**Steem4nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 38: Savings and Spending

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With joy in my heart I want to point out the fact that I am happy and glad to be part of this contest hosted by @Steem4Nigeria , and the reason is because the financial activity/behavior of spending and saving is one activity/behavior that touches the life of every single individual on planet Earth as long as he or she has needs and desires. But today it seems that majority of individuals engages more in spending money than saving money which is absolutely not advisable. As financially minded individuals, it is important that we strike a balance between how we spend money and also how we save money and possibly how we invest our money. To elaborate more on this topic, it is important that we understand certain and basic concepts such as what is spending and what is saving. Before elaborating and explaining these concepts, I would love to invite my friends @bossj23 @alli001 and @jeph001 to participate in this contest. Additionally I want to express my gratitude to the Steem4Nigeria steemit community for organizing such a wonderful and interesting contest. Moreover, without further ado below is my contribution.

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• Saving: This is basically described as the stashing away or the keeping aside money or any other valuables for future use, possibly to financially handle future unforeseen occurrences and circumstances. For the purpose of clarity, saving money can be likened to the collection of drops of rain in a parched desert, and each money saved or collected is a precious droplet which is literally preserved for future use. Realistically, this is obviously achieved through budgeting, setting aside a portion of one's income, and cutting down on expenses. Just as a desert dweller make sure to hoard water for the dry seasons, saving money constitute discipline and foresight knowing fully well that these saved droplets is to sustain you during times of unexpected challenges and scarcity.

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• Spending: This is simply the act of exchanging money or valuables for goods and services. It further involves the utilizing of resources on various transactions which lead to the opening of new opportunities to achieve desires. Whether it's purchasing necessities like groceries or indulging in luxuries like a fancy dinner, or buying luxurious properties like houses and automobiles, spending money is about utilizing your financial resources to meet your needs and desires. For more clarity, spending money is likened to when a gardener scatters seeds in a garden with the intention of them growing or sprouting, in the same way each coin, bill, or cash note is a seed having the potential to sprout into something tangible. Just like a gardener carefully tends to his or her seedlings, spending money wisely involves making deliberate choices about where and how to deposit those seeds to yield the most fruitful outcomes.

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Inflation is known to be an economic crisis which is characterized by the increase in price of goods and services as well as the increase in the cost of production and decrease in the standard of living of individuals residing in such economy. Most countries in West Africa are plagued by inflation, Nigeria being a country in west Africa is not an exception. According to statistics and research the current rate of inflation in Nigeria is within the range of 30 to 33.20%. These has absolutely brought some devastating negative effects to the saving actions and habits of many individuals residing in Nigeria. Being a citizen of the great country Nigeria, my saving habit is a bit scrappy and somehow doubtful, but so far I have been able to establish and also maintain my saving habits. I am able to accomplish this because, I have more than one sources of income. As a student, I have seen the need to also learn a skill (draftsmanship) and also participate in various online gigs and activities (affiliate marketing, freelancing, cryptocurrency investment, forex trading, and steemit content posting) so as to get paid from time to time. In this way I am able to save money and also have quite enough to spend.

Being a new member to this platform, I can testify to the fact that this platform will definitely help me to improve my spending and saving habits. Based on my research and interrogation with my mentor @bossj23 and other members of this wonderful platform, I have come to learn that steemit is a platform that compensates it members for their content postings and engagements in form of STEEM tokens, which they can then transform into other currencies or better still store as a form of future investment. If this is how it works, then it would definitely be a good and credible contribution to my saving habit and spending activities.

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We are just in the fourth month of this year, personally I would say that I have not fully accomplish my financial target for the year. But to be sincere and honest, joining this wonderful platform, has been one of the most trustworthy action and moves that I have taken this year, which of course I believe would better my financial future. Overtime, if I am able to realize a reasonable amount of benefits from this platform, I will definitely engage in other form of investments, such as fulfilling my life Long dream of learning graphic designing and ghostwriting.

In conclusion, the road to financial success doesn't have to be so plain and smooth, they obviously need to be some rocky areas, and I know fully well, in other to bypass these rocky areas, I need to apply a sense of creativity, orderliness, smartness, and discipline etc. There could also be failures along the way, however I am poised to never see these failures of mine as a reason to believe that i am not good enough or competent. Rather, i should view them as stepping stones to accomplishing financial success.