- Gugulethu mother of five, Likhona Mjikija, works as a cleaner for Mshengu toilets and plans every cent to feed her family.
- She saves money by cooking with gas, buying food combos and choosing chicken and eggs instead of expensive red meat.
For Likhona Mjikija, every rand counts. The 35-year-old mother of five from Gugulethu township in Cape Town has mastered the art of making her money stretch.
She works as a cleaner for Mshengu toilets in her community, starting at 8am and finishing at 4pm. But her day begins long before that. “Before getting ready for work, I help my kids prepare for school,” she said.
At work, she cleans portable toilets from the inside. “Some days, the company trucks come to service the toilets with chemicals. We clean after them because the chemicals are dangerous if someone sits on them,” she said.
With her salary, she buys R2,500 worth of groceries, pays R400 for funeral cover and R100 for electricity. She keeps costs low by buying food combos from Shoprite. “Combos help a lot because you get more food for less money,” she said. “If I bought rice, flour, and samp separately, it would cost more.”
She lives in her own shack and saves on electricity by cooking with gas. “I use R100 for electricity and R170 to fill the gas cylinder. Cooking with gas saves a lot of money,” she said.
Mjikija buys two 5kg bags of chicken each month, with tinned food and pilchards for backup. “We cannot eat eggs and meat on the same day or we’ll run out of food before month-end,” she said.
She has stopped buying sausages and oats because of the cost. “As long as we have chicken and eggs, we are fine,” she said.
Despite her tight budget, she still sends money to family in the Eastern Cape. “I am not earning a lot, but I am trying,” she said.
Pictured above: A Gugulethu mother working as a toilet cleaner takes care of her five kids.
Image source: Supplied
