Money Tales of a Lagos Babe

As a 23-year-old quintessential baby girl living in Lagos, I’ve always embraced the ‘soft life’ mantra because I like spending money and spoiling myself.

However, I realized that being delulu, coupled with bad money management, was in the way of my financial stability. I landed my first job a year ago after completing my NYSC, and initially, I wanted to be a little liberal with money. But reality soon threw me a curveball, and I knew I needed to get serious about managing my money.

I was constantly in a cycle of endless spending, and despite my efforts to save, my bank statements were on a red streak. I was heavily spending on beauty maintenance expenses like hair, nails, waxing, and sanitary supplies.

As if that wasn’t enough, unplanned purchases on transportation, and hangouts with friends. All of which are now super expensive no thanks to inflation, contributed to this. I never really paid enough attention to managing these costs effectively, leading to a tough battle maintaining a healthy financial well-being.

Changing the course of things positively, a recent heart-to-heart with my aunt who is a finance expert, helped. She shed much-needed light on my money issues.

She kicked off our conversation with budgeting, telling me to create a detailed budget that accounts for all my expenses, allowing me to gain control over my money. More importantly, she advised me to consider the ‘what I need versus what I want’ rule.

I rolled my eyes at that, but she was making a lot of sense. She went on to stress the importance of saving, also mentioning the need for an emergency fund for unpredictable costs.

Tracking my money moves to avoid overspending on unnecessary items was another thing she told me to do. This she said can be done weekly rather than waiting till the end of a month. She rounded up by saying something I wasn’t expecting, which is to say the word ‘NO’ more often.

Saying ‘No’ – Money Tales of a Lagos Babe

No to impulse buying, ridiculously expensive outings and anything that I realistically just can’t afford. At this point, I expressed having anxiety about the discipline. I needed to follow through with everything she had said.

To help, she told me to download thegomoney app as that’s what she relies on as well to help her find structure and do better with her finances and still prioritize enjoyment.

I have being using the app for a month and a half now, I’ve come to realize that gomoney is more than just a bank. It’s a financial bestie for youngsters like me with exciting features that help with spending smartly and saving flexibly.

It also has asplit bill feature that I use almost every time I go out with my best friend. Another good feature is the categorizing payments tool. This allows me to monitor my money properly. My aunt definitely earned some cool points with me by recommending the bank to me.

So if you’re a baby girl like me and you feel like your finances need a makeover, download the gomoney app from your AppStore or Google Play store. And with the right amount of intentionality, I’m sure you’ll see some positive change.