“Ordinary people are looking for ways to make ends meet and to just be able to afford basic items. For many people, this includes considering loans or borrowing money from credit suppliers. If this is you, we urge you to carefully consider five basic points before you say yes to that loan,” says Lillian Bwalya, COO of Unifi Zambia.

Unifi supplies personal loans via their branches in 20 minutes and repeat customers can instantly get a loan using their USSD-based app. Personal loans are small, simple loans that come with a flexible repayment term to help relieve some of the pressure on your pocket.

But what if you have multiple loans and other debt such as store cards to pay off?

Bwalya offers five tips to help take the stress out of paying back your loans.

1. Take control of your spending habits

Do you have a clear view of where you’re overspending in a month? Look at your bank statements to see where most of your money goes. If you’re overspending on non-essentials like takeaways or fashion accessories, consider doing without these luxuries for a few months. Put the money you save towards repaying your loans. Also, look at your essential purchases to see where you can save. For example, embrace grocery store promotions and discount store cards. Set up a weekly meal plan and shopping list to make sure you only buy what you need. Every bit you can save and put back into your debt repayments will help to relieve some of the stress. Once your loans are paid off, you can breathe freely financially and treat yourself to some of those luxuries you sacrificed.

1. Set up a budget and stick to it to better manage your loans

A monthly budget can help you take control of your loan repayments. It shows you exactly how much money you spend in a month and how much you have left to pay off your debt. If you’ve never set up a budget before, it’s very easy: List all of your essential expenses such as rent, transport and food, as well as loan instalments and bills like school fees. Add up the total cost of these expenses and deduct it from your salary amount. Put anything you have left over towards your loan repayments or save for a rainy day.

1. Get a side hustle to help pay off your loans

But what if you’ve drawn up your budget and there’s very little left for repaying your loans? If your current salary simply doesn’t stretch far enough, use your talents to generate an extra income in your spare time. For example, if you have a talent for baking, start selling celebration cakes to friends and colleagues. Or if you’re a muso, offer music lessons to the kids in the neighbourhood. Every cent is one step closer to repaying your loans!

1. Follow a plan that makes paying off your loans easier

There are various plans you could follow to make paying off your loans less stressful. The debt snowball and avalanche methods are two popular choices. See which one could work for you: With the snowball method, you put all the extra cash you can into paying off your smallest loan first while making only the minimum payment on the bigger loans. When it’s paid off, you also put the money that’s been going into the smallest loan into the next biggest loan/credit instalment. Do this until all of your debt is paid off. With the avalanche method, you pay off the instalments with the highest interest rates first. Then, you put the money you’ve saved on these interest rates towards paying off the smaller loans.

1. Don’t pay more than you should, only borrow from trusted lenders

“When you need to take out a loan, make sure it’s from a registered and trusted credit provider such as Unifi. This helps ensure you’re not burdened with hidden costs or fees. At Unifi we also do our best to make sure you can afford a loan in the first place and determine the amount you can afford by looking at your current income and existing credit commitments,” says Bwalya.