The Situation
This image was taken from a post by @monica-ene where she wrote about shopping in Nigeria. You can check out the article here. Source
Now, I really enjoyed the insight into a Nigerian market but the overall picture was pretty bleak.
A few quotes from her article:
She believed that there is no chance that the wages would be enough to provide food for a month
Knowing fully well that all this wouldn't last a family of 4 beyond 3weeks.
That the wages just wouldn't be enough to survive on. It left an impression that minimum wage was a death sentence. Be fed just enough to make sure you are still hungry and wanting.
Well no body can actually be able to survive with the 30k looking at the current prices of goods as I will be posting them
At the end she made a shopping list of things to pick up at the market and go home depressed that it wasn't going to be enough and that it would be another month of struggle, no fun, no hope, and hunger.
Basically when you visit the market, you can only pick a few things with the 30k. Probably a tin of milk 2500 And milo 2500 Bag of Semo 7500 Pack of noodles 4300 Paint of rice. 2500 Keg of oil 7000
In addition to the lack of hope that I heard in Monica's post the Hive Learners community had a discussion topic of "How inflation is hurting and how you cope"
Again, the Nigerian community (and others) stepped up wrote about how hard it is to cope with inflation.
I heard stories of people not bothering to go out and socialize because its too expensive. Others not going out because there is nothing outside other than heat, crime and items that are unaffordable. Others trying to fight inflation by buying in bulk but still not having enough. Still others frustrated because prices seemed to jump daily with one poor poster having the price go up on him in the time it took to go home and get his wallet.
My Response / Sanity Check
I'm torn in how I should respond to articles like the ones that I've read.
On the one side I have no links or ties to Nigeria or its people. I've never personally met someone from Nigeria and nothing to gain from helping
On the other side I want to fight against poverty, injustice and hopelessness wherever I see it. Whether it is my personal fight or not.
Before Hive there was no practical way for me to take any action or communicate in any reasonable way with people so far away. With Hive I can communicate with the community easily and send funds directly. But is this a fight I should bother with?
I wonder if it's arrogance that I think I could come up with a plan where people in the middle of the fight are facing despair. I'm reading reports from biologists, doctors, and other well educated people about the futility of the fight. Why should I think I would do any better?
I wonder if it's insulting that I think I could advise someone in a situation I've never encountered. I really don't want to be seen as some rich westerner meddling in affairs that are not his own.
I wonder if its condescending that I would offer advice to people when I've never set foot in their country. The people I've been reading are incredibly hardworking, intelligent and skilled. If anyone could solve the problems it would be them.
However
I am hearing people who have lost hope. How can I not stop and try to help?
I am removed from the situation so perhaps I can give a different viewpoint from a different perspective?
Hive gives me a way to stand beside others and help as I'm able. If I can help other skilled people to work my effectively should I lend a hand where I can?
Asking for help
So, I'll be asking for help from anyone who cares to help me write my upcoming posts and thoughts on how to survive on such little money.
What help do I need?
Mostly I would categorize it as Prices and Feedback
I'll be presenting ideas on bulk buying, diet, community, lifestyle changes, cool money saving products and more. However, without getting prices on stuff I'll have no idea if I've hit the $65 budget or gone way over. Without getting feedback I'll have no way to know if I'm giving good ideas or useless crap.
My First Post
Is it even possible to eat for 30,000 Naira per month....Based on the prices given by Monica in her post?
First I'll consider a typical Canadian breakfast of milk and cereal.
Milk satchet was listed at 30 cents (USD). It isn't listed the size of the satchet but I'll assume it was 20g which would yield about 250ml of milk
Add on some cereal which is $3.60 for 350g.
I can already tell you the numbers aren't looking very good.
20g of Milo is about 90 calories
350g of corn flakes is about 1400 calories.
So $3.90 for 1490 calories with a requirement of 2000 calories a day.
Which is not surprising at all because of one rule I'm going to add for surviving on a tight budget
RULE: Don't pay other people to do your cooking!
Corn flakes is made by Nasco while Milo is made by Nestle. They are prepared foods made by big companies. In short you are paying the companies to make your food for you! It is poor people giving to rich companies! Can't do that on such a low budget.
Second I'll consider the instant noodle packages.
These are favorites of broke students worldwide! Maybe they will win on the $2.15day challenge. Although I bet it will not because of the above rule about prepared foods! But, lets look at the numbers.
Monica said it costs $9 for a carton. However, she didn't say how many are in the carton. I will assume that it is a 24 pack of 70g instant noodles.
Assuming that the 70g pack has 300 calories and 24 in a pack that means 7200 calories for the whole box. If a person needs 2000 calories a day then the box would be good for about 3.5 days.
