You just need to change your habits. Effortless saving is about 'switching, reducing, and eliminating'

When people talk about saving money,
it often carries an image of sacrifice or restriction.
But what I have been practicing
is nothing like that.

“Switching to a method that achieves the same goal more cheaply”—that is all it is.

The price difference between convenience stores and supermarkets is larger than you imagine

Because I work at a supermarket,
I am aware of my company's price range on a daily basis.
When I look at convenience stores with that perspective,
the magnitude of the price difference becomes naturally apparent.

When I was single,
buying a bento and a small salad for dinner at the supermarket
would cost about 500 yen.
Buying the same things at a convenience store would be around 800 yen.
That is about 1.6 times the price.

Even if the difference is 300 yen per meal,
when this accumulates every day, it becomes 9,000 yen a month,
and a difference of about 100,000 yen per year.

I am not doing anything special.
While there are preferences for products,
I simply changed where I buy them.

Let's calculate using 'drinks brought to work'

In the sense that small differences in habits accumulate,
daily drinks are an easy example to understand.

For one 500ml drink,
・If you keep buying it at a convenience store
・If you buy it at a supermarket
・If you bring barley tea in your own bottle
Let's compare the annual cost for each.

Assumptions
Convenience store: 500ml approx. 150 yen
Supermarket: 500ml approx. 90 yen
My bottle: 54 barley tea tea bags for 225 yen
＋ 2L water x 54 bottles (74 yen x 54 bottles)
＝ 4,221 yen for 216 days.
Kanto propane gas average unit price: approx. 650 yen/m³
Per time (2L) approx. 8.7 yen, approx. 791 yen per year
My bottle itself is 2,000 yen (first year only)

Just by choosing one drink,
a difference of 20,000 to 40,000 yen or more is created annually.

The order of 'switch → reduce → eliminate'
is reflected in the monetary effect.

・If you stop buying at convenience stores
and bring your own bottle,
about 80% is saved.

・If you buy a large 2L plastic bottle
at the supermarket instead of 500ml,
and refill your own bottle,
about 60% is saved.

・If you switch from buying at a convenience store
to buying at a supermarket,
about 40% is saved.

Since making barley tea for your own bottle takes effort,
if that is too much trouble,
just buying at the supermarket
is enough to have a saving effect.

If there is no reason why it must be a convenience store,
just having an alternative plan
will definitely reduce your spending.

Convenience store promotions that stimulate consumer desire
have a very large effect.
I also want you to remember
that there is a risk of it leading to unplanned spending.

Think in the order of 'switch → reduce → eliminate'

I simplify things by organizing them through
these three perspectives.

The effect becomes greater as you progress through the stages, but
starting with what is easiest to tackle
is perfectly fine.

Swap:
Switch from convenience stores to supermarkets or drugstores
Switch from major carriers to budget SIM plans
Switch from unnecessary insurance to term insurance
You can lower costs without changing your quality of life. Since no self-denial is required, this is the easiest to maintain.

Reduce:
Slightly reduce the frequency of eating out
Reduce wasteful shopping by buying in bulk, etc.
You don't need to stop everything,
just reviewing the frequency is enough.
Once you get the hang of it through 'swapping',
it becomes easier to tackle as the next step.

Eliminate:
Cancel unused subscriptions
Review unnecessary insurance, etc.
Once you take action, the effect lasts permanently.
Reviewing fixed costs falls into this category,
and the absolute amount of the effect is the largest.

The reason I almost stopped using convenience stores

It's not that I consciously tried to.
Because I work at a supermarket,
the supermarket became a natural choice
as a place to shop,
and before I knew it, the opportunities to use convenience stores
had almost disappeared.

I am not denying the existence of convenience stores.
They are open late at night,
convenient for urgent shopping,
and offer services like ATMs,
so there is value that only convenience stores provide.

Due to job transfers, I have lived in the suburbs of the Kanto region many times,
and because my life requires commuting by car,
I have never been forced to rely on convenience stores.

I think for some people, shopping on the way to work
is convenient.

However, if it is just 'because it's nearby'
or 'just stopping by out of habit',
it is worth stopping to think about it once.

Small accumulations become the foundation for asset building

The source of funds for monthly investment contributions
must be generated from somewhere.

Reducing fixed costs is the top priority, but
reviewing small daily habits
also adds up to an amount that cannot be ignored.

Just by switching to a personal bottle for drinks,
you save about 40,000 to 50,000 yen per year.

Even if the difference for one meal is 300 yen,
if it adds up every day, it exceeds 100,000 yen per year.
This is just one example.

If you change the place of shopping itself from convenience stores
to supermarkets or drugstores,
price differences arise in all items,
including food, daily necessities, and beverages.

Even if the difference per item is small,
when looking at daily shopping as a whole,
that price difference becomes larger than you might imagine.

Whether converted to a monthly basis
or converted to an annual basis,
it is not an amount that can be ignored.
Instead of self-denial,
switch to a method that achieves the same goal more cheaply.

That accumulation
is a way of thinking about saving that lasts a long time,
and it becomes the foundation for creating the funds you can put into investments.

* Beverage prices are estimates based on general reference prices. Actual prices may vary depending on the store and region.

Thank you for reading to the end.
I hope you will get to know me better
by reading my introductory article.