Down for a nap…
Noah is down for a morning nap so thought I should try and get a blog post in before he wakes up and needs my attention (Read: More boob)- after a bit of a shocker of a weekend he is now back in a routine and taking naps, usually 3 a day, and in a happier mood. I think Saturday might of been a peak of a growth spurt which is why he was so grumpy/hungry/unsettled.
I have my first lesson today since Noah was born- we will be going to Myoden this afternoon to do English conversation with MIchiko. Was meant to be last week but because he was sick I switched it to this week. Michiko has her own little girl, Yuna, who just turned one, so she has no problems with me bringing Noah to the lessons especially since we only meet once a week anyway (and I go to her house)
Yesterday, a friend, Darlene, took me to a craft shop to pick up some scrapbooking supplies- Amanda also put me in touch with a lovely lady named Kirsten who sells imported supplies so I am all set now to start work on Noah`s baby scrapbook. I am really excited to get started on this new project even though I know my time will be limted I hope to do a little bit each day til I am up to date and then continue from there. I have the photos printed and ready to go and have already semi-mocked up a first page draft so hopefully all will go according to plan and I will be able to start tonight or this afternoon. I promise to upload photos of my progress as I go!
Noah slept from 6:30pm til 1am last night but then was up at 3:30am and 6:45am- Shun took him until 8am so that i could get a bit of extra sleep. When I say took him I mean took him into the living room, changed his diaper, put him in his bouncer and I think Noah just sat there while Shun fell asleep again! But hey, Noah wasn`t complaining and I got an extra hour of sleep! Since Shun gets home from work so late (has been after 10pm the last two nights anyway) I am usually in bed (even if I am awake reading for a bit) and he doesn`t get to see Noah until he wakes up for his feed (which is between 10:30pm-1am) and so we usually catch up while I am feeding Noah and talk about our days. Last night we talked a lot about buying a house- not that it is going to happen anytime soon but I was under the impression that if we bought our own place we would stop getting rent allowance from Shun`s company (They pay 3man of our rent a month and we pay the other 7man) but he said that we still would get it would just be paid half yearly instead of each month. I would love our own place, although we are happy where we are for at least another year or two, it would still be nice. While buying an apartment would be cheaper we still have our heart set on a house as I know Shun would love a dog, and I would love a small garden. We are not sure if we would ever be able to afford to buy land and build our own place though (which would be my dream!) and think we would have to settle for a place already built that would be a couple of years old or more. I guess it would make sense for us to buy though, especially if our mortgage was around the same amount we already pay monthly at the moment although I imagine it would be a little more- we decided we definitely wouldn`t be able to buy until I had some more regular part-time work as we are only managing to save a little bit each month at the moment on one salary. I think I also need to learn to be more frugal (Who am I kidding, I definitely need to learn to be a bit more frugal) and while we are sticking to our budget each month I know there are places we could save more money- for example on groceries and probably our keitai bills too (as I call home a lot!). This is why I have enjoyed Kel`s recent post on their budget and how they save money each month. I am definitely going to buy a budget book and start writing everything down- I tried to do it in excel but I know I would have more luck if I physically wrote everything down at the end of the day instead. The excel budget is good and I refer to it each month to make sure we are meeting our budget and to see how much money I need to take out on the 25th (pay day) and also how much I need to transfer. I also record how much the bills were for each month but that is about all!
We need to start saving for a down payment on a house and also for a car- which we will eventually need to buy. At the moment we really don`t need one but it is on our “want” list- there is parking where we live for an extra 1man a month (about $100) but at this stage since we can use Shun`s parents car or grandmothers car whenever we want we haven`t bothered looking into buying on yet. Truth is though. I have my license but have only driven in Japan a handful of times (and most were before I even had my Japanese license) but would like to start driving more.
Also, on my 101 things list I have read a Japanese newspaper/magazine and understand it- and Kel has mentioned a couple of magazines about saving money and budgets that are in Japanese so I think I will make that my challenge for February- even if it takes me the entire month to read the magazine and understand it!!!
For those of you in Japan that have your own place- please feel free to share your experiences! I know where we live is a bit more expensive than some of you (since it is so close to Tokyo and we would still want to buy our own place in Chiba somewhere)- what were your considerations when you did buy? For those that have an apartment over a house- why did you go that way? If it is not to personal and you are happy to answer- how did you budget for a down payment? I have no idea how things work in Japan or how much a downpayment needs to be but I am guessing it is a fair bit- to tell you the truth I really have no idea how much a hosue costs either- although I have a bit of an idea of how much land costs as we have looked into it before.