$9 for 3.5days of food means : $2.57 per day
As I thought.
Third: Let's look at the oil, rice and semolina (flour)
I'm actually a lot more hopeful for these items. They are NOT really processed food. They are staple foods that you have to cook yourself.
Now in Monica's post she said that she bought
- A paint of rice for 2500 ($5.50)
- A keg of oil for 7000 ($15.40)
- A bag of Semo for 7500 (16.50)
I will make a few assumptions: That the paint of rice is a "Paint Can" of rice which would weigh about 14kg. The keg of oil is 5L of palm oil (shown earlier in her article). That the Semo is semolina as shown in picture not semovita as written and that it is 10kg.
Not sure of those assumptions but I have to work with something:
So.
- 5L of Palm oil has about 40,000 calories
- 10kg of flour has about 36,000 calories
- 14kg of rice has about 50,000 calories
That means $37.40 for 126,000 calories. If you need 2000 calories per day that means 126,000 calories will cover 63 days.
Or a cost of 59 cents per day for one person.
But there are a few problems. First, Monica was talking about feeding a family of 4 and she is right 30,000 Naira for a family of 4 is a task even I'm not going to try and undertake. Second, it is NOT possible to live on those three items. There are two carbohydrate sources and one fat source but there is NO protein source. Sad to say but protein sources are the most expensive portion of food budget.
I have ideas on inexpensive protein sources. Typically it means beans and other legumes. I remember another person reading about how they switched to a less expensive fish to save money. However, I have a little different approach.
Live as cheaply as humanly possible for many days of the week when its not important. Then spend a little of what you saved so you can have the nicer fish, beef, or chicken on a few days of the month. In short save regularly and splurge occassionally.
End of article message
I believe that there is hope
While it may not be great food. The oil, rice and flour could be used to make something to eat at a cost far less than the $2.15 budget we have. At least ONE person could eat on a 30,000naira/day budget.
However it is NOT possible for a family of four in my opinion.
It is also NOT possible unless you follow the rule:
Packaged and prepared foods just add to the profits of major companies and I don't believe that should be part of an inexpensive/frugal lifestyle.
Getting a protein source into the diet is also super important. Next article I'll look into making a diet from BASIC unprocessed ingredients and see what dollar value I get when looking at actually balancing the macro's (carbohydrates, fats, and protein).
Final Thought:
Help and Rewards.
I'd like to request the help of all you wonderful Hive users out there to get prices on basic staple foods. The ones I'm most interested in are:
- Sugar
- Flour
- Cassava flour / Garri
- Split peas
- Chickpeas
- Dried Soya bean
- Peanut
- Oatmeal
- Milk
- Eggs
- Beef/Fish/Chicken/Turkey
- Rice
- Potato
Now my upvotes won't be worth much so I'd like ideas on how I should reward those who help me out. Should I make a contest? Should I tip in Hive or HBD? Should I tip in ecency points? Plus how much tip is nice to receive and how little is insulting?
So, I'm asking for the help of these people I've either heard from or read from for feedback. I'm adding it to ping you and if you don't want to be pinged or don't like my posts please let me know so I won't bother you again.
@monica-ene, @emreal, @etorobong, @jmis101, @beautiefair @deborah-yelemu, @jjmusa2004, @nkemakonam89, @drceeyou
Thanks everyone.
And to the moderators. I think I've followed guidelines but if I've strayed let me know please
I really love this article, I wish everyone on the chain can read it. Of a truth things are really very difficult but we can still survive if we can be able to minimize the way we do a lot of things.. I won't lie, I appreciate the part you spoke about paying someone to prepare your meal. I wish we will all pay attention to it , glad you made emphasis on it a lot. It really consumes a lot of money. Most people love ready made foods and they wonder how their money flies into the air in no time. In times like this one just needs to be super calculative and judicious in spending money
If you continue reading all the posts that I'll be making on surviving (and thriving) on 30K/month I think you will find that I am all about the numbers. I always tell my son's DO THE MATH because it can show the difference between a good deal and a bad one. When dealing with an impossible budget shaving every penny/naira is imperative.
I am so happy you enjoyed the post and hope you read the ones to come. I also appreciate feedback either positive or negative. I have a lot to learn and look forward to hearing from people with first hand knowledge in Nigeria...or any other country that care to read my posts.
Thank you.
I am always around sir, the message you are passing across is important for everyone, the days are hard, we all know it.. one needs to survive..
I also believe there is a way out.
Positive rich ways, and you outlined the important useful ones.
Especially when it comes to our diet.
If the family can also plant and grow some crops, it could help a bit.
But 30,000 naira for a family of 4 for a month is still going to be a fight.
