In life, as it relates to finances, there are two very big mistakes that can create some financial tension or may even lead to being broke, and they are "impulse buying," and "being too reliant on just on single source of income." Each of these can actually wreck some real financial damages, now Imagine combining both of them. Breaking free from these will require enough work to be done by you. Specifically, you need financial discipline to wad-off impulse buying, then you need to have diverse sources of income to avoid being over-reliant on just one single source. Always remember that you are responsible for a lot of things about yourself including your finances.
There are some people who buy things, not because they need them but out of emotions or because they see someone buy it, or because they feel like it. Most times, it is not even that they have settled their needs before going for their wants. What they fail to understand is that abandoning your needs to go for your wants is not wisdom. What will happen after you have gotten your wants and you cannot afford your needs? This is where financial disciplines should come in and play an important role. You need to make your own decisions on what to spend money on and stick to them.
Financial discipline covers a whole lot of things like budgeting. Before you spend, make a list of what to spend on, which should put your basic needs as priorities, then you should stick to it. Before you spend, just calmly ask yourself what the purpose of spending is, and then ask yourself if you truly and sincerely need what you want to spend on. You will be surprised to know how many people have gone into deep debts and even gone bankrupt simply because of impulse buying. You have to learn how to say a very firm and blunt "no" if you are being pressured to buy what you know you do not need or what you cannot afford. It does not stop at making a budget of how to spend, you have to be able to stick strictly to it for your own good.
However, what you also have to understand is that there are times that your source of income may not be able to carry your basic needs talk more of the other of your wants. In that case, there is no amount of budgeting that will save you from this challenge. The solution to this is to get an extra or multiple sources of income, so that you will not rely or depend solely on just one. With the way so much financial pressures are mounting up on a daily basis, it may not be sustainable to have just a single source where money comes in. Just to let you know, having multiple streams of income, at this point in time, is no longer a luxury but a necessity.
Beyond your main job, you have to explore other opportunities and side hustles. I remember during the pandemic period of the Covid time, a lot of businesses were put on standstill because of the global lockdown. I know someone who had a paid job in a very lucrative company. But it was hit severely during that time that all the staff were asked to voluntarily take suspension without pay until normalcy returns. However, before that time, he started selling medical tools like hand gloves, face masks, hand sanitizers, etc, as side hustles. Adorably, during that time, these became essential commodities and it was the business that sustained him until he got back to work. Imagine if he did not have another stream of income, how would he have survived?
You do not have to wait until you are faced with financial challenge before you begin to diversify your sources of income, rather you do it to prevent the financial challenge. In this era, it has become easy to get something else that will bring in money - you can go into social media marketing, digital assets, content creating, other online and even offline businesses, etc. Always remember that financial freedom is a resultant effect of the choices and decisions you make - your budgeting, savings, investments, and your financial discipline.
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