Calculate the total cost of buying any item on a Kenyan hire-purchase or instalment plan — enter the item price, deposit, instalment amount, and how often instalments are collected (daily, weekly, or monthly) to see the total amount paid.
"Lipa Mdogo Mdogo" — Swahili for "pay small small" — is how Kenyans describe any hire-purchase plan: a small deposit upfront, then fixed instalments collected daily, weekly, or monthly until the item is paid off. Phone shops, electronics and furniture stores, and asset financiers all run their own version of this. This calculator takes your item's price, deposit, instalment amount, instalment period, and number of instalments, and works out the amount financed, total instalments paid, total cost, and how much extra that costs over paying cash.
How Does a Lipa Mdogo Mdogo Instalment Plan Work?
A goods-on-credit plan splits an item's price into an upfront deposit and a fixed instalment collected on a set schedule — daily, weekly, or monthly — until the full price (plus any built-in financing cost) is cleared. Every retailer or lender sets its own deposit and instalment amounts for the item in question, and these change from one seller and one item to the next, so this calculator asks for your plan's actual figures rather than assuming one.
How Do I Use This Calculator?
Enter the item's cash price — what it costs to buy outright. Enter the deposit you pay upfront, choose whether your plan collects instalments daily, weekly, or monthly, then enter the instalment amount and the number of instalments in your plan. The calculator shows the amount financed (price minus deposit), the total of every instalment over the full plan, the total cost of the item, and how much more that is than paying cash upfront.
Why Does Buying on Credit Cost More Than Cash?
Total cost usually exceeds the cash price because the deposit-plus-instalments schedule is priced to cover the seller's or lender's cost and risk of financing the item over time rather than collecting full payment immediately. The "Extra Over Cash Price" figure this calculator shows is the premium you pay for spreading the cost into smaller instalments instead of buying outright — useful for comparing offers from different sellers on the same item.
What Happens If My Instalments Don't Cover the Full Balance?
If the instalment amount multiplied by the number of instalments adds up to less than the amount financed, you would still owe a balance once the plan ends — the calculator flags this with a warning so you can raise the instalment amount or extend the plan until the numbers clear the item in full. Many Kenyan hire-purchase plans (including Safaricom's Lipa Mdogo Mdogo for devices) lock the item out of use if a scheduled instalment is missed, unlocking again once payments resume.
What does Lipa Mdogo Mdogo mean?
Lipa Mdogo Mdogo is Swahili for "pay small small" — a general term for any hire-purchase or instalment plan in Kenya where you pay a deposit upfront and clear the balance in smaller instalments over time. It is not limited to one retailer or lender; phone shops, furniture and electronics stores, and asset financiers all run their own versions.
How is the total cost of a goods-on-credit plan calculated?
Total cost equals the deposit plus every instalment paid over the plan (instalment amount × number of instalments). This calculator shows that total alongside the amount financed (price minus deposit) and how much extra the plan costs over the item's cash price.
Can I calculate weekly or monthly instalment plans, not just daily?
Yes. Choose daily, weekly, or monthly as the instalment period, then enter the instalment amount and number of instalments for your specific plan — the calculator works the same way regardless of how often instalments are collected.
Does buying on credit cost more than paying cash?
Usually yes. The deposit plus every instalment typically adds up to more than the item's cash price, because the seller or lender prices the plan to cover the cost and risk of financing it over time — the calculator's 'Extra Over Cash Price' figure shows exactly how much more your specific plan costs.