My balance for September, 2024!

 

I found out a lot about money and it's a lot different from what I used to think.

Last year on June, starting from just 100,000JPY or about 700USD, I started to work in Resort jobs or called "resoba" in Japan.

Resoba are hotel related jobs mainly at the front desk, restaurants, or housekeeping jobs that don't require much skill to start.

The worker saves on living expenses like rent and food which is usually fully provided, and hotels can cover the shortage in staffs, a win win.

Japan stretches north to south and each province is quite unique. I was always fascinated by the system that you can travel across Japan working for resoba.

And interestingly, I save a lot more than when I used to make much more in the city.

This blog is my log for traveling across Japan taking resoba jobs. 

This post is my balance for September, 2024.

My income for September, 259,000JPY

First of all, my income. For September, 2024 was 259,000 JPY.

My expenditure for September: 218,000JPY

The total is 218,000JPY.

• Rent, facility bills：61,000
• Health Insurance, pension, income tax: 40,000JPY
• Food outside：40,000
• Food in the house：35,000
• Daily necessities：3000
• school: 24,000
• books: 3,000
• medical: 5,000
• Others：7,000

Total：218,000 JPY

Left with 41,000JPY

• 30,000JPY⇢Monthly Installment Savings
• 11,000JPY: EMF(Emergency Fund)

The habit is the reward

I make sure I do not spend more than I earn. 

I also pay 40,000JPY to my installment savings and EMF account right after I receive my paycheck. So I force myself to save at least 40,000 JPY every month, which is doable without much stress.

After awhile it feels awkward not to save this amount.

Having this confidence that I can keep this discipline gave me a big peace of mind.

Logging my balance every month helped me organise and plan my finances.

I've calculated that just continuing this small habit of saving will get me to:

• A million yen budget for a small business in 2 years.
• 500,000JPY EMF in 2 years.
• 25 million JPY or 175,000USD invested by the time I am 65 years old.

Then the next step will be, what can I do on top of this habit to pursue the above faster?

Walking more leads to better living

September was record hot and it was not healthy to walk outside. So I had no choice but to use public transport from place to place.

But it's been getting a lot cooler towards the end of September.

I've been walking as much as I can without using public transport.

It's mentally rewarding, and it saves some money, too.

It should be easier to save on October

I used the convenience store a lot during September which did no benefit.

I'd like to cut down on my food expense by cooking lunch boxes.

Easier to do in cooler weather.

Thanks for reading:)

Thanks for reading the content!

Logging my balance every month allows me to look back and improve my financial literacy.

I will share things I learned as well, which might help you with your finances as well.

Japanese are relatively good savers when it comes to money, and I've been realizing it comes from good habits and mindsets that anyone can learn.

So, over time I'd like to share what I learned about finance, and hope to learn from you, too.

X:

Instagram：

【Ryu Aomi】

Born in Yokohama, Japan. Raised in San Francisco, California.

After gaining experience in private banking in Singapore, I went on to writing for a few Japanese media online. Covid led me to pursue what I love the most which was discovering the street foods around the best food countries. This blog will be how I fund that life.