Money worries…
I am really really really bad with money. Anybody would tell you. I try to save but my money just disappears. While Shun & I are in Australia I am the only one working full-time and while he might eventually get a part-time job or baito it is basically my salary that we have to live off. He came with quite a bit of savings but English school was very expensive and with no incoming money his money will run out soon I am sure. When I was in Japan I would go a couple of months ok and then my parents would send me some extra money because I would get stuck…That is how bad I am with money just to give you a bit of an idea.
It isn`t like we have a lot of expenses here in Australia…my dad lets us live here rent free and while we contribute to groceries each week that is the extent of our “living” expenses. On top of that there is our train tickets, petrol (which isn`t too bad because I don`t use the car much during the week) and social outings! My parents are also helping out A LOT with our wedding expenses so there are only a couple of things that Shun & I will be paying for ourselves.
Looking at that, I should be saving a lot right? Well I have hardly saved anything since I have been here…but I really really need to try harder. When we go back to Japan we need to have a bit of money behind us if we want to buy a car and to put down key money and bond on a new apartment.
Last night Shun & I were talking about money. We have talked about money before but not really to much extent…I know that Shun`s salary is not great (compared to a salary for the same job in Australia it actually quite shit…) and I know that if I go back to teaching for a couple of years before we have kids then my salary won`t be great either.
Later on down the track when we have kids I would like to be a stay at home mum for awhile…even if it is just for a couple of years. During that time I would probably still do some private English lessons but I would like not to work full-time. The main reason for this is that I want our children to be bilingual yet if I am not with them often enough in their first 3 or 4 years then their English would probably be minimal.
Unfortunately I know we probably wouldn`t be able to make ends meet if we only had one salary coming in. So I really really need to try and save more while we are here this year. I also need to figure out what I will do for work when I go back to Japan and what I could do to work from home once we have kids. So I really need “good saving” vibes from all you dear readers (and ideas of how to keep money coming in after children!)
I felt really bad asking Shun what he thought we would do for money once we went back to Japan knowing that his salary is not great. I felt like I shouldn`t bring it up but I am a big believer that if we talk about things then we could come up with good solutions together. He seems to think it won`t be a problem and luckily he is a lot better with money that I am…I need to learn how to be better! I still can`t help but worry though…
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I am pretty awful with money too. When I first moved to China I often had to rely on bailouts from my folks — not something to be proud of! That ended once I had more stable work and a couple years of experience under my belt, but getting married and my being the main breadwinner was still quite stressful. Before we moved to Beijing DH and I were basically living paycheck to paycheck. Here in Beijing we’ve been able to save but every few months something big will come up that basically wipes out our savings (like my parents’ visit, or moving house), so we’re a bit disappointed so far that we haven’t been able to save more. Now that we’re in the new house and have nothing big coming up in the few months (well, except we have to visit Kunming in January for Chinese New Year … but that’s a ways off) I’m really hoping we can get our savings back on track.
One thing that helped me a lot was basically turning the finances over to DH. DH is much better with money than I am and so I just hand over my paychecks to DH, who puts them in our various bank accounts, and let him decide how much I can spend — very 1950s I know, but I have no self control so it’s better this way! If the money were left in my hands we’d have gone bankrupt long ago from my endless need to buy books and baby clothes!
One of my friends has had good luck reducing spending by putting $50 a week in his wallet and never using a debit or credit card (if you don’t trust yourself, you can freeze the credit card in a glass of water in the freezer to make it hard to use or hand them over to your fiance). With so little money in hand, my friend thinks hard about what he buys because he knows spending it now on something will make it impossible to him to spend it on something he may want more later.
I think that you might be able to find some government housing in Japan to help you save money as a family. My brother-in-law lived in a big place which was only 70,000 yen a month at one point. It was about an hour and a quarter away from Shinjuku so the commute wasn’t terrible. Such a situation would certainly help you to live on one income more successfully with kids. You don’t even have to be low income (or married or have kids) to get such a place (he made over 500,000 yen a month when he got into his place and he was single). They’re clean and nice places, too. I think the government makes them available to ease the burden on families.
