Job Discussion Forums

Jon Taylor · Joined: 09 Mar 2005 Posts: 238 Location: Tokyo

Well, I am always reading pages on teachers looking at ways to save money.

Are there any of you that are like me and like to buy....buy...buy ?

I have just bought a 'massage chair' costing a cool 425,000 Yen.

What do you spend your money on ??

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

I'm just as frugal here as I was at home. My most recent purchase was a desk, but after 7 years with a teeny one that had only one drawer, it was well past time. Otherwise, my major expenses center around my baby.

JimDunlop2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan

For me, it's a balance. Between my wife and I remitting a bunch of money back home, we still have some "play" money.

Recent purchases to my toybox.

a motorcycle
riding jacket, new helmet
a satellite dish
portable LCD DVD player
USB MP3 player

In March, we went to visit Canada (after 2 years) and this summer we're going to Europe -- visitng my family in the Czech Republic (after 10 years).

We also like to spend our money on travelling within Japan... Kyoto, Tokyo, etc... This year, we've gone to Aichi Expo (and plan on going a couple more times).

So yeah, we like to have fun too (and save money whenever we can).

Oh yeah, (*edit): I almost forgot my surfboard and bodyboard. Like to drive out to the coast in the summer and go surfing & bodyboarding.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Like Glenski, major costs center around my kids. Diapers are darn expensive. My tuition fees also cost a fair amount.
For fun, we like to travel, usually do 2 overseas trips/year. This year it was Hawaii for a week and soon we will be in Canada for 9 weeks.
We bought a second car this spring and this month, both cars have shaken coming up.

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Back in the day when I lived in quaint little Nakajo and had a fair bit of disposable income, I:

1) bought stuff for my house--nothing flashy or expensive since I knew I'd be leaving, but kitchen gadgets and knick-knacks. I loved having my own house!

2) went out whenever I wanted--there was always money for dinner, drinks, movies, etc., and I usually had enough cash to pay for friends who were broke at the time

3) developed my newest hobby: snowboarding. Got a season pass for the "local" resort, and when that closed at the end of March, took day and weekend trips throughout Niigata, Fukushima, Yamagata, and Nagano in search of snow

And I still had enough to send regular payments back home to start paying down my debts.

Chile is wonderful, but I am finding I really have to be careful about how/where I spend my money. Hopefully that will change once I get my first paycheck!

d

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Some advice Denise, don't convert your paycheque into yen. Laughing

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Iwantmyrightsnow · Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 202

My biggest spend recently is taxis. After rising at 5am & a 1.5 hour commute, I can't bear the thought of climbing straight up the hill for 15mins. Have only done twice since April Embarassed

Not going out much recently but dinner after Japanese class has me getting the train at about 11pm - peak commute time later in the week. Rather than put up with the drunks I hop in a taxi for the 3000yen trip home.

Complete waste of money but all these taxis are helping to save my sanity.

fox1 · Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 268

how's this?

At Costco:

1 cabbage = ￥148
12 large croissants = ