How I Budget Now that I’m Married

• Clothes and Shoes (I love dressing up!)

- I mostly bought them in second hand shops (or “ukay-ukay” in Tagalog). It was very cheap and regarding the style, there are more choices compared to the clothes and shoes available in shopping malls in the Philippines.

• Hanging out with Friends

- I usually eat out and drink with my friends, so I always set aside some money for it.

• Household Bills

- I don’t necessarily pay all the bills, I just give my mother some money, which she mostly uses to buy food. She was still working at that time and my father also gives her some money.

That’s where my salary goes and I save 20-30 percent of it. Once I receive my earnings, I immediately put them in my savings account and get enough money for 2 weeks. I do this so I won’t spend my money in one go.

If I have ZERO balance in my wallet, I need to go to the ATM to withdraw, which makes me quite LAZY. Hence, I use my LAZINESS as a motivation to be thrifty. LOL

That’s where my salary goes and I save 20-30 percent of it. Once I receive my earnings, I immediately put them in my savings account and get enough money for 2 weeks. I do this so I won’t spend my money on one go.

If I have ZERO balance in my wallet, I need to go to the ATM to withdraw, which makes me quite LAZY. Hence, I use my LAZINESS as a motivation to be thrifty. LOL.

When I moved to Japan, I used the same method but I have more expenses.

• Water, Gas, Phone, Internet, Electricity, and Rent Bill

• Sending money back home for my mother

• Clothes and Shoes

• Food

• Travel

I still go out and drink with my friends, but I don’t do it as often when I was in the Philippines.

How I Budget Now

Although I’m married, my spending habits didn’t change that much. However, I did influence my husband to be thrifty. We tried our best to save money ---especially during this pandemic---as much as we can to prepare for our future.

Here is our budget routine:

• Using credit card instead of money to pay for stuff to get more points.

- My husband and I both use Rakuten Credit Card and we use the points we earn from it to purchase things in their website or some stores affiliated with Rakuten. It saves us a lot of money. We have things that I completely bought using points!

• Talking to each other before buying.

- We have become each other’s conscience when it comes to shopping. LOL. We discuss if we really need to get the stuff we wanted or if it’s just impulsive buying. Since, my husband and I started doing this, we were able to avoid wasting money.

• Making bento every day for my husband

- Before moving from Saitama to Fukuoka, I promised my husband that I’ll make his bento every day because his new workplace doesn’t have a cafeteria. I usually wake up around 5:40 am to 6:00 am, so I could make my husband’s lunch. I also brew some coffee that he could bring with him to his work. My husband loves coffee and spends a lot of money buying it.

- Now that my other half is bringing his own lunch and beverage at work, he spends ZERO YEN most of the days. Except, when he needs to put gas in his car which is partly reimbursed to him by his company.

- I mostly stay at home, so I also spend ZERO YEN like my husband.

- Even though I make my husband’s bento every day, our food budget is the same compared to when we lived in Saitama. The prices in Fukuoka are much cheaper, so we could buy more food!

• Not eating out and making our own food

- Whenever we have any cravings, we make it as much as we can. My husband likes to bake, so he’s mostly in charge of making pastries. I don’t have patience with baking, but I like cooking savory food.

Homemade longganisa (Filipino Sausage) that I made

- We save a lot of money just by cooking our own food. Our weekly food budget is around 4,000 to 10,000 yen.

• Recording all of our expenses

- When I was single, it was easy to track down the things I bought or paid for. I only thought I about me. Now, that I’m married, I purchase a lot of stuff with my husband, so sometimes it’s a bit difficult to track down who paid for what and why our bills became more or less. That’s why my husband and I decided to record all our expenses in a notebook.

- It all started when we moved to Fukuoka. Although, my husband paid for the moving company, our fare, and gave him an allowance for our new apartment, we still used money from our own pocket. At first, we were wondering why we didn’t have any savings during that time, because we thought the pocket money covered most of our expenses. However, when we listed down everything, we were shocked that the little purchases (mostly for the house) that we made piled up.

- Hence, even if it’s just a 100 yen purchase, we still write it down in our book. This notebook really helped us track down our expenses and how much we had saved. In addition, it also helped us to put our mind at ease and not wonder anymore where did our money go.

- We put the name of the purchase, how much, who paid for it, and who’s bill it is---my husband and I just write our initials and if it’s for home, we just put “H.”

Conclusion

When making a budget routine, make something that is comfortable or not difficult for you, so you don’t feel that you are struggling. Sometimes, this could trigger us to break our own rule and keep spending. Let’s face it, we feel good when we shop.

That’s why I advise to keep trying different saving or budgeting techniques until you find what works for you.

There you go! How about you? What are your budgeting techniques? Have you struggled saving money? Share it on the comment section below.