Beat General January in 2016

We are all familiar with ‘General January’! It bites. We have all been there. I have been there several times. You suddenly have no money to do anything and next pay is far away. Even best of friends who normally help are very willing but very incapable to help. In fact, they might even be in worse scenario than you. And yet, next year, we find ourselves in the same circumstances. It appears like an accepted curse upon humanity when in fact in theory, we can avoid its recurrence. Today, we will discuss practical ways we can use to avoid or ‘cheat’ General January. For the sake of helping you believe that you can do it, I have practised the tricks below and each time I did, I beat General January. But the next time when I did not follow this tight script, I was in trouble again!

1. Make realistic budget for December and January: Not everyone makes a budget for monthly expenditures. If you already budget your expenditure, just remember to make it more tight this time around and more realistic. If you do not budget your money, start this December. Either way, two important things to bear in mind: budget December and January expenditures together because they are directly linked and be strict on adhering to the budget.
2. Push some January expenditures to November: Chances are that your income in December will come early and so you will have little or no money when starting the New Year at the beginning of January. Try and pay off some of the January expenditures like school fees with the pay of end November. Don’t just save, pre-pay!
3. Don’t spend your December income too early: It is good that most employers pay their staff before Christmas in December. However, some of them over do it. Paying staff two weeks ahead of normal schedule badly imbalances your cycle. Be careful with that. To achieve this goal you need to act poor while your money is safe in the bank. The time I beat General January, I did not spend my salary until a day before Christmas! It took a lot of discipline but was doable. You too can do it. You don’t need to carry unnecessary cash. Ban impulse buying in December.
4. Practise the principle of moderation: You cannot have everything of everything. Choose your entertainment. Select what you want to do and buy during the festive period. You cannot attend all the parties. You cannot go out every night. Moderation is in two stages. First, minimise the number of activities that you attend. Second, you do not have to go to the limits of the chosen activities. Moderation is one of the few common principles across many religions – even in the secular world. For example in accounting, which is not a religion but rather a neutral domain, there is a principle for being conservative with expenditure and estimations. Put this into gear.
5. Enjoy quality not quantify of celebrations: For you to be able to practise the principle of moderation, you need a paradigm shift. Shift your mind from focussing on quantity when looking at how much fun you enjoy. Now focus the quality of fun that you have. It is not how much you have of it. Rather it is how you feel. It is okay to stop while you are still having the fun. Learn the discipline to stop on the way. You can leave while the party is still going. You can stop drinking while the bar is still open. You can stop eating before you are completely full – in fact all good health tips advise us to stop eating before we feel full because by the time we feel that we are full, we have eaten more than the body needs!

Before we wind up, a bonus point: avoid the wrong company. Those who are extravagant will not help you practise these measures at festive period. Keep them at a distance! Now you are equipped to beat or indeed to ‘cheat’ General January on the other side of Christmas. Good luck! n