How to cope with January challenges

Dar es Salaam. To many parents and guardians, January is the most depressing month and is perceived as the longest month of the year.

The 31-day month always comes with a slew of demands that require the attention of parents both financially and mentally, and it is the pressure of meeting these demands that usually make them go wild as they grapple with deadlines.

First is the issue of school fees that comes with a list of other related costs: stationery, uniforms, shoes, textbooks.

Things may be a bit lighter if one lives in one’s own house because for others January is also the time when they face the landlords or landladies demanding their monthly but mostly six or 12 month house rent.

As if this is not enough, there will also be a number of other bills that will need to be cleared before the month of the Zanzibar Revolution ends. To name a few: electricity bills, water bills, satellite tv and mobile phone subscriptions.

But January is also part and parcel of end of the festive season (Christmas and New Year), when families spend a significant amount of their savings. It is not so much surprising that many people look at the month of January with apprehension.

But why does this month seem to be so torturous to people that they are so fearful about? Well, according to Dr Donath Olomi, a prominent economist, it is because of kind of demands that it puts on people.

Dr Olomi says the fear among many parents of the month of January is to be expected given the fact that December, by its very nature, drains so much off the family’s savings. “People who are good at planning, however, can mitigate this fear and troubles that come with the month,” he says. “It’s important that people make their yearly expenditure plans carefully basing on the level of their income.”

Another don, Prof Samuel Wangwe, associated the perception people usually have of the month of January with the culture of making no savings. He said many people lack a savings culture and they instead blame January woes on their low incomes.

“If people were to save, the fear (of January) wouldn’t be as big as it is now,” said Prof Wangwe. Still, he advises that, “when we celebrate, we must be aware of the coming of January. We must avoid being driven by festivities to the extent of spending beyond our (financial) abilities.”