Living alone diaries #1 Introduction: HOW are mattresses so expensive?

Hi baes, my name is Ahmad and I just recently (a month ago) moved out and started living by myself.
Okay, so, let me do a little introduction before I start talking; I’m male (he/him, if anyone was asking), twenty and a lil sumn years old, I come from a comfortably middle-class family and recently I've had the sudden urge to chronicle my life on the internet (where anyone can see and ridicule me).

I graduated university last year (2021) with a degree in mass communication, which I may never really use, and a strong hatred for the Nigerian education system, but I digress. February of 2022, I registered and began my journey as a member of the National Youth Service Corps (for any one who is not Nigerian, it’s a mandatory one-year paramilitary service program set up by the government during the military regime to involve Nigerian graduates in nation building) If you can’t tell, I copied that whole sentence from google because I have no words to describe the scheme (also I’m legally prohibited from expressly talking about my experiences while still “serving”)

Very democratic, I know.

During this service year you’re posted to a random part of the country for the duration of the program, so as to “foster national integration and promote unity”, I was posted to Jos, Plateau state, which honestly isn’t the worst place I could have been posted to — I live in Abuja and its roughly a four-hour road trip — I know some people who have been flung across the country in the name of NYSC, hm.
God be a fence and a walking stick.

Anyways, why am I writing this? I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who is also serving, and I realized that there’s a LOT of stuff they don’t teach you in school that you’re just expected to figure out as you go into life; navigating people, loss and disappointment, FINANCES (Jehovah Elohim) etc. and I felt/feel very alone and scared on this journey into adulthood. So, a few days ago I was watching one of my favorite youtubers (doobydobap) and she just recently started living alone as well, fully independently as a fulltime content creator. She started a series called living alone (I think? I’m too lazy to reach across the bed to pick up my phone right now so pls believe me) and I’ve been riveted on her content ever since.
It’s so nice to see someone going through similar struggles as you and navigating their life without knowing exactly what they’re doing too. Its like thank God, I’m not the only one just winging it. Again, no one really tells you all this stuff, you’re just thrust into it and told to find your way.

So, I’m writing this for the same reason she makes the YouTube series; because publicly journaling what you’re going through makes you less lonely, and also, watching her videos made me feel better about everything I’m going through; id like to do the same for other people too. Even if its just three people that I can make feel less lonely and lost, then it’ll be worth it.
Also, I’m tired of people asking me how I am, so when anyone asks, id just send them the link to this, talking can be very draining.
Kill two birds with one stone, eh?
I’m too smart, abeg.
Now that you know who I am (at least, to an extent) and why I’m doing this, we can move forward.

I know it would have been ideal for me to start this when I actually moved in and all, alas, inspiration did not strike then. My apologies.
I live in a cozy self con apartment -a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen- (thank you, Dad), with pale pink walls and one big window. I hated the pink at first but now it’s growing on me.
Since this is basically an internet diary, there might not be much structure to how I write or what comes out of my brain; I want this to be as raw and unedited as possible, warts and all. So, ill write about my anxiety, my fears, challenges I’m facing and how I’m overcoming them, relationships I’m cultivating, habits I’m forming and so on.
Very much unfiltered, hm.
I think I’ll post every Monday, that’s good yeah? Start of the week and all. I just hope work and life in general doesn’t break my consistency.
Anyways, happy new month guys!
It’s the second of June as I’m writing this, so, new month struggles.
Money, money, money. Gosh.
Growing up I was privileged enough that I never really thought about money or felt any the lack of it in my life, that coupled with going to private institutions my whole life, meant I had never really worried about my finances or money.
University did teach me a good bit though, I learnt how to budget and actually keep to it, and also, I learnt how to save. I can’t lie, I’ve always been pretty good with money, mostly because I hate being broke and uncomfortable; I’d rather discipline myself than ‘enjoy’ and then go broke by the third week of the month. That’s how I managed to afford my phone and airpods.
If you couldn’t tell, I’m proud of myself.
For these reasons money management has never really been that hard for me, but money while living completely by myself is slightly different than money when you’re in a private university and all you spend on is food, printing things, and data. Living alone means you’re going to spend on more.
Now, the NYSC scheme itself pays you 33k (Naira, sigh) every month, then depending on where your primary place of assignment is, they could also (from their pockets) pay you anything from 5k to 70k. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky, my own workplace pays 10k.
I mean, I’m still grateful, its something, you know? Apart from that, I still get some money from home.
And even with that, I sat down yesterday and did a full budgeting and costing and I’m probably going to be living almost pay day to pay day.
I’d only be able to have a monthly saving of half of what I used to save while I was in school.

Sigh. Nigeria is actually hard I can’t lie.

Anyways, can we actually talk about how expensive mattresses are?
Like, how is it not common knowledge that a mattress is like 30k?
Where are we actually going in this country, please?
I got mine for a steal, sha, it was 20k because I went directly to the factory to get it.
#costeffective
Now, we segue to money saving tips that I’ve learnt and will be implementing or have already implemented now that I live alone.
Note; this is not all my own knowledge, some is off the internet, some from my older brother (who is also serving), some from my friends and some from experience.