I think your fiance is correct though about everything being okay in your future in Japan. He’ll have a good chance at a decent job in his home country with good English skills and companies pay married men and men with kids more than single men. He knows the score, I’m sure.
Hey Lulu,
I enjoyed reading your post about money, cos it is something I think of a lot. I often think about our future finances with kids and also retirement. We live in an age when we dont even know if there will be a pension when we get old and retire.
Every month when I get paid, I transfer a set amount into a separate savings bank account and I dont withdraw from that account. I found that this is the best way for me to save as if there is money in my working account, I just end up using it.
For ideas for your guys for a place to live when you get back in Japan, I totally recommend UR housing. Check out this site. http://www.ur-net.go.jp/kanto/
With UR housing, you dont need to pay key money or bond, and dont need to have a guarantor or anything. There are heaps of the UR apartment to choose from in all range of price ranges. Also the minimum salary conditions are fairly low, so even on one salary you shouldnt have a problem. The only thing is that you need to apply in advance cos sometimes it may take a while for a room to become available, but it is totally worth checking out. A lot of my friends have moved into UR properties and all rave about them.
Good luck with the savings! My one bit of advance is to set yourself realistic goals each month and stick to them!
I really always love reading your posts like this because we really are at the same place in our lives. Sometimes I wonder how things are all going to work out monetarily. Ryo seems to think that getting his komuin job is going to be awesome and keeps spouting all these expensive things he wants to buy and I’m just (internally) shaking my head. lol
As you know I want to do WAHM (Work at home mom) as well.. and I’m trying to get the honyaku off the ground. Another thing you can do from home if your not as confident in honyaku is native check. There are TONS of companies who need native english checkers. I don’t think it pays as much per word as honyaku but you can do it from home and it is added income on top of Shumpei. Also a friend of mine does telephone eikaiwa. She works 3-4 nights a week for a period of 2-3 hours all without having to leave the house!
Anyways if I hear of anything good I’ll let you know!!
probably you’ve seen me mention it on my blog, but back in january, i bought the housekeeping “game” for my nintendo DS (がんばる私の家計ダイアリー). sometimes it’s a pain saving receipts and entering them all in and i don’t know that it’s been the reason i’ve been able to save, but i do know that it’s helped me see where all my money is going.
once you know where it’s all going, it makes it easier to see the areas where you can cut back, make changes, and save more. if you don’t have a DS, then it’s just another thing to buy, but you can just as easily get a simple book/paper version, or start an excel spreadsheet. knowing you’ll have to write it down later sometimes makes you rethink a purchase too.
apparently when my parents first got married, my dad wrote down *every* cent they spent and made my mom do it too. i imagine she hated it, but my dad has done an amazing job managing money for our family so if i’m even half as successful as he was, i’ll be happy!
Really really helpful advice so far, I really appreciate it especially since I was little wary about posting something like this on my blog for all the world to see! hehe!
Jess- You sound a lot like me- It isn`t even like I spend all the money on myself…I buy books for my mum, cd`s for my brother…I see stuff and I think Oh so and so would love that. I will be terrible when I have children because I will want to buy them everything!!!! It is nice to know I was not the only one that required bail outs from my parents. In my defence I haven`t had one in awhile…the most recent was christmas for my flight back to Australia but it was an unplanned trip that I hadn`t time to save for since I booked my flight only 4 weeks before the date. I had to come back for my dad though.
I think once we go back to Japan that I we will set up a savings account and Shun will control that maybe. He is much better at saving than me (and his tastes arn`t as expensive as mine!)… I hope your savings account continues to grow!!! I am hoping to get a year or two of full time work in in Japan and try to save a fair bit before we start trying for kids!!! That is the plan anyway! (Thanks a lot for your comment too, it really is nice to know that I am not the only one that is bad with money and that others struggle like me!) We obviously both like books too so perhaps a book swap might be in order once I am back in Japan. Postage to Beijing can`t be that much surely?!
Orchid64- I have a debit card/cash card but no credit card and that is definitely a good thing. If I have to use a credit card luckily my cash card has visa attached although it isn`t technically a credit card. I think it is a good thing I don`t have one for sure!!! Shun has one and he will keep it but I have come this far without one and want to continue to go on without one! The freezer idea is a good one though- I like it! hehe!
