even if it is for a short while but while at it, we should have next year in mind. We do not know what the future that is 2018 holds for us especially in a country like Nigeria, so it will be smarter to be safe and save a little than being sorry especially since New Year equals new bills.

Although we hope and pray the New Year beings a door of wealth we should also save for the rainy day. And if there are no rainy days next year we can take a much deserved vacation and spoil ourselves a little sometime within the year but for now do not be sucked into the promos and discounts and shows happening all around you. If you can afford to and you know your next few months in 2018 are financially secure, then  by all means enjoy yourself but if you know you barely have enough then watch your spending this holiday season to avoid stories that touch.

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