Saving on food costs wasn't enough! The story of how keeping a 'household account book' became a habit before I knew it

Introduction

“Do you all keep a household account book?”

This time, I’m going to talk about the
“household account book,” which is the first step in household management and something I personally feel is the most important item.

In my previous article, I wrote about how I felt there were limits to just saving on food costs. I would be happy if you could read it from here if you like.

Previous article👇

The trigger and purpose for deciding to start a household account book

Even if I could save on food costs, my monthly balance was either in the red or breaking even.

The conclusion I came to in order to break through this situation was to resolve the question of
“What am I spending how much on every month?”

That’s right! Actually, until now, I had a vague grasp of food costs, but I had
absolutely no grasp of other expenses lol (other than rent, that is.)

“Where is the money disappearing to?” I decided to start keeping a household account book with the desire to visualize this.

I started a household account book.

When I hear 'household account book,' I have memories of managing my New Year’s money and allowance by hand in a ledger when I was in elementary school.
I also remember getting annoyed halfway through and quitting lol

However, times have moved on, and in the modern Reiwa era, there are things called 'household account book apps.'

I searched for 'household account book' in the App Store and downloaded the app that appeared at the top with an orange pig icon (aptly named 'Household Account Book').
The simple name and appearance were the deciding factors in my choice.

Things that were difficult when I started keeping a household account book

First, what was difficult was recording 'everything' as an expense.

The app I introduced earlier requires manual entry of all amounts, so it is quietly difficult to enter them while looking at credit card statements and withdrawal history.
But at the time, I had a 'let’s try it first' spirit, and I was actually enjoying it surprisingly well. I didn't even feel that manual entry was a burden.

However, the categorization was rough, and at first, I started with classifications like food costs, fixed costs, and others.
And I also feel it was good that I started without overdoing it, intending to record for 'just the first month.'

Insights and changes gained from continuing

The main thing I felt was “overspending”, haha.

In particular, even the food expenses I thought I had under control were a total mess because I had forgotten to include the weekly frozen food delivery service, haha.

However, a good point was that the flow of money became “visible in numbers,” which reduced my anxiety. This is very important; rather than cutting back on waste, realizing what were

“unnecessary expenses for me” was the biggest change in my mindset.

Reasons/tricks for being able to continue now

I feel the reason I am still able to keep a household account book is because of my “personal rule that it doesn't have to be perfect.” I still do it with the mindset that it's okay as long as I can grasp it, without worrying about things like, "Should I enter this expense when I pay it, or when it's withdrawn from my account?"

“There are no rules for a household account book. You are the rule!” I think a mindset like that is just right. Because it's fine as long as you can keep track of it yourself.

Conclusion

I think many people feel that keeping a household account book seems "kind of troublesome." But if you try starting it loosely in your own way, you might find you can actually keep it up. Even just starting with "for one month only" will surely lead to changes. It doesn't have to be perfect, so I think just trying it out will make a difference.

You are the rule! Haha.

Next time, I plan to introduce stories about reviewing expenses and cutting fixed costs that I noticed after I started keeping a household account book.

I will continue to learn so that I can deliver articles that are as easy to read and enjoyable as possible to all my readers in future posts, so “likes” and “follows” would be very encouraging! Thank you for reading until the end. 🙇