Toyo's Personal Finance Blog

Spending more money...

-¥740 for books
-¥595 for toiletries
-¥1610 for foods
-¥1400 for coffee at a cafe (for two)

The total spending for today is ¥4345.
I've got to stop spending...

Spring is officially with us here! "Sakura" (Cherry blossom) is at its peak. It's gorgeous. A lot of people are out there having drinking parties underneath Sakura trees to praise its transient beauty.


Mexican dinner tonight at home. Everything is made from scratch! Nothing is from a can (except for beer).

I spent awful lot of money on grocery.
-¥10409

We had dinner at Subway (¥1600 for two) and went to see a late night movie (¥2400 for two), "Watch men"...my husband loved it and I didn't. I guess it was not my cup of tea...

The total spending for today is ¥14409 (oh, my god).

Here in Japan, especially Tokyo, things are really expensive. Prices were already expensive when I started living in Tokyo, but recently the commodity prices are souring up even higher...

So, I decided to try making/cooking whatever possible myself such as salad dressing and salsa sauce in stead of buying at a grocery store.

Today, I made sesame dressing and salsa sauce. It was actually very simple and easy, which made me feel stupid to think that I have been paying about ¥300 for a small bottle for all these years when I could have made myself.

Sesame dressing


Salsa sauce

Today, I spent

-¥126 for Natto
-¥153 for snack

Total: ¥279

Spent a lot today, partly because I probably do not have a brain tumor. There was a suspicion and I received a CT scan at a hospital today. It turned out that I (probably) don't have a tumor nor hemorrhage in my brain. But the doctor was not completely sure, so I am getting MRI in two weeks time. Just to be absolutely sure that my brain is ok.

I am really relieved. So is my husband. On the way back from the hospital to home, we wanted to celebrate and decided to have lunch at a semi-nice looking Italian restaurant (lunch for two was ¥2,730).

We also stopped at ¥100 shop (like a dollar shop) and spent ¥2,625 (shame on me).

-examination and CT scan ¥4,680 (CC)
-lunch ¥2,730
-¥100 shop ¥2,625 (CC)
-Natto (@AMPM) ¥226

The total spending to date (since the last payday) excluding CC (which I probably should include...maybe from next month): JPY9,315 (JPY2,0685 left from JPY30,000 budget).

I spent ¥100 yen for a chocolate bar...at work...again....

I really wanted to make today "No Spending Day", but just could not resist the urge.

Why why why...why are the chocolate bars always in my way?? Did I really have to eat the chocolate bar???

Anyhow, the total spending to date (since the last payday): JPY6,359 (JPY23,641 left from JPY30,000 budget).

Today, I spent....

- ¥1,000 for transportation.
- ¥100 for a drink
- ¥428 for a carton of milk and snacks
a total of ¥1,528

The total spending to date (since the last payday): JPY6,259 (JPY23,741 left from JPY30,000 budget).

Today is the last day of March. I cannot believe it's been already 3 months since this year started....I am no where closer to achieving my new year's resolutions...

Spent ¥100 for a chocolate bar at work. I thought I was not gonna spend any money today but I just could not resist..

The total spending to date (since the last payday): JPY4,731 (JPY25,269 left from JPY30,000 budget).



This is a Japanese note of 1,000 yen (about $10 US). The guy with funky hair is Hideo Noguchi, a prominent bacteriologist who helped a lot of sick people and probably people who are not sick too....I guess.

I want a lot of him!

I spent way too much money today.

- ophthalmologist JPY3,250 (CC)
- clothes JPY1,600
- dehumidifier JPY18,800 (CC)
- a bag for laptop JPY359
- burger king JPY 1,000
- sweets JPY555
Total: JPY3,514 (excluding cc)

The total to date (since the last payday):
JPY4,631 (JPY25,369 left from JPY30,000 budget).

Is there any way for me to backdate the post?

Total: JPY5,693
(JPY 14,307 left from the grocery budget of JPY20,000)

I could not keep it under JPY 5,000. But, going over by 600yen is not so bad.

Thank God It's Friday....Really...

I don't have to work tomorrow and a day after tomorrow. yay!

We bought some cans of beer to color our Friday dinner at home. We thought we deserved some beer to celebrate the last day of this work week (JPY 459).



Total spending so far (since March 25) is JPY1117.

Grocery shopping

-Whole cabbage ¥180
-A pack of beans ¥198
-MacDonald ¥280
Total ¥658

I just could not resist the urge to eat a bowl full of shredded cabbage, so I had to buy one although I had made up my mind not to spend a single yen on any food until next week’s grocery shopping day (which is next Saturday). Sigh... at least the cabbage tasted good and probably was low in calories.



Total spending so far is ¥378 (since the latest pay day: March 25)

I got paid today and most of it is gone already. It’s not a surprise ‘cos I planned it this way (money taken for rent, credit card payment, savings, etc etc). But it is still simply depressing to see the numbers in my bank account go down. The amount I have control over now for the rest of the month is JPY50,000, JPY30,000 of which should be reserved for food (assuming we spend JPY 7,000 per week in the month). So, that leaves me JPY20,000 for me to survive on….hmmm. If I can lower utility bills (especially electricity and gas), I can have more money to freely use or save….Let’s see what I can do.

My husband and I went for grocery shopping on Sunday. We bought so much stuff that we could not fit everything in our fridge. Hopefully they will get us through this week without spending any money on food!!

I decided to start a "fat loss campaign". Mind you, this is not a "weight loss campaign". I am more or less ok in terms of my weight which is about 50 to 52 kg (I'm a short girl around 150 cm tall), but not with my fat rate...which is more than 30%. This means that 30% of my body is mere fat. I feel horrible when I think that almost one-third of my body is made of fat.

The campaign starts today March 22, 2009 and ends on May 24 (a period between 2 visits of my hair dresser).

Let's see how much of fat rate I can cut in these 2 months.

Today's fat and weight
- 30.2
- 51.5

Establish a strong financial foundation

Key Performance Indicators

**Finance**
1) Book keeping (1/week)
2) Save JPY 1 million (JPY 70,000/m +)

**Health**
3) Eye exercise (5/week)
4) Jogging (2-3/week)

**Education and Profession**
5) Study for Saturday class (Newspaper) (5/week)
6) Study for book-keeper 2nd class (5 hours/week)