#1
Understand what’s important to you; what are your priorities? Itemize those things that you consider absolutely essential and that you can afford not to cut corners on. For me, its data; no matter how broke I am I WILL buy that 6k for 45gb monthly plan, I’m not even sorry. For other people it might be food; maybe three, filling square meals a day are non-negotiables for you. Maybe its your gym membership.
Whatever it is, makes sure it’s actually important, then carve out its own section from your income. I’ve learnt that there has to be at the very least one thing that’s essential to you and that you can afford to go all out for. Of course, this also means every other thing would have to be secondary to this, but that should be a trade off you’re willing to make.

#2
Cook.
For some people, I know this is an annoying chore, and while the average cost of eating out varies dramatically depending on where you actually eat at, most restaurants charge about a 300% increase on items they serve, in comparison to what you would spend at home, making the same meal yourself.
Plus, if you’re health conscious like me (which you should be), cooking at home with ingredients you bought yourself, is just better; you know exactly what’s in your food.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or elaborate; the food you cook at home doesn’t have to be restaurant grade, it just has to be filling and taste good.
For me, stuff like spaghetti, rice and noodles are the easiest, most versatile options; you can make them white and eat with stew, you can make them jollof, or, you can stir fry them with vegetables and cuts of meat for a healthier option.
For breakfast, bread and eggs, bread and a spread, cereal and fruit, oats and fruit fried yam/potatoes and eggs/ketchup. These are all (to me) simple, inexpensive options for a quick, filling breakfast.
If you couldn’t already tell, I eat only twice a day. Not because I'm cutting costs or anything, but that's how we were raised back home. So, two meals a day is pretty okay for me.

Lmfao, I feel like a lifestyle blogger.

Anyways, when you buy ingredients and cook yourself, you realize that its actually much more affordable than buying food outside.
Like the planning freak that I am, I actually have a meal plan, so I’m not thinking “what do I eat now?” then scrambling last minute to make something to eat before I pass out from hunger.
Never cute.
Its just a more put together feeling knowing what you’re going to have the next day and this allows you to get the ingredients you need prior to what you actually start cooking.
Another advantage of having a meal plan is it enables you to keep a careful eye on your budget.

#3
You guessed it; Budgeting and planning.
This would never be a list of money saving tips from me if it did not include budgeting.
Obviously, I’m not a financial advisor and all of this is just personal experience and vibes, but even though, even though.
Now, budgeting is where you really look into your money and think about all the things you want to do with it.
I’m just going to tell you my own process to doing it.
I actively visualize my days and write down every single thing I use during the day. It’s a long process, but you most probably won’t miss anything this way.

How do they start?
I wake up and down a bottle/sachet of water, then I go and brush my teeth.
That’s potentially three things I can write down on my list of things now;
• A pack/bag of water
• A toothbrush
• Tooth paste.
After that, I do some yoga, then have s cup of tea with lemon.
• A pack of Lipton (whatever kind of tea you prefer, I personally hate milo, bounvita and all of that crap)
• A lemon
Then, I eat bread and eggs, and go on to shower.
• Eggs (if you have a fridge just buy a lot of eggs and keep them for the month)
• Bathing soap.
• Sponge/loofah.
I could go on and on but you get the idea. Imagine yourself living through a day, what are the things you use?

Go through this imaginary visualization cycle for like a week (I mean visualize Monday through Sunday just in case different days have different routines and requirements for you) so you don’t miss anything.
After I have my long ass list of everything I use, I will then start sorting out that list in order of importance; you would have to re-write the list, putting the most essential things at the top, and ending with the least important. Imagine the first things on the list as “I absolutely have to get these” and the last things as “I would like to have these, but I wouldn’t die if I didn’t have them”, this allows you to make sure you’re prioritizing what is actually important in your daily life.
Most likely, the first ten items on the list would be the most important, most essential things to you.

After that, find out prices for everything and set a budget for all the things you would want to get, its important here to remember that you may not be able to get to the last few things on your list if you’re really on a budget, and that’s fine too, sometimes you won’t have it all; its what you do with what you have that matters.
When you’re done you should have everything you would use in a month written down.
This is when I go to the market to get everything I need.

Another small tip my friend recommended which I’m excited to try out is splitting your money according to the week; for this you need to have at least two accounts, when your money comes in, it should all go into one account, then since you’ve done all your visualization and budgeting, you would know exactly how much money you would have to spend for a week, so move only that amount into the other account, ALL that would be in this second account is the money you intend to use for that week.

As I’m writing all this out, I’m really deeping that maybe I’m lowkey a control freak.
That’s fine though, as long as I’m not broke, Hallelujah, Amen.

I love, love, love, being planned and on top of things; I don't like uncertainties and I'm definitely not a very spontaneous person, so, having all my crap planned out is really, really important to me. I already have a lot of anxiety about living alone and all, so planning grounds me, you know?

Sometimes I feel like I over emphasize the details of life just a little too much, hm.

Anyways, lets not turn this into a therapy session.

So yeah, I think I’m going to end this journal entry here because its already way longer than I thought it would be and I want this to be short.

Right now, there’s no light and I’m seated Indian style on the ground, writing this.
Very cool and luxurious.
Anyways, I’ll talk to u guys next week.