"In January 2022, I was promoted after a two-year wait (Covid-related) and my gross salary was bumped to Ksh80,000. It translated to a take home income of Ksh61,000 with some loose change.
Coming from a take-home of a few hundred shy of Ksh45,000, this salary bump was a big deal for me. And I did not waste time.
The very next month in February 2022, I moved to Kiambu Road and rented a Ksh27,000-a-month one-bedroom apartment. This is from my perfectly okay Ksh14,000 one-bedroom in Zimmerman. I just didn’t like the location anymore.
In my new Kiambu Road world, I would roughly spend another Ksh15,000 of my salary on food, a litany of other things I considered “needs” and servicing my higher education loan (Ksh3,000 a month).
An additional Ksh10,000 or thereabout would be spent on subscriptions, including gym and TV, WiFi, take outs, entertaining friends, among others.
Depending on the month’s activities, like whenever I skipped the occasional road trips to Naivasha, I targeted to have spared Ksh10,000 by the time my next salary arrived. I thought of it as my savings, although I did not have the personal discipline to keep myself in check.
After all, given how enthusiastically my boss had handed me this promotion, I thought I would soon enough be saving a lot more once my salary hit Ksh100,000."
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Read on to see how the 50/30/20 rule changed the writer's savings habits, the mistakes, tips and how to succeed in reaching your savings goals.
https://www.money254.co.ke/pos....t/i-tried-out-the-50
This article is part of our #Money254 Partner Series produced in partnership with Absa Bank Kenya to celebrate the launch of their new digital savings account.