I could help out with few price of the food items listed from my end.
And prices differs based on location and where it is bought.
But will still be close.
My end goal is 30K for ONE person.
I appreciate you offering to help. However, I think you should know that I have set aside 65HBD/month (30K Naira) to my project. At first to reward those people who help out with me making the plan. At the end to hire someone to see how well (or poorly) the plan works.
If you, Monica, or others provide help to me getting prices and giving me ideas I fully expect to share a portion of that budget along to you.
However, I'm wondering the best way to divide that budget.
Any advice you have would be appreciated.
Thanks
Side note: Next post in the 30K lifestyle will be about water satchet. Would you happen to have a picture of one that I could use for my post?
Number of participants should also be determined.
30k for a person is going to be a normal managing lifestyle.
We will start to settle the necessary ones :
I will get a photo of a pure water soon.
Ohhh.... 5000 naira for a simple single room? I'll absolutely have to pay someone to go investigate what that room would be like! 30 Naira for borehole water? Also sounds very interesting. Need more information on that for sure. Pure drinking water I will admit I know how important pure water is but I'll be writing a post about how to get pure water for less money. That seems like too big a portion of the budget. Absolutely look forward to a picture.
Hahaha
That's the cost of a single room apartment in my location.
I forgot to include the electricity bill, toilet bill and a drink for the landlord.
Though these ones are paid in a total amount for a year.
A selfcon that has toilet, bathroom and kitchen inside, one you don't get to share with someone could be fifteen - twenty five thousand a month.
To put things in comparison. In my town a single room (no toilet, no kitchen) is about N 225,000 per month (about $500 USD). A self contained one bedroom unit w0uld probably be closer to N 500,000. Yes wages are higher in Canada but costs are also much much higher also. Very different budgeting which is why I'm so happy to have help on my mission from people such as yourself.
Thank you again.
I'm assuming that I have your permission to use the image above 😁... Hive is pretty demanding on having the right to post pictures ... hehehe
Yes, the house depends on the location.
The prices differs.
I chose the mostly cheapest or lowest manageable.
Like I said, is normal managing lifestyle.
Yes, you have my permission to use it.
You've made very solid analysis here and your suggestions are top notch. I'll love to add to your work here and should be responding with the price data in a few days. I'll surely tag you to give you a ping, as necessary.
I was surprised you've worked so much on this, and I'll be here to give whatever support needed. I think with a bit more data, you can make a better presentation with solid analysis.
You can drop a reply with some more specifics if necessary. However, lemme just share something that might interest you for a start, a vlog of a Nigerian influencer trying to survive on 30k for a few days (while its funny, it sheds light on some sad realities):
Thank you. I plan to work on this post/topic for weeks and probably months. I'll happily watch the blogger when I'm back home (on vacation right now). Being frugal to the extent of 30K budget takes a lot of dedication, planning, and useful items that the 30K budget probably won't allow for. However, I'm looking forward to looking into it and really appreciate you joining in on the conversation!
Thank you so much.
By the way. The next posts are going to be about affordable clean water (need Biologist you to send critique) and about minimizing food budget using basic staple foods (need food lover in you for that).
Looking forward to where this goes.
let me add to your analysis.
To be able to survive on 30k a month, there are some basic things that need to be settled first.
You should be living in your own house and not paying rent. Because you cant save enough for a rent on 30k a month. The baseline is, you can't worry about paying rent when you are earning 30k per month.
Your working place should be a walkable distance from your house. You cant be worried about transportation to and from work, when you are earning such meagre sum.
You should have health insurance to cover any immediate medical needs that may arise. But since the medical insurance in Nigeria is crappy at best, then you can only hope and pray that a medical emergency doesn't come up.
Your wardrobe should be stocked. You cannot be worrying about clothes on 30k a month.
Once the above has been settled, you are left with food. With a well calculated formula and discipline you can survive on 30k a month.
But since youll have to be in utopia for all the above to align at the same time, then, well... I don't know.. Is there still hope?
You are absolutely right. Housing will be an insurmountable challenge. Transportation to and from a job a huge part of the budget. Safe drinking water eats into the meager budget. Healthcare? Seriously? It will be virtually impossible to cope if you get sick. How about cleaning and grooming supplies? Clothing? Certainly not going to be trendy. Absolutely going to be second hand that no-one else wanted. Airconditioning in the Nigerian heat? Not possible. Entertaining guests? Going on fun vacations? Nope.
The list of the impossible goes on and on. It is very very easy to just say can't be done. Not my problem. Move on to something less depressing.
My goal is simply to look at what MIGHT be possible. What COULD be done. It won't be easy. It won't be conventional. It is probably a waste of time. However, if no-one even tries then a huge portion of the worlds population is doomed.
