Inflation, taxes, bills and loan payments: Is your home caught up in this economic web? Tales of the past festive seasons might befall your home this time round as your children speak of how they “used to enjoy” and not “how they are enjoying” it. Silencing them will be quite hard unless you are resorting to using lashes under the pretext of claiming they have “bad manners”.
Dr. Gorreti Kitutu a mother of five has her own bag of tricks to cubing this economic puzzle. The tips include but are not limited to the following.
Take charge:
Every family needs someone to take charge. Parents need to be in charge of putting order since some but not all are master minds of ethics and good morals. It has been a year of revolutions; governments in the north of Africa have been toppled so do not let these movements extend to your home.
Once your children start dictating on what, where and when to buy the mostly used items in your home, the 30.5% inflation figure for the month of October might have a practical impact within your household.
She says “I simply delegate most of the work”. This keeps my children involved in managing the home only to the extent of executing duties in order to understand the facts about the cost of living luxuriously during this period.
Draw a budget:
It may seem simple but if ignored, money may be spent anonymously. The budget guides you on how you plan to spend what you have, anticipate to have and further more review how much you spent.
Learning to manage your money is simple. A budget is simply a plan for using the money you have so that you can get the most value of things you want. Making a plan requires only little time and thought. Know your needs; prioritize them and decide which of these needs will attain best your own personal goals.
Spend when you must:
Spending more than you make is like trying to stand on a speeding motorcycle without a helmet. At the beginning of the year, a family could afford to buy three kilograms of sugar at the current price of sugar. Most homes could manage to keep up with bill payment and the loan payment. At that point, financial motorcycle of an average Ugandan family was just starting to move.
However, each time a family spent beyond its means the speed begun to increase. Therefore, if you do not apply your breaks in time, you are bound to run out of breath, gasping for air. This is predicted to continue rising according to a report by the Bank of Uganda and might take two years to clear. It seems as if there’s no way off this economic motorcycle so try to stand and look for a way of jumping off like Greece in the Euro Zone by spending when you must.
Reduce your bills:
This very simple, saving energy in your home is as easy as wasting it. A house with more than five bed rooms is most likely going to increase the bill. The major bills in this case are electricity and water. Dr. Kitutu says she always finds a way of having her family meet for at least two hours every evening. This ensures that all the lights in the other rooms that could have been on are off as the family bonds through prayer and sharing experiences. In this, she hits two birds with one stone.
Most parts of Uganda have been receiving rain at least for the past three months. She says incase you were keen on tapping this natural resource, washing the car and watering the lawns will not increase your expense on water in your home incase November and December months usher in the dry spell of dust and thirst.
