  Bliss                                      the reason for this is not far-fetched. January is the month that follows the Geolification month of December, the Dirty December. With so many parties to attend, gifts to share, restaurants and hangout spots to visit, December ranks as the highest spending month of the year. Also, salaries are typically paid very early in December than in other months to allow for the Plenty Geolification. The implication of this is that many people are left with little or nothing to spend in January. Unfortunately, salaries are paid at the end of the month in Nigeria. People tend to wait eagerly for payday by the second week of January, some even the first. So, how do we avoid this January? 1. Plan your December income very well. Most would be paid by next week, some have already been paid. Try not to spend everything in December. 2. Save, obviously. 3. Spend, but not frivolously. Seek discounts, take advantage of sales promotions to buy these lovely gifts for your loved ones. You don't have to attend all the concerts. Leave some for next year. Finally, invest. Invest what you have saved. As funny as it sounds, there are still valid and profitable investment opportunities. However, look, study, research before you leap or make that investment. Happy New Year in advance, first of all. Guys, what do you think? 3. The parties you attend and why you don't attend. In the last one week, I've been looking for valid reasons to avoid a traditional marriage that was meant to attend somewhere in the justice. Because when I do that, you're going to have serious implications for January. So, it's a very tricky month and we all look forward to it. And it comes with so much responsibility. Because of how the family system is structured in Nigeria, depending on what you have to understand, it's something we cannot run away from. As far as God, you are able to find a place to earn one or two cobbles, to assist and also to put a smile on people's faces. But there should be some bit of moderation so that you don't do that in December. In December, I come back whipping in January. That's it for me. So, this is an age-long problem for everybody that earns or has responsibility. I think it's also entrenched in our culture. Because there's so much expectation at the end of the year. I mean, there's funeral commitments, wedding commitments, like the one you have in your do-stay. I hope they are not watching the one somewhere you don't attend when you cannot attend anyone. And there's so many expectations. The kids have to wear nice clothes, they have to go to places you want to rest. So, I think it's actually difficult not to spend in December. But from what Ruth said, we need to plan for the whipping in January. We need to save, keep some money aside. Because this is a pattern, we can't keep completing every January that will be broke. So now that you know you're going to be broken in January, keep something aside so you're not in that whipping. You can be in the sad category, but not the whipping category. So that's what that was my take. So you've already said all in my opinion in terms of how to mitigate against the whipping in January. And this is even the month that Black Tax is highest. Because it's compounded, give us the big sum. Especially when you have dependents and all that. But what has always worked for me, funny enough December is the month where I don't even get to spend a lot as it's supposed to be now. Here's where I'm coming from. It's funny. So what is like that is, I think I always learn to pay myself first. I always, there's nothing you can do about it. There are some things that are postponed to January. Oftentimes we always think that things cannot wait. Things can actually wait. Because we think about it, if what I'm going to give you money for, you found yourself in the hospital, you will be asking me money for that particular thing. So the thing is, I try to pay myself first. So when I pay myself first, whatever is left, I plan around that. And there's nothing literally that you want to say. I'm not going to go break my emergency or my savings. So I pay myself first. And I was going to say, I learn not to create emergency by myself. And I'll give you an example. My car was making some funny sounds at some time in September. I knew what it was. I'm going to work it out. I'll call my mechanical hub. So I was postponing that. So when the thing broke down, I paid three times of what I was supposed to pay before. So I was saying, no, it's an emergency. It wasn't an emergency. I knew I should have avoided that. So this December there's going to be a lot of emergency, self-created emergency spending. People say, oh, it's an emergency. I have to buy it. Oh, I have to purchase it. And when we get to January, there's really nothing. So when I pay myself first, any other story you're saying, that's your problem. I think in addition to that, the fact that there's the mentality that even for ourselves, there's that mentality that, oh, this is, I've worked a lot from January to now. I need to enjoy, right? And process of enjoying your spending. Spending in some instances, spending money that you've not even earned. I'm not going to enter a lot of debt this year, this period, because there are a lot of loan, access to loan is becoming easy. So there's really going to be a lot of debt at this point. So I feel at the end of the day, if you want to not be in the whipping category in January, you should start even questioning your own spend, as well as the spend on others as well, so that you can plan it. I know some people say, okay, it's impossible to do certain things. There are some things that are essential, but there are some things that are not. You don't have to go for every concert. All of this concert costs you money, and you don't have it. So you don't have to go for everything. You don't have to follow the crowd. You don't have to please your friends just in order to maintain a perception. So you know what you need. You know you're going to be bearing this cost in January, so you should be able to work towards it and plan towards it as well. Thank you. So we thank you for your attention while the program lasted. We hope our conversation resonated with you and that in some small way, encourage you to contribute to your immediate environment. Little drops of water the same mix in mighty ocean. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, Plus TV Africa and Plus TV Africa Lifestyle. Join us next week, same time on this station. Let's keep advocating for a better society. See you next time.