Maybe your 'inability to save money' is due to your spending habits | "How to Spend Three Thousand Yen" by Hika Harada

This time, I am participating in the autumn continuous posting challenge with the theme of "#BookReview".
The book I will introduce is "How to Spend Three Thousand Yen" by Hika Harada (Chuko Bunko).

Usually, even if I read books about money, it's limited to the business book category, but this was a book I happened to notice at a bookstore and picked up.
As the law of "people encounter the book they need when they need it" goes, it was a book that really resonated with me, so I recommend it to those who are worried that they "can't seem to save money"!

As always, I won't post Amazon links, but rather the official URL. And I will introduce it without spoilers.

People who save up to buy good things vs. people who spend little by little

What draws you into "How to Spend Three Thousand Yen" is that it focuses on the "family" that each person in a single family has (or is trying to have), and as a result, you can strongly empathize with one of the stories.

For example, one story is told from the perspective of a protagonist who changes her daily routine of buying rich cafe coffee to using her own bottle and goes to a seminar on saving money. By the way, I personally found that this chapter had many parts that overlapped with my own life, and it gave me a lot to think about.

Beyond the story of debt when I became independent as a sole proprietor, I had been spoiled by being raised without worrying about money, so my financial literacy remained low even after becoming an adult. I had zero experience in setting proper goals and saving money steadily.
From when we started dating to living together, and then marriage, the reality is that I have been trained little by little while being helped by my partner regarding money.

Conversely, it was precisely because I had debt that I thought about how to manage with limited funds, and as a result, my literacy improved. And it is only recently that I have seriously thought about "by when and how much I will pay back" and put it into action.

Without becoming "penny wise and pound foolish," this book is packed with hints on what kind of mindset allows you to distinguish between what you can save on and where you should spend properly, and then buy good things with the money you've saved. I understand it, but it's hard to do.

Various ways of being a "family"

And, as I introduced earlier, stories about various families appear.
A story about someone who married early and should have had a "happy family," but re-examines her work, money, and career after seeing the lives of her classmates who are so-called "glittery girls."

Pension management for old age, how to make a living after a silver divorce, a man who wanders the world without even paying his national pension, and a woman who tries to take care of him while being swayed by him.
To put it in common terms, it is a story that focuses on the struggles of each woman's way of life, which has become more flexible than ever before.

However, it is not dark and serious, nor is it entirely warm and fuzzy throughout; it has an exquisite balance and comfort, and above all, it was a book that gets you motivated about how to spend money.

As others have mentioned in their reviews, it's a book you'll want to re-read periodically.

And I also looked at the notes of everyone else on the same theme this time, and I'd like to introduce Chippi-san's note because I empathized with it so much, thinking "Yes, this is it!" and I thought it was wonderful that she put it into action immediately after!

Please let me know your episodes of "How to Spend Three Thousand Yen," or if there are any other books you find interesting, since this was my first Hika Harada book!

For this top banner, I used an illustration by Katakori Yabai-san! The impact of the name is outstanding!

#BookReview