How to enjoy December without a broke January

Why December eats January

December is the most expensive month for many families: travel home, Christmas food, gifts, church and family contributions, weddings and owambe, outings with friends who are back in town. Much of it is worth it.

The trouble is timing. January's bills are already known in December: second-term school fees, rent renewals, transport back to the city, food until the January salary. But in December they're a few weeks away, and the money for them sits in the same balance as the celebrations.

Research on how people choose describes this well. People tend to put off things with costs now and rush into things with rewards now.^[1] December's rewards are now; January's bills are later. So without something holding January's money, December uses it.

And the cushion is thin for most people. Nationally, 62% of Nigerian adults say emergency money would be very difficult to raise.^[2] A short January is hard to recover from.

What December costs January

An illustration.

	January left to chance	January funded first
Set aside from November pay	₦0	₦60,000
Set aside from December pay	₦0	₦90,000
Ready on 1 January for school fees and food	₦0	₦150,000
What happens in January	Borrow, or delay fees	Pay on the first day

The family on the right has less to spend in December, but their December is paid for. The family on the left spends the same money twice: once in December, and again in January, with interest if they borrowed.

What protects January, with or without Delight

1. List January's bills now. School fees, rent or rent contributions, transport back, food and data until January's salary. Put a naira figure on each.
2. Fund January first, from your November and December pay, before December spending starts.
3. Lock it until 1 January. Keep January's money somewhere December can't reach without a cost.
4. Give December its own budget with an end date. Travel, gifts, food, outings: what's in it is what December can spend, without guilt.
5. Decide the big December amounts in advance: the travel, the gifts, the aso-ebi. See how to handle owambe spending.
6. Label the money. When part of a budget carries a label, people spend it according to the label.^[3] "January" is a label December has to respect.

Set it up in Delight

1. Create a one-time budget called January that ends on 31 January, with the amount January needs. If you'd rather split it, make January a group with sub-budgets such as School Fees, Rent and Food, and lock each sub-budget, because locks work on sub-budgets and standalone budgets, not on groups.
2. Fund it from November and December pay. Check that Auto-fund is enabled on it and move it near the top under Funding priority, or move money in yourself.
3. Lock it until 1 January. Open the budget, tap Add Control and choose a lock with a Custom Duration ending on 1 January. On a one-time budget, a lock can last until the budget ends. Write a short note on why this lock matters; it's shown on the lock as a reminder. You can still add money while it's locked.
4. Create a December budget that ends on 31 December. This is your Christmas and Detty December money. When a one-time budget ends, anything left goes back to your wallet.
5. Pace December if you want. Put drip mode on the December budget, for example a weekly amount, so the first weekend doesn't take the whole month.
6. Schedule January's payments after the lock ends. For school fees or rent, create an automation from the January budget for a date after 1 January. A scheduled payment won't go through from a locked budget, and Delight warns you about 30 minutes before if it would be stopped.
7. For school fees every term, plan ahead. See how to save for school fees one term at a time.