The One Habit That Helped Me Escape 'End-of-Month Deficits' When I Was Too Busy to Manage My Finances

Do you ever think, 'I need to manage my household finances,' but you're so exhausted every day that you just don't have the energy?
Do you feel that way?

I, too, once spent my days working full-time, caught in the whirlwind of raising children and doing housework, with no energy left to think about our finances.

However, with just a little bit of ingenuity, I was able to see the flow of money naturally.

In this article, I will share some tips for 'effortless household financial management' that you can keep up with even when you're busy.

The reality of my life: 'I kept a household account book, but I was in the red every month'

This was over 10 years ago.
I was working full-time, raising two elementary school children, and juggling housework every single day.

My mornings were spent doing laundry, preparing breakfast, seeing the kids off to school, and heading to work myself. After getting home, it was cooking dinner, checking homework, baths, and putting the kids to bed... Sometimes there was overtime, and I was exhausted... Even when I finally had time to myself after the family was asleep, my energy was already at zero.

In the midst of such days, I had no energy to manage our household finances.

However, since I was the one in charge of the household finances in our marriage, I did at least enter our expenses into household accounting software on my computer.

That said, keeping the account book was a chore, so my method was to look at receipts for two or three weeks—or sometimes a whole month—and enter them all at once. I was entering them to keep track of credit card withdrawal amounts, but I never once looked back at the 'content of the spending'—what I bought with the credit card, why I bought it, or whether there was any waste.

Honestly, I was just entering data and checking if the account balance was enough to cover the credit card withdrawals.

Even though I was keeping an account book, I would realize that my balance was barely enough at the end of the month. I would be shocked by the account balance, and then the same thing would repeat the following month.

I was 'keeping' an account book, but it was as if I were doing nothing at all.

'I can't manage my finances = I'm lazy' is just a misconception

'Maybe I'm just not cut out for proper financial management...'
'Maybe things aren't working out with budgets or saving because I'm lazy.'
There were times I would blame myself like that.

But now, I realize that I wasn't the only one.

Not being able to keep up with a household account book or not being able to make use of one even when you do keep it is not a personality flaw. You just haven't found the method or system that works for you.

In fact, while I am able to manage my finances properly now, back then I simply 'had no time.' It was non-stop from the moment I got home until I went to sleep. My to-do list for my free time was endless, and reviewing my finances was the last thing on my mind.

'Noticing' is more important than 'having to record'

And then, one day, while looking at the account book I had just spent my day off filling in, I suddenly thought: 'Is this account book actually helping my life?'

It was when I was thinking that way that I realized something.

• Thinking 'I have to keep a perfect household account book' is what makes it a chore.

• As long as you have a 'system to grasp' how much you spent on what, you will naturally notice wasteful spending and prevent going over budget.

I realized that for household financial management, 'noticing things first' is what's important.

So, I decided to lower the hurdle for keeping a household account book.

Zero effort but highly effective! A '3-minute habit'

That's when I started the [3-minute daily household memo].

What you do is really simple.

・Roughly write down the money spent that day and your satisfaction level
　Example: 'Supermarket 1,500 yen ◎'
　　　'Stationery 300 yen △'
・Add a quick note about special expenses or realizations
　Example: 'Dentist 1,800 yen 〇. Likely to have another visit next month'

I originally wrote it like a diary in the planner I used for work.
Now I write memos in a household account book I made myself, but back then, it wasn't really what you'd call a 'household account book'.

Even so, the feeling of 'I spent about this much today' became visible to me as 'money movement'.

When I adopted this method, I was still using a feature phone, so I think it's fine to use a smartphone to take memos now.
I think it's also good to create a group just for yourself on LINE to take notes in the chat, or write them down in a memo app.
Even just typing a quick note when you shop makes recording and reflecting very easy.

The important thing is not to be perfect, but to 'not stop recording'.
Just by doing this, you'll notice your spending habits start to change.

The 'habit of reflecting' changes household finances more than numbers

What changed in me after I started taking memos in my planner was my awareness of 'spending money'.

Before I started this method, I felt like money was just disappearing from my wallet before I knew it.
But after I started taking memos this way, I was able to naturally make judgments like,
'Oh, I'm eating out a bit too much this week'
'I'll hold back next week'

In this way, I realized that rather than accurately recording income and expenditure,
'how you are spending' being something you grasp yourself' is far more important.

'Not trying too hard' is how you keep it up

As for me, I used to take just three minutes every day after finishing the dinner cleanup to write down these household budget notes.
Because it was a task I could quickly finish in such a short time, I was able to keep it up every day, even when I was tired.

And, by continuing to do so,

• I could roughly see my monthly expenses

• I could notice wasteful spending

• I could think, 'I'll do this next month'

In this way, my relationship with money began to change.

Summary: You, who are busy, are the very person who can change your household finances with a '3-minute memo'

Back then, I used to think, 'I'm too busy, so managing household finances is impossible.'
But now, I think, 'It's precisely because I'm busy that I need a low-effort way to manage my household finances.'

It doesn't have to be a perfect household account book.
It doesn't have to be an app or Excel.

Just by taking three minutes a day to jot down the movement of money in a notebook or on your smartphone,
your household finances will surely change.

'Noticing' is the first step to managing household finances.
And it is a small habit that leads to future peace of mind.

Even if you are busy, with a little bit of 'awareness' and a 'system,' your household finances will definitely get in order.