I don`t know much about government housing in Japan but when I mentioned it to Shun he did not seem to keen. I think it is partly his upbringing as well…Definitely something to think about though!
Thanks for commenting! I appreciate all advice!!
Nooh- I am glad you liked the post! And it is lovely to see you comment! I know you are always there in the background reading but always nice to hear from you all the same. I am putting a bit of money each week into a savings account at the moment. I don`t have a card for that account but if I need the money I can transfer it to my other account by phone or internet. I have saved a little, and for me that is a big thing, so I hope I can continue to save a little bit each week.
Is UR housing like government housing? I am definitely going to check out the site with Shun. We want to live in Chiba when we go back to Japan as it will be a little cheaper and we both think it would be a good idea to be a bit closer to his parents.
It is funny you mentioned a pension because my mum asked Shun the other day if he has life insurance. It is something I have never thought about even though I know both my parents have policies. He said he does, one through his company plus another one. I never knew that. Not that I asked but it was interesting to hear. I know that isn`t the same as pension but I already knew he had one of them. I have about 6 superanuation funds in Australia with practically nothing in them cos I never seem to work here long enough. Should look into consolidating them probably since they are probably all charging me fees!!!!
Sara- I don`t know much about koimin jobs but it seems that the salary is always pretty steady even without overtime which will be nice. Shun does a fair bit of overtime some months and then not so much other times. Will be hard when we go back to Japan because I am now used to eating dinner with him EVERY NIGHT! What kind of things does Ryo want to buy? Please tell!
Thanks for the advice on honyaku, native check and phone eikaiwa. All good things to keep in mind. Would love to get into native check (despite my crap grammar and spelling on blog I actually have proofreading and editing experience would you believe!) or translation work eventually. Will have to pick your brain sometime soon. Got to pass 1kyuu first though which means kanji stuck, bleugh!
Please do let me know if you hear of anything good!
Jo- You got in while I was writing my response!
I have heard of that game. Shun has a DS but I think it is Japan and that his friend might have it but I will have to ask him. I know I should try to keep track of what I spend and it would more than likely help me figure out where I am going wrong. Shun tried to get me to do it once before but it never eventuated.
One of my things in my 101 things in 1001 days was to write a budget and stick to it and I think the first step before I do that is to write down everything I spend for a month.
Thanks for the tip! Will take this week to come up with a plan (and complete my nablopomo challenge!) then might try recording everything for the month of October.
I’m not sure what if any good advice I can offer, but I do know that even living in the 3rd largest city in Japan- work, a career is still hard to come by, I think those cities near Tokyo, for example Chiba, etc won’t be hard for you to find work. If there is one regret I have its not studying Japanese more intensely than I should have.. if I would have.. I’d have heaps of opportunities. Teaching in Japan (English) will never be a career, yes you’ll get paid the typical salary but that’s all it will ever be- in most cases, becoming an employee, accruing benefits- is slim but.. with all that negativity I decided early on to set some goal plans. A,B and C. Even with my editing job, it sill was not enough to feed my inspiration, and my goals so I try to look at them (Eikawa) jobs as yen, nothing more, nothing less. I found that if you put in all your talents, energy- you’ll still get paid the same, a bonus here and there and a pat on the back. So having a goal plan and contributing to a private and public pension is a must.
It is really frustrating to have all these talents that one posses and not be able to do anything with them. I love children but HATE teaching them, I just don’t have the patience, its tiring so I always think of my main goal. So my only regret is not learning Japanese, which now I am struggling with or studying insanely fast.
Over the years I’ve invested into some business that did okay, some failed and I took a huge dent but I would do it again just for the experience, know-how. One thing I noticed is I became the Jane of all trades in Japan, getting this qualification for this, that but………. without my husband I would not be able to dabble like that… Yeah.. he rolled his eyes when I lost 30 grand but I wanted to stress having a goal plan, your personal and career goals should be priority and learning Japanese. Sorry I am babbling here… A. Keep taking classes, as education never depreciates. B. Set up a goal plan with your yen… be it to open a franchise (my goal) or save for ??? but have a goal plan, this will help you stick to the awful jobs you may come across.
