#kakeibo

Earlier this year, I made a post about how I was using the Kakeibo Method to do my budgeting.

I saved 1826.56 overall this year, despite having 4 months where unexpected bills put me into the Red.

Kakeibo, a traditional Japanese budgeting method, provides a mindful and structured approach to personal finance management. Meaning "household ledger," Kakeibo encourages individuals to track their income and expenses meticulously while reflecting on spending habits. This time-tested technique helps people gain better control over their finances, promoting savings and more intentional spending through thoughtful record-keeping and self-reflection.

Hello there👋🏽! Across the internet there’s a lot of awesomeness, so I decided to curate a small list of cool content that I think it’s worth sharing, I hope you find it useful, inspiring or interesting.

Thank you so much for being here♡.

Without further ado, these are my internet findings of the week:

Articles📝

For the past several years, I've done a Reverse Budget, but circumstances have meant that I've needed to tighten up on how I spend, so I decided to marry it to the Kakeibo Method to track spending and find additional savings. (If you google, you will find many other guides and videos that go in depth into Kakeibo and some sites include free printables.)

If you've struggled with other budget methods because they are too strict, inflexible, overwhelming, or the software has a learning curve, Kakeibo might be the right fit for you.

What I like about the Kakeibo method is:

It's super frugal to get started and maintain. All you need is paper and pen. (You probably have a notebook hanging around, and if you don't, they are cheap.)

It holds you accountable by making you log expenses as they happen (or no later than end of day), by making you reconcile spending each week, and by reflecting on lessons learned at the end of the month.

It makes you come to grips with your income and how much money you have "free" after your fixed expenses. (And to determine those fixed expenses, you will be examining your CC and bank statements closely, because you will be listing those expenses out to start each month.)

It has some aspects similar to reverse budget in the sense that once you've allocated money for your monthly fixed expenses, you are free to spend your weekly "allowance" however you see fit.

It is simple! There are 4 broad spending categories, and no trying to forecast variable expenses. So you're not overwhelmed with "giving every dollar a job", or feeling bad if something goes over the money allocated to an "envelope", (or for failing to realize you needed an envelope to begin with).

It considers cultural (leisure and pleasure) spending a legit category, and not just a "want". Going to the movies/museum/concert or buying a book? Culture. The non-work convention (vacation) I had last month? Culture.

It's flexible and adaptable to your needs and lifestyle. For example, to marry it to Reverse Budget, I consider my "pay your self first" savings one of my fixed expenses. If the 4 categories are too broad for you, create as many as you need for granularity.

I've also figured out a work-around for 4 week months vs 5 week months. I don't track my spending via calendar weeks. I divide each month in to 5 "weeks" of 6 days, with some months having a final week of 7 days. (Did I mention it is flexible?)

Does it work?

📒 Siempre busco formas efectivas para hacer mi vida menos compleja, buscando "ayuda práctica" que funcione; y si me funcionan a mí, tal vez puedan serte útil a ti también ;)