I certainly appreciate your input and hope you will rip apart all the posts I put up on this topic.
All I ask is that you keep an open mind and if there is a good idea that comes up you acknowledge it 😁
....and if there is a terrible idea you tell me and stomp that bad idea to death 😎
you've got it mate! Love your optimism ... seeing only things that are possible. A good way to begin to make some positive change one way or the other.
Well... how about taking attention away from the meagre some and trying to make it fit for a life...? How about having another perspective... one that seeks to improve income.... cos let's be frank... 30k a month, even though it was pretty good 30yrs ago would not be what someone would aspire to learn for a lifetime.
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Well, I appreciate your great analysis. This is impressive especially as someone that's not Nigerian.
In Nigeria, the calories one will burn to even make that N30,000 far exceeds the calories that N30,000 will end up procuring.
The logistics of other factors of daily living such as transportation, electricity bills, medical bills will engulf the minimum wage no matter how much one tries to live humbly. It is rather unfortunate but, employers will use you to your last sweat.
A colleague of mine today asked if I can get a salesgirl for him for N12,000 ($16) per month. The first question I asked is how she'll transport herself to the workplace because if she removes the transport fare, the money would be gone!
I love your analysis and I'm glad to read your views always
My parents in law are Filipino. The wages in the Philippines are also pretty low. However, while my parents pay low wages they always make sure to pay the jeepney (transportation) to and from work and give them a snack and full meal while they are working. To me that seems fair.
However, to pay someone $16/month not really. As you said, how will they pay for transportation? Now maybe if you buy them a bicycle 🤔
Honestly though, 30,000 Naira seems very tough but I'm willing to work on that. N12,000? I'm frugal and like a challenge but that's just not possible.
I'm not sure I agree with not being able to get 60,000 calories for N30,000. I am absolutely positive you can do that albeit with little variety. I'm more curious about being able to budget for cellphone, electricity, water, transportation and housing as well as food for that budget.
I hope you continue reading and giving feedback as I write additional posts on this topic. (This is just the first in a series)
Thanks for your support.
Wow.... You have truly dissected my post and provided an alternative to how one can live comfortably with the little we have.
So many people eat alot of processed food and every income is spent on buying rather than trying to farm or grow our own meals.
I could volunteer to check up the prices of the above listed and having a heart willing to serve and help others doesn't often require that I get rewarded for rendering these services.
Been a volunteer worker in one or two organization am interested in helping out here.
And I hope that my fellow country men can learn a thing or two giving them hope for tomorrow.
Thanks for this.
That's good to know.
You're doing well
I have a lot more to write! I hope you don't get too bored by the end up. Next up is water satchets (they seem like a terrible idea). Then bulk buying. Then a review on solar cooking food (which I think would be awesome in Nigeria). Then a balanced diet for a bargain price. Then how to make money, help your neighbors, and feed yourself (that will be fun).
I have a lot to write ... but as I said, I will really need help finding out what things cost so I can budget better and make a better overall post.
Wowwww... This is really an awesome task.
Solar cooking is not yet achievable Here.
People are only getting familiar with using solar power to power basic gadgets like fan and TV sets.
I have a solar cooker (Mr. Sun) which I'll be writing a review on and hopefully getting ideas on. Also homemade solar oven and cooking with a solar sunshade. I've done all of them in Canada with very low cost. The solar oven was able to bake a cake and cost about N4000 to make. Cooking with the sunshade I was able to cook beans for a cost of about N2000. Neither was very elegant because my design skill is terrible but still.....affordable and at least an interesting talking point.
.... but more on that later.
First up will be 1) Clean drinking water and 2) A cheap balanced(ish) diet.
But I'm on vacation with my Mom so posts will be a little slow in coming.
That is quite cheap and will be highly beneficial here since we have abundance of sunlight.
The major points have been highlighted, lets work with that.
Enjoy your vacation.
Great analysis but 30k in a month for a whole family, really quite impossible to me
Agreed.
My goal would be only one person
I absolutely agree that 30K for a whole family is impossible. I'm writing this post (and a series after) on the premise of trying to stretch 30K for a SINGLE person and think that's an impossible task as well.
However, there is a saying "Shoot for the stars and if you only reach the moon its not that bad". Maybe I can't reach the goal but if I can give some light on possibilities I'll happily settle for that.
Thanks for reading. My next post in the series will be on the importance of water with later posts being on sanitation and food preservation by fermentation. I hope you will read those posts and give feedback as a microbiologist 😎
Yes I know its a shameless request for you to keep reading my posts,
but I enjoy the feedback
Thank you reading