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There is a well-worn proverb in Japan which goes as follows: 銭あるときは銭なき日を思え (ZENI ARU TOKI WA ZENI NAKIHI WO OMO-E). ZENI/銭 is a coin (round-shaped with square hole) which was used as currency in olden days Japan. The proverb can be translated into English as follows: "When you have money, think of the time you had none" -- thus, be careful in spending and live thriftily. A similar saying in the West is: "In fair weather prepare for foul". Moving and getting things set-up in a new home, and then maintaining things afterwards, obviously requires money to be spent. At the same time, money should also be saved, as much as possible -- hence the need to be thrifty. In many Japanese families, the husband hands over his entire paycheck to his wife, and she acts as the "household treasurer". The wife will give some pocket money, as an allowance, back to the husband -- called OKOZUKAI/おお小遣い. So, Japanese homemakers (who often also have part time jobs) are faced with the challenge of efficiently managing finances to cover all expenses, while maximizing savings, and an informal bookkeeping method often used is called: KAKEIBO/家計簿, which means "household finances ledger". The KAKEIBO accounting method was invented in 1904 and uses a simple notebook or diary to track how much money is earned and spent. Basically, any time something is purchased or paid-for, it is hand-entered into the KAKEIBO notebook -- handwriting the data is key, because slows-things-down and that extra time helps to better understand where all the family money disappears to... For more information about KAKEIBO, see the links provided below. Once you have learned more about this Japanese secret to thriftiness, maybe you can try using it to improve your finances while you live here in the Yokosuka area!

written by Goodfield

Link : https://www.cnbc.com/.../how-this-japanese-method-of...

https://www.chase.co.uk/gb/en/hub/kakeibo-saving/