KenyaOnAShoeString: Real Advice for Real Kenyans

Imagine this: every minute you spend scrolling through Facebook , watching videos on YouTube , or chatting on WhatsApp came with a price tag — a real cash charge deducted from your wallet. Would you still spend hours online? Would you pay KES 666 for just one hour of TikTok videos? Or KES 2,000 for a day of Facebook scrolling? The Hidden Price of "Free" Content Let’s break it down with some numbers. Suppose you earn KES 80,000 a month. You work about 8 hours a day, but after meals and breaks, your effective work time is 6 hours daily, Monday to Friday. That totals roughly 120 working hours per month. Dividing your monthly salary by your work hours gives you an hourly wage of approximately: KES 80,000 ÷ 120 hours = KES 666 per hour. Now, here’s the shocking part: what if you had to pay yourself KES 666 for every hour you spend on social media? Spending just 3 hours a day would earn you almost KES 2,000 daily . Over 20 working days, that’s a staggering KES 4...

They said time is money, So we sold our days To desks, deadlines, and duty. Now the clock ticks softer. The pace slows down. And we wonder— Can we afford to buy back What we gave so freely? Not to earn. Not to win. But just to live again. 1. The Paradox of Retirement in Kenya Retirement, in theory, is supposed to be a season of rest. A time to exhale. To spend mornings slowly, reconnect with loved ones, and revisit the parts of yourself that got lost in the hustle. But for many Kenyans, retirement looks like another job. We see people starting businesses immediately after leaving employment, becoming consultants, jumping into family obligations, or even relocating to their rural homes only to pick up farming or new responsibilities. Rest doesn’t feel earned—it feels guilty. Instead of enjoying time with grandkids, learning something new, or simply sitting with the self, many continue running. But what if retirement—and seasons like it—were not a signal to do more, but an invitation to ...