Kakebo, the hundred-year-old Japanese method that can help you save up to 35% of your salary

Saving is one of those goals that we do, usually, every time we receive the salary. And we often fail: either we do not save at all, or we do it to a lesser extent than we want. While despite the fact that there are different methods and techniques.

The Japanese use a tool that helps them in this task: the kakebo, which requires a certain methodology, but which requires few resources: just a notebook, enough to write and, yes, perseverance and will.

They say that the person who saves is not the one who spends the least, but the one who spends wisely. So, whether you are a good administrator or rather those who are struggling to make ends meet, you can discover here a new way to at least try to increase your savings.

Origin

Kakebo (pronounced "kakiboh") is the Japanese word for a household account book. Its origin dates back to 1904, according to Fumiko Chiba, author of Kakeibo: The Japanese Art of Saving Money.

Chiba tells in his book that the ideologist of this method was Hani Motoko, considered the first female journalist in Japan, who wanted to find a way for wives to effectively manage the home economics.

"Although Japan is a traditional culture in many ways, kakebo was a liberating tool for women because it gave them control over financial decisions," Chiba writes in his work.

Today, despite the fact that there are already a multitude of applications on the market that allow you to control your income and expenses from your mobile phone, these account books are still marketed in Japan. .

They are usually sold at the beginning of each year and, according to Chiba, they are very popular.

The method

The task can be quite laborious, especially at the beginning, but that is also due to its success, say the experts.

You must first record your daily expenses (or weekly, depending on your preferences) in different categories. For example: income (salary, income, pension); essential expenses (housing, transportation, food, home care and medicines); leisure (restaurants, shopping, gym, etc.) and extras (gifts, repairs, trips).

You can define the number of categories you need and use different colors to make it more attractive. At the end of the month, you have to subtract: income minus expenses. Simple, is not it?

But that does not stop there, because the kakebo is not limited to controlling what you spend, but improving your finances.

The balance

The philosophy behind using kakebo is to focus on things that can not be abandoned and learn to get rid of those that are not a basic expense.

To do this, when it is time to badess how much, how and how we spent this money, we need to take stock by answering four key questions:

1. How much money did you save?
2. How much money would you have liked to save?
3. How much do you really spend?
4. What would you change next month to improve?

Proponents of this method say that the fact that it is a manual method, explains Chiba in his book, makes you more aware of the nature of your expenses and requires you to think about your goals so that your savings are more effective. . The savings margin, he writes, can reach 35% of your income. Would you dare to try?