C. Save for retirement for yourself not just your husbands.
Sorry… I ended up babbling than giving your advice..
I am crap with money as well.So DH deals with all the money things.Works for us both! One simple thing that we have done for years and even I can manage this,is to save 500 yen coins.Sounds such a small step but once you start,you find you will not spend those coins and just put them straight in a money box .And when the box is full(get a big box!) you will be gobsmacked by the amount you have saved…seriously! We are every single time and we open ours once a year or so.Ba
About work,you could work part-time with small kids.Or teach eikaiwa from home with the kids there with you(if your students don’t mind).As for the bilinugual part of child raising,even if your kids aren’t submerged in English when the are little,there is a lot of hope; Annie started full time daycare at 7 months old as I had to go back to work.We do the OPOL thing at home and between that and long trips back to the UK,she is bilingual now.I would say a 6 week trip back to Australia with your kids annually would be enough to keep their English skills at a very decent level.And we pay with our trips home with,surprise surprise the 500 yen piggy bank fund:)
My husband and I always wish that we had been more serious with our finances when we first got married. We got a ton of money as wedding presents and we were both working and it constantly amazes us that we have nothing to show for those first few years. After that all of our money went to moving to Japan, buying our house, having babies, etc. We didn’t have any debt but we didn’t have any savings, either. Every spare penny went to paying for our trips back home. But in the last few years I’ve been teaching English one afternoon a week and my husband’s been at his job for long enough that his bonuses and raises come at a regular pace so I have been reading anything I can get my hands on about personal finance. Some of what I read doesn’t apply since we live in Japan but there is a ton of free (and really good) advice on the Internet. I especially like the “money” section on msn.com. There are two ladies, Liz Pulliam Weston and MP Dunleavy, who write specifically for women and I have learned a lot from reading their articles.
One thing I’m trying now is the 60% Solution Budget. The idea is to live on 60% of your salary and then the other 40% is divided up four ways (fun money, irregular expenses, long-term savings and retirement). I think that we’re at a point where we can do this although living on 60% still means we need to make sacrifices. But it’s worth it when I think that eventually we’ll need to pay for four weddings and help four girls go to college (we already decided we’re not going to pay for the whole thing).
My parents were crap with money and they still are even though they both work full-time jobs. They’re always looking for an easy way to make money and although it happens sometimes, in reality you need to plan, work and make sacrifices. It’s good to start early so I hope you find the advice that works for you! Good luck!
HI! A lot of these comments were helpful for me as well.
My husband and I just moved to Tokyo 4 weeks ago, and while he is working, I am not - because we have our first baby coming in 5-6 weeks time. Money is tight, and we are making sacrifices we didn’t have to before baby planning and living on one salary.
We keep 30,000 yen a week in cash, and try to stay within that budget. It makes us much more conscious of dropping change on the “little items” that we don’t necessarily need. As far as saving money goes, we have found really cheap deals on baby things from Craigslist and through the English-speaking Pregnancy/Mothers groups here in Tokyo. Our crib was even free! Having a baby here is super expensive, compared to Europe and the US (providing you have insurance in these places), so I feel your monetary woes. I’m also going to try to find some part-time/stay at home English teaching - but I’d like to look into that native checking as well - do you need to know any Japanese for that? Or is it just spelling and grammar editing?
Good luck!
Hey Lulu,
Money is such a pain - it causes us so much stress and so many problems! The worst thing is we can’t do anything without it…grr!
I used to have a bit of a hard time saving money when I was a bit younger. As soon as I got some money, I’d want to spend it - on anything and everything!!
Then my parents stopped supporting me so much! Big Shock! So when that happened I started my own savings plan. First, I got a saving account that isnt connected to my normal cash card. The only way I can access it is through internet banking. This was good because it meant that I could only use what was in my cash card account. So whenever I got paid/some extra money I’d put $20 into my savings account, then leave the rest in my cash account until the end of the week and if there was anything left over, I’d put that into the savings account. It doesn’t sound like much, just $20 a week, but you’ll be surprise at how fast small amounts turn into big amounts really quickly! Now I’m quite good at saving and I put $50 into my account at the start of the pay period.
