Gladys and Benjamin Dumelang!!!
(in my best Leon Schuster voice)
Let us talk money; we all love the benjamins don’t we?
We wake up in the raining weather, very cold almost snowing mornings to work just so we can get paid.
And we all get paid in cash!
When you hear a phone beeping on the morning of the 15, 22, 25, 26 or 30th (or whatever date it is for you) you rush to check the sms.
You smile when you realise that it is an unknown or un-stored number yet you recognise it because it is from your bank.
Your heart beats fast and you hope it is not a stop order came in early cause that would mean you are in trouble because you don’t have sufficient funds in the account and that would mean added costs of a returned debit.
Nc nc nc nc nc
To your delight it is a pleasant sms,
you got paid Yay!!!!
You start thinking
“
What must I wear today to reflect my good mood?”
“What will I have for lunch?”
“I hope the boss comes late so that I can quickly run to truworths to get that top that has been on “sale” and the matching sandals” Just then a little voice says…….
"
aowa wena sheba budget ya hao'
You silence it quickly and say
“hey! Ke a iteboga. Ke tsoga vroeg ke le one mos”
2 days after
You look at the budget…..
Rent/house…………..........................paid!
Car…………………….........................paid!
Credit card…………............................paid!.....and then withdrawn again…oops!
Groceries……………..........................pending
Savings………….............................….what savings?
Clothing account…................………..paid….and then used all the “credit” granted
Parents………………..................…….nada!!
Cousins………......................…………nada!
Sundry…………...........................……..30% of salary
Just then your phone goes *beep* beep*
Dang! A debit order for you life cover
Now you are a few hundreds down!!
A smile turns to a frown You start to unlike the winter jacket you bought in the September sale, wish you can return it, then you remember a statement on the clothing slip
“no sale items may be returned or exchanged”
Tjeer this thing costs me R500 and now I’m R500 more in debt.
How can you stop yourself from spiralling into the same mistakes?
Before you do anything
STOP!
Think
Why must I buy this?
Do I need this?
Can I afford this?
Do I impress people who aren’t looking?
Answer them as honest as you can and act.
If you were honest you won’t make mistakes
“Mhhmmmm! I love the feeling I get when holding a DH plastic” you think
Just as you pass Bradlows you see a beautiful Bavaria and you remember that they called you a while back after you have finished paying for your fridge saying that you were a great customer and handled your account well. And that your credit will be increased and you can buy for R20000.
“ag, let me just go in and hear what they will say”
>
>
>
>
10 min in the store and Steve explaining that you can afford to pay R450 plus it will be a debit order so you miss a payment
you just do it!
You forget that your salary lasted you for 2 days but have indebted yourself more in a day
And now your next salary will last one day only
What are you doing wrong?
How can you change and change forever?
there is a lot of advice given everywhere about manging debt, but we are still in debt.
I think the question is
"am I living a life I can afford?"what is the point of buying a 20L Russel Hobbs microwave when you only do pocorns with it and never grill anything?
Salary e fetswa ke gore re rata dilo?
of hoe mablogaz?
And by the way if you read my
“Am I impulsive buyer?” next month I will be debt free
The only debt will be for my study loans, which I am paying
my next big debt will be a bond