Oct 13, 2023
Tail end of the year budgeting
For many expats, the tail end of the year is one of the most expensive seasons. We've got birthdays, Christmas, and so on in our family, and costs add up! Not to mention as the weather starts cooling down, we end up running our heat sources more and those aren't cheap, either! If the winter months are also expensive for you, what are some ways you budget for it?
Best Answer
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on Nov 3
This is a really minor thing, but a good Hard-Off and/or Off-House can really help with gift purchases, particularly toys for the kids and accessories for grown-ups. My local ones even resell those elaborate towel/cloth gift sets cheaply. Other than that, I find myself always thinking I should cultivate some sort of side hustle more :/ It’s the busiest part of the year, so I don’t get far beyond the thinking stage, but it’s always there.
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on Nov 4
Baked into my monthly budget is a "mad money" category, somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 yen a month set aside for gifts and trips. Like @Lyssays, some of the gifts (especially towels and towel handkerchiefs) I get at recycle shops. These are unopened packages. Good quality second-hand kimono and yukata and accessories make great gifts for visitors from abroad, too.
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on Nov 5
For better or worse, I don't really budget, BUT this year I am making a conscious effort to stock up on my Amazon points this month for Christmas shopping in December. I haven't been posting reviews here regularly for the last three years, so I am lucky that I have a big backlog of reviews I can share to rack up some cash! But obviously, there's a limit on that - even though I'm out and about all the time (with the exception of this past week), I don't really eat out that much. But again, I'm lucky that Kawagoe has so much street food and I do try something / where new every couple of weeks without breaking the bank. Then there's finding the time to add the reviews; I was home more than normal this past week so I got quite a few up, but I will struggle hereafter. I don't know how you do it, more power to you!
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on Nov 5
@BigfamJapan I've been going through my phone/hard drive too and collecting all the places that I haven't reviewed yet. I think we all probably have the same idea at this time of year, and any extra cash definitely helps! Thankfully my husband is very hands-on with parenting and I treat blogging here almost as a part-time gig so it's not too difficult...and I can type quickly!
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on Nov 5
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on Nov 7
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on Jan 15
7 Answers