So I think that if you start with a little change (even $10 a week to start with), you will slowly get into the habit of saving something and then you can just increase it when you need to. And if you both start doing that now, by the time the kiddies come along, you should have a nice little nest egg!
GirlJapan- Thanks, I am trying to come up with a bit of a plan before we go back to Japan so that I don`t spend too much time wasting time. I think however that I will go back to international school teaching somewhere in Chiba perhaps for a little while and then come up with another plan. In the meantime work on my study for 1kyu and getting my kanji up to scratch so that I can do translation work if I choose. What kind of editing do you do? Any hints on where I could find some? I have a degree in PR so maybe one day I will end up working for you! hehe!
I will continue to study, and continue to save (probably for a house) and I know once we return to Japan, and are married, that putting money into a pension scheme will be very important. I keep putting it off since I am only 23 but I know I should already be saving for retirement!
Marianne- I am glad I am not the only one. I might end up handing all the finance over to Shun as well (or his mum who is awesome at it- It seems to be something Japanese housewives excel at!)
That 500yen idea is a great one (I can`t beleive it equals up to a trip home! wow!)! Might start that in Australia with 1 and 2 dollar gold coins! It is also good to know that Annie is billingual even though she went to daycare from 7 months. I am really happy to hear that actually as that is a big worry for me but I know I will have to put kids in daycare if I need to work. OPOL seems to be a good option for billingual children?! Hopefully once kids come along we will be able to spend time in Australia for at least a month a year!
Will you go back to work after baby 2?
Sarah- Thanks for stopping by and offering your advice. I read you blog religiously but had no idea you read mine also!
The 60%/40% idea is excellent. I was already talking to Shun about it and he also agrees that if we seperated the money up as soon as we got payed that we might be better at this. It is something we will do once we go back to Japan though because I am saving 40% of my salary at the moment most weeks anyway and he doesn`t currently have any money coming in. Do you have the website with the 60% solution budget on it? I will have a google later as well. Also will check out the MSN site.
I am keeping in mind that we should be trying to save now for starting our life up again when we return to Tokyo and I am going to make a concerted effort to try harder over the next couple of months to save more than I usually do and come up with a budget to see us out til we return to Japan! Once the kids come along I may be in touch for more budget advice!!!
Jessica (Sushitrio)- Hi Jess, thanks for commenting. Since writing this post I am so surprised by the amount of people that have said they are bad with money/saving also! I am glad I wrote it now but was a bit wary at first when I posted however I have had so much great feedback.
You must be excited with the little one coming. Having a baby in Japan is expensive. You do get a lump sum after a baby is born though from your town hall, and I am not sure if you know that so definitely check it out.
Good advice about craig`s list and pregnancy groups. How have you found the pregnancy group? I would be interested in hearing about it. I think in Tokyo people tend not to hang onto all of their kids stuff due to space which is good for expectant mothers because generally good quality things come up for grabs!
Have you discovered 100yen shops yet? They are always great for bargains even some food stuff sometimes- of course it is not the best quality but you can pick up some great stuff there at bargain prices!
I think for the native check work you wouldn`t need Japanese. Another idea I am looking into is content writing?! You might want to look into it also!
Jessica- In Japan I never saved cos I had only one account but when I go back that will change. Luckily in Australia I have two accounts one without a card so I can`t access it without transferring money out which is definitely a good thing. Shun had a savings account in Japan but it was all depleted from trips to Australia over the last couple of years and then moving here for the year with school expences etc. He is much better at saving than me though as he is quite happy to stay home all weekend and doesn`t like to shop- COMPLETE OPPOSITE TO ME!
I am currently putting about 40% of my salary into savings which has been good. I have used some of it to pay off some wedding bills (and my half of the wedding rings!) so it has gone down a little but there is still a bit in there which is making me happy!
Good luck with your saving too!
Thanks again to everyone who has commented- you have no idea how helpful it has all been and I am not so worried about our monetary problems in the future now!