Talking about buying our own place is definitely exciting though and funnily enough we also talked about when we would like to start trying for baby number 2- I would like to have bub number 2 around the time Noah is 2 or 2 and a half but am I crazy to think having another baby while he is going through the throughs of “terrible 2″ is a good idea?
Well Noah has stirred and now on my lap feeding so I better go!
Oh and if anyone knows of some private lessons/work that I could take my baby too please let me know!
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Glad to hear that Noah is back on schedule – sounds like you’ve got a lot of exciting stuff going on with planning for the future!! I’d love to hear some of the comments you get regarding house vs. apartment!!
Sounds like your scrapbooking is taking off too – you gotta show me it when we come in Feb!!
Since we are in the same boat (buying vs renting) I don`t really have anything to tell. I can tell you that we have have saving money for the past 3 years (for the purpose of a baby but things look doable on one salary). Not really certain how much would be needed for a down payment but we would definitely be hoping for a mortgage payment of about what we are paying in rent every month (10 man).
I think we are more likely to buy an apartment rather than a house though. We would like a house but we are thinking if we move back to the States but keep the place here it will 1)be safer if no one is living in it or 2)perhaps be easier to rent it out. We`ll see though. Be interesting to see what others post.
As for budgeting, we really don`t do this. The first thing we do every month on payday is take money out for savings. When we first started it would only be a man or so a month to see how living expenses would go and we slowly built that up to 18man a month (when both of us were working). Since T got a pay raise, we are putting 5man a month in the bank. Of course we are pretty frugal. Our weekends out tend to be to the supermarket and we don`t really do too much in terms of unnecessary spending. Our system works for us but probably wouldn`t work for everyone. T gives me an allowance, no particular amount but when I am running low he will give me a man and I try to make sure that lasts a few weeks (we do all our grocery shopping on weekends but I might have to pick up some bread or whatnot during the week if we run low)
Oh, I can’t wait to see your ideas for the scrapbook you are going to make!! I started looking around for scrapbooking materials but haven’t found much near me so I have had mum go out and buy me a big load of stuff that she is going to send to me. I am not very creative at all though so I doubt mine will end up looking very good…
Talking about buying a house is always exciting – especially when it’s not me, lol! We have basically given on buying a house for now because we can save a whole lot more living in this apartment than if we bought right now. And also, Naoki really doesn’t want to buy in Japan because he does seriously believe we will be moving home (one day…). I would love to discuss with you your ideas and stuff on buying a house in February though!! Especially if you have been looking around and have seen something you like!
No idea on when would be a good time to try for number 2 – I think there are advantages and disadvantages with every age gap, lol! I guess it just depends on when you think you can handle having another one. I think also it makes a huge difference to what your first baby’s personality etc is like…
We have a “mansion” not a house but it is about 40,000 less a month than when we were renting and actually more convenient for the train station. We can have a dog, although nit an extremely big one. No garden but is a nice private park on the middle of hhe complex. As for whether a not a house with enough land for that is affordable will depend entirely on where you want to live, you know. If you don’t mind living out in the middle if no where no problem. The area you are in now- much more expensive. I’m sure you realize that though.
We should get together and scrapbook sometime. I can’t seem to make it the craft and chats lately.
Oh and to answer the question we got a condo over a house because for the general area we wanted to live in for the price a house would have been no bigger than a condo but really far away from any stations. There are other reasons- like our building has great security, full time staff to deal with trash and upkeep and so forth so none of those stupid yearly clean up day things. I always wanted a house but realized that to have the kind of house I wanted I would have to live seriously out in the middle of nowhere japan. I can do that in my home country but won’t do it here.
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Sarah- Are you guys still thinking about buying somewhere? You were about 10 months ago but you sort of went off the idea hey. I guess if you are definitely planning on returning to America it might not work. I have no idea if we will return to Australia but I don`t REALLY see that on the cards.
SO far I still haven`t done any real scrapbooking- just some planning. Finding it a bit hard with a newborn- by the time I get him settled at night and make dinner and eat it I am too tired and just want to chill watching some tv. I should really scrapbook WHILE I watch tv so maybe tonight- hopefully I will at least have something to show you when you come in Feb.
Melanie- Shun & I discussed that as an option to, i mean an apartment over a house. I guess if the apartment was going to be as big as the house I would do it. I could give up on a garden if it had a big enough balcony to plant some veggies/herbs. I am not sure I would go with an inside dog though- I mean I would let the dog inside but I like the idea of a house so that the dog has some place to play outside. That said, it is still a hypothetical dog. HAHA
If we were in Tokyo we would have no choice but to have an apartment over a house as the houses in Tokyo are just so expensive. And so small.
Our hope would be to have a mortgage payment of about what we pay in rent too- 10man. I think it is doable. If I was working and earning at least 10man a month then we could afford to pay a little bit more in mortgage though I guess!
