Bills, Bills, Bills
How much am I going to need to bring to Japan and how much will I pay a month?
-insert the Jet Programmeâs motto:Â âEvery situation is differentâ-
Okay, now that thatâs out of the way. I brought $2500 ish to Japan (and the exchange rate and fees SUCKED ass and I had less than I thought I did). But it was still enough to get started.Â
The annoying things were I had to buy a phone ($300 dollars) and wifi ($200 dollars). I actually didnât go through much of the money I brought at first. I bought grocheries and then I just concentrated on work for the most part. I didnât go out too often, but I did make it to a couple of festivals and spent money there too.
My payday is the 21st of every month (and itâs the same for everyone in my area). Most bills come after that.Â
Here is a break down of what I pay a month. This was from this past winter: $220 Rent (VERY CHEAP!! Itâs the inaka discount. If youâre in a city, youâll be paying much more). $30 Water $90 Gas [this is MUCH cheaper in the summer since I donât have to use my heater] my last bill (May/June was about $26) $30 Kerosene [Iâm not 100% on whether I actually pay this every month. I do know that if you run out of kerosene (which heats the water and your stove) itâs around $400 to refill ;_; ) $100 Cell Phone and Internet (Iâm with AU phone company. And what I donât like about this company is that if my phone bill is lower than $40 that month, they donât invoice me, instead they just tack it onto my bill for next month. I donât really understand how that works, but basically some months I pay nothing and then some months Iâm paying around $100 :\Â ) $30 Energy $50 School Lunch (If youâre in Junior High or Elementary School) $25.95 Land Line (if your BOE makes you have one, like me) $20 NHK (cable) there are many stories about this bill&company you will probably hear about but I actually enjoy the sounds of TV in the background of my life, I donât mind paying this bill. I listed it here as ($20/month) but I only have to pay it every two months, so itâs really just ($10/month). But I only get 5 channels and not the good channels, lol. All together, my most expensive months come to about $575
So all in all, my bills are barely a quarter of my paycheck. I should have a big savings, but going home basically wipes it out every few months :( . I also go to karaoke a lot and travel to the big city near me pretty often
