Keeping track of how we spend money on stuff is a salient issue that needs to be considered. With the present day economic downturn, some people are resorting to austerity measures at the same time maintaining the usual living standard.
The prices of every item in Nigeria has increased exponentially, and the average Nigerian has been adversely affected in many ways than one. The strategy adopted by the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) to tighten its monetary policy, austerity measures and the devaluation of the Naira has adversely contributed to the imported inflation to the consumerism trends in the country.
Sadly, Nigeria in 2016 was the 3rd highest mobile shopper worldwide by PayPal Holding, the implication of this is that Nigerians are feeling the hit due to the Naira-Dollar current exchange rates.
China takes the lead as the global leader of mobile shopping nations, with 86 percent of all its online shoppers using a smartphone, India is second with 82 percent, while Nigeria ranks third with 72 percent.
I can vehemently state that most of the Nigerians who contributed to that statistics never subscribed to using coupon codes for their deals. For instance, Nigerian mobile shoppers alone spent about spent N128.1 billion ($610 million) in 2015 using PayPal, and on target for N172 billion ($819 million) in 2016
Interestingly, technology still has a way of making us cut cost, only if you can get a bit savvy about technology. You need not be a tech guru anyway, before you can apply technology to reduce your expenses. In most cases than not, it’s just about getting the proper information; some piece of information are just priceless.
Seriously, we need to maximize the full potentials of technology that is at our disposal, do you know that you can keep sending text messages for free using your iPhone? How will you find out when you don’t have the hunger to seek for information that is relevant?
If you are using an iPhone, you could download the Textfree app for just $5 from the Apple store and never pay for a text message again. This is a great deal. The only thing is that the application must be launched or open at all times, so as to receive text messages.
Here are some of the ways you can use technology to reduce cost:
Use Coupon Codes
You stand a great chance of saving money when shopping online because there are tons of coupons and discounts available. I usually search the web to check out for real deals, especially during this festive seasons. Whether, you prefer shopping on Amazon, Jumia, Konga, or Ebay, you will always see coupon codes.
For Nigerians, KosavaDeals.com is one of the websites to find these coupons. To use the coupon code, the first you have to do is to select the item you want to buy; you will always find the box for the coupon code when you want to pay out.
Personally, I search for coupon codes for Udemy courses; there are some courses on Udemy that are just free or discounted if you have the coupon codes. So, it’s a great deal.
Forget Physical Meetings and Do Video Calls
Presently, video calls are not limited to using Skype; you have series of applications that support video calls that are free for download from stores. You can save a whole lot of money when you decide not to travel for a meeting and do video calls instead. This period calls for been innovative and cutting cost.
Also, you can use Fring; it’s a free app for Android and iPhone that allows you to video conference with other users from your camera phone.
Stop Buying Flash/ Hard Drive
Technology has grown beyond buying Flash Drive for storage, although they might serve an urgency purpose, you have to start looking at the cloud for saving up your files. Apart from the fact that it’s more secure than the USB Drive, it’s also free. So, why waste money buying flash drive?
For instance, Dropbox is a free software that gives you 2GB of storage to share files with other Dropbox users and syncs your files online and across your computers.
Stop Buying Books and Download Free Ebooks
Most of the books that you buy from the bookshops; you download them free from the internet. I am not disputing the fact that you shouldn’t buy books but there are books that you can just download free from your smartphones.
For instance, if you are an iPhone User, you can download Stanza, it is a free application which allows you to download over 100,000 books and periodicals for free.
Don’t buy Video CDs Again, just Watch Online
Although I am not a movie freak, I will suggest you watch or even download Nollywood movies from Youtube. These days, I hardly go to sports centers to watch the EPL matches, I only do for Manchester United, and that is saving me some cash. Any live game that I fail to watch, I launch my Youtube to watch highlights.
Apart from Youtube, You can also use Hulu as well. If you’re only using DVR for instance, to record a few episodes of your favorite programs, you can use Hulu instead.
I hope you find these useful. Let me know if you have comments