Nay- I can put you in touch with Kirsten for scrapbooking supplies if you like- she lives near Izu way and has a lot in stock. I will show you the cateloges when you are here but she has heaps more than what is in the catalogues too. There is heaps in Australia too- but definitely a lot in Japan too. Do you have a Yuzuwaya in Shizuoka? The Lalaport might also have as shop that sells good stuff- not really sure though.
House talk is always exciting!
Sherry- Definitely want to meet up sometime for some scrapbooking! I haven`t been to craft and chat for a couple of months either but I think I will start going again in March (My dad will be here during Feb and I think he is here the day of the C&C so can`t make it)- Darlene pointed out your apartment building actually. It looked lovely! The area is great too- so close to the Lalaport and Ikea and close to the train station too (about a 5 min walk right?)
I think before we make any kind of decisions (and keep in mind we are a couple years off buying anyway) that we will go check what is available in our budget and in the area we want. I like Funabashi but I doubt we could afford a house here unless we lived 30 minutes or more walk from a trainstation.
That is my concern too- about living in the middle of nowhere- I can drive in Japan but we don`t ahve a car yet (I am sure we would by then though) but that doesn`t mean I will be comfortable driving. I mean I am happy that I could drive but not sure I would want to have to do it everyday after getting so used to walking and training it almost everywhere.
Interesting post about one of my FAVE topics: budgeting and money.
When we saved for a down payment to buy our condo, I first spent about 6 months analyzing our budget, keeping track of everyone on excel. Then, we used my income to SAVE and his income to spend on bills, essentials, etc. A portion of my income was automatically transferred to another savings acct just for the purpose of saving for the condo.
I too read Japanese budgeting magazines which were interesting and helpful but only to a point. You have to find out the most comfortable system for you by experimenting. Eventually, I settled on the envelope system which involves earmarking a certain amount every month for various categories – each big item you are saving for (TV, car, etc.), entertainment, gasoline, eating out, education fund for children, etc. You can make what ever categories you need and use a separate envelope for each one. These envelopes are available in the stationary section of any department store. All bills are automatically withdrawn each month. My income is still mainly meant for saving for the “future” – so if we do decide to buy a house someday, we will do the same thing we did before with that auto transfer method. I do this system because I find that anything in my husband’s savings accts disappears quickly each month. Oh, and we also have an aeon credit card that we use for groceries and household items only. This makes it easy to see how much we spend each month on those two categories. I no longer keep track of everything we spend as it is pretty much the same each month.
I think it is a good idea to start checking things out. Several years before we actually bought we started going around to the model room things. It gave us a good idea about not only the money we would need, but lots of ideas about what kind of features we wanted and what we could live without. Of course those things change very quickly but it helped me notice lots of things that you might not really pay attention to.
For us being close to a train station that would take DH to a big station in Tokyo for transferring to other lines was important since his company moves him around to different offices about every two years. I also needed to be in a good place for shopping since I don’t drive, and I wanted to be close to schools so the kids wouldn’t have to spend hours walking back and forth.
There is a lot to think about so you should start looking into it. The only annoying thing is that they will call you a lot and put pressure on you to buy buy buy once they get your info, but you can always screen your calls.
It is so bizarre, but I was only just talking about this with a friend this week. She was telling me that they are thinking about buying a property here and have been looking into their options extensively. I was surprised to hear her say that with depreciation, the house or condos/flats/apartments or whatever you want to call them depreciates to next to no value after about 30 years, around the time when you are paying off your final loan payment. The lifespan of an apartment building is said to be 50 years in Japan so even if you renovate inside, after 50 years the building is ready to be pulled down and rebuilt. Not sure where that leaves the owners… If you go for house/land option, at least the land will not depreciate like the house.
I agree with some of the other posters and would say start looking around. It will give you a better idea of what your “must-haves” are and what you can do without. We had been looking at house prices in Chiba for a few years before we found the besso, and the prices are really pin-kiri as they say in Japanese. It depends on what you want. Land size, location size, and the house. If you buy the land first, there are new house packages for a standard house from 700-800-man and up, just for the house, but it only has the basics, no flash extras. Sometimes, it can be cheaper to find an older house on land and renovate. This is one way to get around the kenpei-ritsu rule, which can be as high as 40% meaning that you can only build on 40% of your property. If there is an existing structure on it built before the kenpei-ritsu regulations came into place, you dont need to worry about that and can renovate using the existing size of the house.
There is a lot to think about, so start looking and thinking now so that you can have a savings target, area, size, etc in mind to aim for! And the house hunting part is soooo fun! Enjoy!