Learn About Kakeibo The Japanese Art Of Saving Money
Saving money is hard. Really, really hard. However much you feel you’re scrimping, you’re always left with nothing more than a few pitiful dollars rattling around your account at the end of the month, right? We hear you.
A huge chunk of your pay probably goes to rent, and then there are the bills and travel costs that eat away your precious pennies without you even noticing. Then there’s that voice. That tiny, niggling voice at the back of your mind that says: “Why bother? You’ll never afford a house anyway. Treat yourself to that coconut flat white from Pret. You deserve it.”
Enter the kakeibo, a "budgeting journal" and the latest Japanese lifestyle trend to get people talking. The kakeibo was invented back in 1904 by Hani Motoko, Japan’s first female journalist, and was designed to help busy women keep on top of their finances. Now, the first English-language kakeibo, by writer Fumiko Chiba, has just been released, so it’s time to put it to work.
The concept goes like this: At the start of each month, you sit down with your kakeibo and you plan what you’re going to spend, what you’re going to save and what you need to do to reach your goals. You then review what you’ve achieved. Sound simple? It is.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. We need to shift our focus from saving to spending
No problem, we hear you say. Spending is not the issue. Then you’ll like this. Chiba explains that we need to reshape our attitude towards budgeting – we must “spend well” in order to “save well” and vice versa. “We all work very hard in order to live, and also to enjoy things,” Chiba tells us. “It’s important to remember this fact when saving.”
