3 Money Habits I Learned After Going Broke in University Going broke in 200 level was my wake-up call. One week I had money for shawarma and data. The next week, I was borrowing ₦200 for pure water and praying lectures would end early so I could sleep off the hunger. If you’re a student, hustler, or just trying to make your money last, these 3 habits saved me: 1. Track Every ₦500, Not Just ₦50,000 We think budgeting is only for big money. Lie. I started writing down every single thing I spent, even if it was ₦100 for groundnut. After 7 days, I realized I was spending ₦1,200 weekly on “small” snacks alone. That’s ₦4,800 a month gone just like that. Now I use my notes app. It takes 10 seconds to type “pure water - 50”. Seeing it on paper makes you stop and think before spending. 2. Separate Your Money Into 3 Pockets Don’t keep all your money in one place. I use this rule: - 30% for needs: food, transport, data - 20% for savings, no matter how small - 50% for “life”: hanging out, clothes, random stuff Even if you only have ₦2,000, do it. ₦400 into savings feels useless today, but after 6 months you’ll have ₦2,400 that wasn’t there before. That’s emergency money for when your phone screen cracks. 3. Learn to Say “Not Now” to Yourself The hardest part is delaying wants. I used to see new shoes on Instagram and buy them same day. Now I wait 72 hours. 9 times out of 10, I forget about it. If you still want it after 3 days, buy it. But most times you realize you just wanted the feeling of buying something, not the item itself.

The result? In 4 months I saved ₦18,000 just from cutting small leaks. That money paid for my final project printing and left me with change. You don’t need a big salary to start managing money. You just need to be honest about where it’s going and make one small change today. What’s one money mistake you’ve made this year? Drop it in the comments, let’s learn together.