A Summary of Ways to Save Money While Being as Lazy as Possible

I want money.
When people hear the word "saving," they often imagine having to endure something or do something troublesome, but that doesn't last. Constantly worrying about things like forgetting to turn off the air conditioner can also be stressful.
I have summarized the ways I save money myself.

Set-it-and-forget-it savings

LED light bulbs

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 1,000 to 5,000 yen

Replacing an incandescent bulb (60W equivalent) with an LED bulb (approx. 8W) saves about 1,300 yen in electricity costs per year if used for 5 hours a day (calculated at 27 yen/kWh). If you have multiple bulbs, the savings effect increases even more.

Dishwasher

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 5,000 to 15,000 yen

Compared to hand washing (approx. 40L per wash), a dishwasher (approx. 10L per wash) can significantly reduce water usage. Assuming you use it twice a day, you can expect to save about 10,000 to 15,000 yen per year on water and gas (for hot water) bills. Even after subtracting the electricity costs, it is often a better deal.

Water-saving shower head

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 5,000 to 10,000 yen

Compared to a standard shower head, a water-saving shower head can cut water usage by about 30% to 50%. Assuming a family of four uses the shower for 10 minutes every day, this leads to savings of about 5,000 to 10,000 yen per year on water and gas (for hot water) bills.

Paying utility bills via automatic withdrawal

• Estimated savings effect: Annual approx. 120 to 600 yen

Many electric and gas companies offer a discount of about 50 yen per month if you pay by automatic bank transfer. This adds up to 600 yen per year. It is modest, but it is a saving you get automatically without doing anything.

Budget SIM cards

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 30,000 to 100,000 yen

If someone who was paying 8,000 yen per month to a major carrier switches to a 2,000 yen per month budget SIM plan, they save 6,000 yen per month. That is a massive annual saving of 72,000 yen. If the whole family switches, the effect is even greater.

Rakuten might be good for cost-performance. For communication speed, budget SIMs related to major carriers like Ymobile, UQ, and ahamo seem to be good.

Air purifier (assuming you avoid catching a cold once a year)

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 5,000 to over 20,000 yen

By not catching colds, you can save on hospital visit fees (initial and follow-up consultation fees), medication costs, and over-the-counter drug expenses. Assuming a single cold costs several thousand yen in medical expenses, you can expect to save about 5,000 to 20,000 yen per year. If you experience a salary reduction due to taking time off work, the indirect savings are even greater.

Furusato Nozei (Hometown Tax Donation Program)

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 5,000 to 30,000 yen or more

The savings effect here is based on the value of the return gifts, not the Furusato Nozei donation amount itself.
Since the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications stipulates that the value of return gifts must be within 30% of the donation amount based on procurement costs, I consider a 100,000 yen Furusato Nozei donation to result in 30,000 yen in savings.
The deduction limit for Furusato Nozei varies depending on your income, so you need to check it. Also, don't forget to use the One-Stop Exception system or file a tax return.

Credit card payments (points)

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 5,000 to 20,000 yen (depending on usage amount)

If you use a credit card with a 1% return rate to pay 50,000 yen per month (600,000 yen per year) for food, daily necessities, and utility bills, you will accumulate 6,000 yen worth of points annually. If you spend 100,000 yen per month (1.2 million yen per year), you can earn 12,000 yen worth of points.

I personally use the Epos Gold Card.

80% of the clothes I wear are Uniqlo

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 30,000 to 100,000 yen or more

If someone who previously spent 100,000 yen a year on clothing can reduce that to 50,000 yen by focusing on Uniqlo, that is a saving of 50,000 yen per year. By reducing expensive brand-name clothing and shopping wisely, you can significantly cut clothing expenses.

Effort-required section

For the effort-required section, I only do things that can be expected to have a significant one-time effect.

Simple home cooking (dinner only)

• Savings effect: Annual approx. 100,000 to 300,000 yen

For example, if someone who spends 800 yen on lunch eating out every day switches to home cooking (bento) for less than 500 yen per meal, they save 300 yen a day. That results in an annual saving of 109,500 yen. Furthermore, reducing the frequency of eating out or buying prepared side dishes leads to significant food cost savings. Buying in bulk and freezing items to avoid food waste is also important.
Also, I basically don't do complicated cooking. I stick to simple cooking like just grilling or boiling. In winter, hot pot dishes are very easy.

Buying and selling unwanted items

• Savings effect: Temporarily several thousand to tens of thousands of yen or more

If you sell items using flea market apps (like Mercari) or at recycle shops, you can get some pocket money and free up storage space.
Also, for things where I don't mind if they aren't brand new, I check these platforms first. Often, people list items they bought but never used, and you can frequently purchase them at a discount compared to new items.

Recently, issues with flea market apps have been a topic of discussion, so it seems necessary to use them wisely. Please see my other article for points to keep in mind when using Mercari.

Summary

Adding the above together, there is a potential for annual savings of approximately 200,000 to over 500,000 yen.

Of course, this is just an estimate, but steady savings are accumulating in each category, and I was happy to calculate it again.

I will continue to save money with as little effort as possible.

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