TANZANIA: End of year is the season filled with some festivities and traditionally people celebrate Christmas and New Year.
This is the season when many people who reside in urban areas travel to their mother lands (villages) to visit their relatives.
These trips, often seen as simple gestures of exchanging greetings and well-wishes for Christmas and the New Year, take people to various corners of the country.
However, from an entrepreneurial perspective, this period presents a unique opportunity for individuals to approach the end of the year with a business-minded approach.
Even those who don’t travel to their ancestral lands, spending normally takes a centre stage, as parents and guardians spend a huge chunk of money buying some necessities for use during Christmas and New Year festivities.
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Overspending during this time of year is often an emotional response. Consumers feel that they have worked hard all year and deserve to spoil themselves and family members.
The weakness surrounding our spending is that most of us don’t budget for the additional festive season spending, causing us to fall into the debt trap.
As consumers, we need to be warned that it is irresponsible and dangerous to spend too much just because it seems like everybody else is doing so.
What consumers should realise is that come January, we will have to buy some necessities for school children, including paying school fees, house rent etc. For the employees, some might find themselves falling into trouble next January after overspending in December.
Some experts in financial management say to avoid finding ourselves in trouble in January, two things can be done. First we should avoid new debts. In this aspect they say that if one has not saved for the festive season he/she should not take out debt for it.
Secondly, they call for having a festive budget. Under this aspect, experts advise an individual to list and add together all one’s income and list all the expenses for December and January (without forgetting items like stationery, school fees, house rental fees and transport for January). Then one should subtract his/ her expenses from their income and what is left over can be the budget for the festive season.
