My financial awakening didn’t start with a brilliant stock tip or a sudden inheritance. It began with a moment of pure panic: staring at my budget planning for a potential Armenia trip, but it seemed to mock my life choices. My financial plan was a hopeful loop between month-to-month paychecks. My savings account was less of a safety net and more of a myth.
I used to think managing money was about restriction — a series of ‘NOs’ that built a fortress around a future I couldn’t quite see. When my mom asked me to be careful with my spending, I’d casually complain and flit from fancy dine outs to shopping at any shop that caught my eye.
One fine day, while on a fancy brunch with my closest confidant of 13 years, I told her about mom’s nagging about saving money for a “rainy day”. She burst my bubble in 30 minutes. She walked me through exactly how she managed her very normal salary, from bills to ‘besties-day-outs’. To me, she seemed like the superwoman of finance. She wasn’t a business tyrant, but she found the funds for all the right things.
No credit card, no borrowed money, a debit-based life
I realized I had it all backwards. My fund wasn’t a cage; it was fuel. It was the ticket to freedom, security, and finally saying “yes” to the things that truly mattered. Growing up, I kept hearing nightmare stories about people drowning in debt. The glossy offers and promised rewards of credit cards never won me over. I had already learned their true cost through my mother’s anxious efforts to pay down her credit card balances and the severe consequences a friend’s family faced due to unpaid bills. So no matter how pretty the offers on these cards looked, I was happy without those benefits.
At 25, my parents’ roof spared me from rent, so my income was entirely my own to prioritize. With a roof over my head and food on the table 3 times a day, I called my phone bills: my priority. Then, I turned to the gram, to find out the right way to divide my fund, guiding me to improve my lifestyle. I made monthly budgets, with my pet’s expenses of AED 300 a month and my priority bills totalling AED 3,400, all without a credit card. Once my bills were in place, my debit card seemed no less than a black card.
The gym that paid dividends but without a credit card
To improve my well-being, I decided to invest in my health by joining a gym. This decision not only introduced me to a new fitness hobby but also allowed me to participate in various activities like Zumba, stretching, and boxing. The cost was manageable, as I could pay in installments over four months, a total amount of AED 1,581, which felt like a smart financial move. I traded impulsive shopping for a better strategy, finding a place that gave me both physical and emotional happiness for a reasonable price.
Halving my expenses
Next was groceries. When I was home, I cooked or restocked the empty containers. It was a manageable monthly AED 300, as I did bulk shopping on sale, and they would last for over two months sometimes.
I realized my daily habit of buying Fattoush salads for AED 30 on Talabat was quietly draining my wallet. The solution was a simple but powerful shift: I bought my ingredients and made them at home, immediately halving my monthly expenditure on brunches. This one conscious change added a significant surplus for consistently putting away a thousand dirhams each month.
My weekly Friday rental car to Abu Dhabi and back was an unavoidable financial commitment of almost AED 350. Beyond the rental fee itself, I had to constantly budget for fuel and meals along the journey. Tackling this entire ecosystem of travel expenses became the next level of my financial game.
I connected with a few friends who shared the same commute concerns, and we devised a smarter system — we would carpool together, splitting the cost of the rental, road toll Salik, and fuel equally, with each bearing a cost of AED 80, trading traffic stress for shared sunsets and sing-alongs.
My achievable goals
Suddenly, a goal that once felt distant — my “potential trip of the year” — was now clearly within sight. And the most rewarding part? The extra funds freed up from my priority spending allowed me to get gifts for my mom, my siblings, and even my friends.
This way, I stopped fighting my finances and started forging them into a tool to build the life I wanted, one intentional dirham at a time. That year, I managed to travel four times, for weddings and trips with friends. The trip was just the destination; the real reward was gaining control, and all that without a credit card.
Now, as I write for AltCoinDesk.com, exploring crypto and the world of blockchain, I see more potential ways to “save for a rainy day.” But let’s be honest, this space can be intimidating for a newcomer. So I played it smart and asked my youngest colleague of 20 years to help me open my first wallet. Five minutes later, my first crypto wallet was set up with a $5 investment.
