For most salaried workers, things are tight as the month winds down to an end. But desperate situations call for desperate tactics to survive. Tactics like…Hold on tight to your phoneThe last thing a broke person wants is a person calling your phone and you are busy chopping onions in the kitchen while the phone idles away in the living room. When you are broke, there should be no excuse whatsoever for missing any call on your phone. So carry it wherever you move. It’s the reason it’s called a “mobile phone”, duh!Even when charging the phone, which is really understandable, make sure to keep within earshot of your ring tone. Talking of ringtones, I know of a certain category of people with memories so short that they forget their own ringing tones. Well, the broke season is hardly the time in which to forget the ringing tone of your phone. The last thing you want is an important missed call on your phone, when you have zero or near-zero credit on it. So, be as mobile with your phone as you can. Carry loose notesYou know you are already broke, so the last thing you want is to go to the neighbourhood shop to pick up a few groceries with your remaining coins, only for you to be reminded of that Rwf3,000 debt you owe the shop from two weeks ago. The shop attendant will want to know if he can “chop” it from the last Rwf5,000 note you just handed them for a loaf of bread. If the situation is really tight, carry on with this trend wherever you go; to the office cafeteria, even while boarding public means. You don’t want that cute female co-worker riding on her looks to squeeze the last coins out of your pockets to pay for her taxi fare do you? Yes, mean situations call for mean measures!If you are a smoker, common sense dictates that if you had been buying (and puffing) Intore cigarettes by the packet, it is now time to swallow your pride and downsize to the rather humiliating ordeal of having to buy the cigarettes by the stick. The problem with buying loose cigarettes is that, not only is it more expensive (buying by the packet saves you at least Rwf 200), the shop attendant some times takes ages fidgeting around for scraps of paper in which to wrap your shameful, miserable stock. Same thing with buying green bananas, if not worse. Whenever I’m broke, I opt for the green bananas sold by the kilo, and temporarily and conveniently forget about the benefits of buying by the bunch. And for an ardent lover of bananas like me, this often results into several unnecessary trips down to Kabagali, in Kacyiru trading centre, which is quite a distance from where I stay. When the brokenness subsides, I forget all about bananas sold by the kilo, because who has the time to wait 5, 8, 10 minutes while the seller sorts, weighs and packs your order? The more sensible thing is to go for the bunch, which is what I usually do. Not only is buying by the bunch a lot cheaper, it saves one all those unnecessary trips down to the food vendors.