Hi Lulu darling… I’m so sorry if I sounded negative, but I just wanted to be honest about how hard it is having, keeping a career, with all this knowledge you have with you now you are already ahead of the game.. and you are 23 I’m 30 iSHHHHH… when I was 23 I was out doing the college parties, blowing all my money NOT thinking of retirement or a game plan. 1kyu, that is exactly what I am doing now, and wish I started years ago but being in an English atmosphere (working wise mostly) and me getting used to my husband doing everything .. I was not pressed to learn Japanese until a few years ago when I knew.. hell I need it, should know it, stupid for not studying it hard enough and hell… I’ll have more career opportunities.. so you are so ahead of the game!!!! YES, save for a house because throwing 150000yen a month away on rent is …. so not worth it… trust me!!! Then working your arse off.. like me to live comfortably (okay I am high maintenance) I know.. I know.. but once we rented a place for two years to save on rent… UM… let’s just not go there.. shall we.
I would say go for a house, it retains more value, only buy a condo if you can rent it our or make money off of it. Oh… I uploaded the model photos to show how they did the interior and then the after- how I changed it to make it more mono-tone and modern, sorry it was so confusing = ) But I updated.
For editing- I work for JJ Magazine, its money, a job and not a career, if I know and learn more Japanese I can work in the International Division- and hopefully kick teaching English to the curb for GOOD… Whatever you do, continue to add more qualifications and don’t be afraid to dabble about- right with you on the PR and Marketing, I took CIS then took a double in Marketing and PR, took a course at Harvard and trust me… it all looks good on paper. All I know is the more languages you know, the more education you have, the more opportunities present themselves and thus so… no one can ever take those away from you.
My career… haha I’m still fumbling along, doing my best and trying to save up to open a franchise which is my dream- but Lulu.. you are SO ahead of the game, I wish I had your thoughts and way of thinking at 23!!! I envy you!
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/LearnToBudget/ASimplerWayToSaveThe60Solution.aspx
Hi Lulu! Above is the link for the 60% Budget info I was talking about.
Money- the heart of it all, isn’t it?
It has taken us years to get where we are. We’re doing okay for the most part. I have to do all the thinking, and DH and I get an allowance, but we have some savings and whatnot so it’s okay. But we have lost so much money along the way. I want to cry at what we have lost. DH had an accident, no supplementary insurance, and his job didn’t pay him, so we were in debt. We keep moving rental places and throwing away moving expenses. We lost a huge chunk when I invested into a retirement scheme on the Isle of Man (don’t do it!). So screwed up a lot of it.
The big challenge for us right now is cutting down expenses so much. I’ll be out on maternity leave for next year which means a big trip home too, but DH’s salary just doesn’t cover our expenses. Basically, it covers our rent, my taxes (since I won’t be a registered unemployed wife I still have to pay taxes even though I have no salary- don’t get me started) and our phone bill. So the rest comes from savings. Which is, of course, why we have them, but I hate hate hate using them.
The other big problem is we cannot decide where to live. We’ve given up great real estate opportunities because we just don’t know where we’ll live 5 years into a 25 year loan. If you can decide that you are on a roll.
hey hun, I can sympathise with money struggles, and I’m not even moving country at the moment! I came back from Korea more in debt than before as I had to cut short my time there and pay airfare and lost any benifts and a months wages! At the moment I work two part jobs (in a bar and in a bookshop) and do an unpaid internship with the BBC here in Scotland so live on a very low budget in the middle of a city (though its possible to live a bit cheaper in Glasgow than in most British cities). All the advise looks really good and practical from your other readers, and this is probably something you have already thought about but maybe it’ll give you a boost? but have you thought about maybe using your writing? Would it be possible to turn your experiences into a guide book of some kind for people moving to Asia from English speaking countries. You make great lists, you’re definately dedicated, I think you’d be great as an adivse writer! I know that writing takes a long time, in terms of actually doing it and establishing yourself and you probably have already thought of it but just to say I think you’d be really good at it! Anyway best of luck with everything, and can’t wait to see the wedding pics hehe! xxxxx