Yes! The title says it all. I put $4000 towards my debt this year. Yes, it's a crazy amount. No, it's not a trick. Yes, it did take a lot of work.
A couple of years ago, prior to me getting my own apartment, I did something similar - I was able to save enough to pay off all debts and have enough to put down 3 months rent and security deposit. I had wonderful financial independence and money in the bank to furnish my place as I pleased. But what happened to that 'freedom' was that in the back of my mind I saw the saved money as a cushion. Which it should, but it shouldn't be a readily available cushion. It should be that emergency cushion. The one you rely on after falling 100ft with growing momentum. That kind of cushion.
I was able to save money by participating in a money pool. Yes, scammer bells alert. Its commonly known as Susu, in Yoruba we call it ajo. Susu is a trust network of close friends and family who come together to contribute a certain amount, evenly. Depending on the number of people participating you have the same number of rounds (10 people = 10 rounds).
What happens is that each round one person picks up the total collective amount that each person contributes. Say 10 people put in $100 each, that means one person collects $1,000. And it goes on for as long until everyone has a turn (round) to pick up.
The practice is nothing more than a saving's system, where you get the same money that you put in. The only thing is that you don't get to touch that money because someone else has is in their accounts.
So I January was my turn to collect as you can imagine. I put money towards jegbese and paid off some loans - but now looking at my interest payments I think I need to buckle down more. Interest and principal payments are hand in hand. I hope this makes sense for those of you reading - you DO NOT have to find a susu group - in fact, I bid you only to do it with people you trust. You can play susu with yourself by paying the same amount to your savings account or towards a loan. I've added some pros and cons from my older website below:
What are the Pro’s and Con’s of Modern Day Susu?
Pros
- A great form of peer pressure to save money
- Once you collect your contributions (susu) you have a large amount of money that can be applied towards a purchase or a debt payoff
Cons
- No interest
- It’s based solely on trust and reliability – so if someone breaks that trust it leaves many people out of receiving their one rotation back
- It may be hard to envision the benefit
So there you have it, a breakdown of what Susu really is. This has been and still is my primary form of saving. I see it as a no BS, no touch zone. You don’t want people messing with your money so you come correct every two weeks or however so often, and you put down your cash into the pool.
Since 2014, once I got a secure full-time job, I’ve been in 4 contribution schedules and counting. In 2014 I contributed $600 every 2 weeks, roughly $1200, for 10 months.
That’s $12,000.
Yea, I could have made an extra .12 cents had I saved it at a bank (what a loss), but my temptations to grab an “emergency” withdrawal was never possible.
And that is the biggest reason for Susu’s success. Pressure’s on.
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