101 Ways To Spend Less Cash In Nigeria (2)

16.       Plan your shopping trips. Why go to the market twice a week when once will do, or four times a month when you can go just twice? This will save you time and money on transportation and the stress.

17.       Buy clothes that don’t need dry cleaning. Avoiding expensive clothes, suits, and other clothes made from materials that are best dry cleaned will help your budget. You can also stock your wardrobe with wash-and-wear clothes that don’t require ironing.

18.       Buy in bulk: When you buy your groceries in bulk, you spend more at once, but save money over the long term. It’s like buying wholesale instead of at retail price.

19.       Buy online: A friend of mine bought an infinix Zero online for N25,000 (konga, I think) about two days ago including the total cost of shipping to this state (Kano), whereas it costs an average of N30,000- 34, 000 in retail shops here.

20.       Buy at your ‘Cooperative’s shop’. For those familiar with credit and thrift societies, they pool money from members and purchase everyday items in bulk, so as to sell to their members, and public at a cheaper price. Shopping some items here will save you some extra kobo.

21.       Buy at Game instead of Shoprite: well, not necessarily - might be the other way round, but the idea of this tip is to let you know that retailers price items differently.. For example I saw some drinks and food items at a cheaper price at Game compared to Shoprite, but there are still some other items that were cheaper at Shoprite. That therefore leads to the next tip

22.       Use the Pricechecker Nig website or app: For example, I decided to check and compare the price of the new Infinix Zero phone online, this is a screenshot of what price checker gave me.

23.       Find  and utilise coupons or discounts: especially when shopping at online retailers. If one shop is offering a discount, then it is commonsense to buy from them at that time.

24.       Shop at sales: Do your shopping when and where there is a sales going on. But this is a tricky one. The fact that there is a sales going on does not mean a lady should buy 3 male pants for the price of one, simply because there is a sale! That will be tantamount to being kobo wise, naira foolish! (Except her husband had asked her to buy him new pants.) Don't buy three of a thing if you only need one simply because it is cheap to buy all three at once.

25.   Ask around/tell others: It is very instructive to do a little research on what you want to buy by asking around or telling your friends what you want to buy. Sometimes, you may be surprised to find that what you need is being offered for sale by a friend at a give away price. Or someone knows where you can get it easily and cheaply.

26.   Change your taste: your taste and preference for a particular brand might be costing you more unnecessarily. Do you like a particular brand of coffee, tea, beer, gadget/phone, restaurant/eatery, drink, customer, retailer, etc. I once bought meat from a particular ‘customer’ who was ripping me off, it wasn’t until I tried another meat-seller did I discover ‘my customer’ had being feeding fat off me, all along. Just try a new, cheaper one for a change, and if you don’t prefer it, then you can go back.

27.   Don’t buy in-vogue: one of the major reasons people go broke is because they always buy the latest….in town. From Galaxy S5 to Iphone 6, from Honda to Toyota, you want to have the latest film, shoe, bag, lace, etc. You will only keep spending more. Waiting for a while (up to 3 months) might save you N50, 000 in some cases.

28.   Negotiate/haggle/bargain: You will be surprised at how much the seller has added to the cost price when you bargain well. But if you don’t, you might be paying double the true price of the item. It never hurts to ask for a lower price, take the pain to simply negotiate. Men are especially guilty of this. We seem to not like pricing things.

Cars, Electronics, Gadgets

29.   Never buy a new gadget without a recommendation/review. Recent research shows that most people (about 70%) in developed countries now read online reviews before making a purchase, you should do the same. In fact don’t buy any gadget, appliance, or new technology that you have never seen or used before without a recommendation from someone you trust. That person may be a friend who has used it, an unbiased expert on a popular website, but not the seller/marketer or sales person (what do you expert them to say?).

30.   Do your car maintenance and servicing as at when due: delaying to change the oil in your engine will reduce the efficiency of the engine costing you more fuel. Generally, it is wiser to service your car as at when due as this will save you extra costs in repairs later.

31.   Always check to see if you can get a fairly used at a good price before you buy brand new: Generally, brand new cars and electronics lose value immediately you buy them, sometimes, you might be lucky to find someone who just bought his but no longer wants it. Buying fairly used in very good condition is often better than buying new. Arguably the greatest advantage of buying brand new is the warranty.