This is part 2! The previous post had Strategies 1 to 8.

9. Stay away from Dollars, Pounds and Euros as much as you can

Truth be told, the American Dollar, British Pound Sterling and the Euros have an embarrassing way of humbling the Nigerian Naira. Their respective current exchange rates says it all. And so, common sense demands that you stay away from them as much as you can. When you go online-shopping, for instance, an item tagged $50 or £30 is quite an amount when converted to Naira. If you ain’t making a foreign trip or speculating, why not steer clear bureau de change; why not let your domiciliary account be; why not make do with local online shops, the likes of Jumia, Konga, and OLX. As much as possible just stick to Naira, so that your money can truly count. At the end of the day, of what use is it paying more in Dollar what you can pay less in Nigeria? It just doesn’t make sense.

10. Stay away from imported products as much you can

This is difficult. Given that Nigeria is import dependent; next to everything in this clime is imported! But I insist: stay away from imported goods and services the much you can. Put differently, explore local options. For instance, instead of using the boutique, why not tough it out with your tailor; instead of buying Ford or Chrysler, why not buy “Innoson” or “KIA”? As long as this hard time lasts why not let antiques and other articles of ostentation be? Must it be Rolex, must it be Apple? Of course, you don’t need a prophet to lecture you on how both exchange rate and importers’ excessive is a cause for concern. Two ways forward: patronize local options or imported low-costs – from non-dollar and non-euro countries especially.

11. Eat smart while eating right

Some folks just eat and keep eating – all day! They eat the first round of breakfast at 7am, then eat round two by 11am, and then they’re having snacks by noon. And they’re off for lunch as soon as it clocks 2pm, and then again at 5pm. 7pm is supper, and then 10pm is yet another eating. Truth be told, and without mincing words, it all costs plenty of money – everyday! Of course, this is economic suicide; too off for this hard time!

12. Alcohol is as tricky as it is expensive

Alcohol is such a great marketer of itself. It just has this interesting way of seducing one into drunkenness and then keeps one drinking till one passes out! Aside this trickiness, alcohol is also pretty expensive; the higher the alcoholic content the more the price. And so, this really is a bad time for undisciplined alcoholic intake as it has the capacity of sucking one’s purse dry. Although a little alcohol is fine, the real problem lies with the definition of the word “little.” Is “little” one tot of whisky or one bottle of beer? Whatever “little” means to you, just don’t forget that alcohol is as tricky as it is expensive.

13. Make much lesser calls; astutely manage browser data

Certain stories should no longer be told over the phone, like furnishing a loved one with the full details of how one’s day went. That’s really turned into a luxury lately. If the day went fine, then fine! The rest of the gist could come later during a face-to-face chitchat. Yes, we get to pay for “airtime” never “ear-time.” The bottom-line is that making of calls should be regulated, and one way to do this is to cutoff recharging from one’s bank account. You can trust that it is pretty fun punching some codes on the phone to get airtime Vs buying recharge cards with cash. On the other hand, the browser data consumption of the average smart phone user is gone gaga! Online all the way! Asleep or awake, the browser data just keeps reading… It is time to put some checks to our browser data usage. Simply turn it off when not in use, and usage should be minimized.

14. Budget and scale to preference

The place of budgeting and ranking one’s needs and wants in order of priority is all-important at a time like this. For God’s sake, why should one spend more than he earns? It just doesn’t make sense. One not only has to cut his cloth according to his size but has to be pretty good at doing so. Of course, one shouldn’t just jump at things at the open market; a budget should dictate purchases. Yes, financial discipline is the word. In line with scaling to preference, certain things have just got to wait!

15. Work harder and smarter – earn more!

What is better than working really harder and smarter? Simply, the best antidote to this hard time is to earn more; make more money than you can spend. That’s it!