Parents who are fretting over paying school fees and supplies as schools re-open have been advised to axe some social expenditure from their budget.

A business consultant Charles Mensah says not only must parents learn to say no to frequent funeral and wedding donations, they must also learn to say no to giving at church to impress.

 “Cut back this point of when you go to church and they say they are looking for people to help you want everybody to see you so you go and stand in front. Cut back all those things”.

School fees, the quarterly nightmare

School-going teenagers are set to hassle with their parents as the ritual of paying for another three months in school begins Monday.

A “large chunk of the money is going away”, a parent Afi Agbenyo fears.

 “It is like the whole house being moved” a parent described the experience of managing a child’s expectations as school reopens.

She said while the kids are excited about going to school, parents who have not sufficiently planned for school provisions suffer serious psychological pressure.

“I pray you don’t have to look for a loan” she sympathized.

Afi Agbenyo appears to demonstrate the choking effect that financing education has on the family budget

Looking for solutions on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Monday, the business consultant says, "planning and budgeting, as lousy and tedious as it is for most Ghanaians, is the solution."

Doing what you must do - Eat that frog

He quoted Proverbs 21:5 from the Bible to back the need for planning.

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty”.

Giving an example of how he sponsored his children’s education, Charles Mensah said he took an education insurance starting with 20cedis monthly payment.

“I planned this thing way back ten years….people will see that my kids are going to school but I have planned ahead,” Charles told of how he financed his son’s university education.

Charles was all smiles after planning for his son's education

He gave a quick lecture on how families can start budgeting by getting a red pen and a blue pen.

The red pen, he said can be used to record every expenditure while the blue pen is used for incomes.

If the total amount of the expenditures recorded in red is more than the incomes recorded in blue, then it is time to cut back on expenditures.

“Be real with yourself and stop blaming God,” he said.

He also wants parents to think about how to make some money from the individual skills they have and also expand their skills set. This does not mean getting a Masters’ degree, he clarified.

In Ghana, we tend to “over-school ourselves and under-educate ourselves”, he criticized.