SLC32-W2 || Real Life Problem Solving Challenge: Budget Planning

A budget is essential for everyone, especially for those who want to manage their finances wisely and prepare for future needs. As a young girl, creating and following my budget plans has really helped me balance my daily expenses while saving for school, my future, and emergencies.

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How do you plan your weekly or monthly budget? Explain well.

I start to plan my monthly budget by listing all my sources of income that I am expecting to receive money from during the month. After I have listed all sources of income, dividing the total money according to my needs is what I do next.

To achieve better budget plans I employ the following steps:

• I calculate and sum up my total earnings for the month
• I then list out essential expenses such as; transportation, food, data, education, and toiletries.
• Next is allocating a portion of savings
• I do set aside some amount of money for my personal use
• I do review my budget to ensure that the budget stay within my spending range.

The above an example of my monthly budget for an income of 80,000 Naira.

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What tool or method do you use to track your expenses? Show at least one tool or method in detail with a selfie.

I do make use of paper and a simple tracking sheet on my phone. Every single time that I spend money, I immediately record it on my expenses tracking sheet as seen below.

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What are the unnecessary expenses that affect your income? Explain.

Sometimes we ladies spend money on unnecessary things especially on beauty care and other things. Whenever I spend money that I didn't budget for it affects my income and the ability for me to save. Some of the unnecessary expenses that affect my income are:

• Buying things online due to advertisements
• Buying snacks and minerals every day
• Spending too much on skincare
• Spending money on transportation to go to places
• Spending money on a data subscription just to be online watching videos

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How do you save money from your income that will sustain you for future hardships?

For me to save money from my income that will sustain me for future hardships I do make sure that I save first before spending money later.

Whenever I received money:

• 20% of the money is transferred immediately into my savings account
• I avoid touching my savings except during emergencies and it is the reason why I don't have an ATM card or a banking App that links to my savings account.
• I keep emergency money for unexpected situations such as educational expenses and health issues.

Example

Income (₦)	Savings Rate	Amount Saved (₦)
80,000	20%	16,000

If I continuously save 16,000 monthly, after one year I will have ₦192,000 (₦16,000 × 12)

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Have you ever created a budget that would improve your financial situation? Show us practically how.

Yes, I have created a budget that would improve my financial situation. There was a month that I spent money without planning and ran out of money even before the month ended.

The above budget helps me to reduced spending money unnecessary, which has increased my savings and makes it possible for me to control my finances and prepare myself better to meet an emergency.

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What advice would you give to others for great budget planning?

My advice to others for greater budget planning is to always do the following:

• Write down your income and expenses always
• Your needs should come before your wants
• Save money before spending
• Track every one of your expenses, be it big or small
• Avoid impulse buying of items.
• Set financial goals for yourself and work towards achieving them
• Review your budget always.

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I am inviting: @saintkelvin17, @moyeon, and @wuddi
Cc:- @ahsansharif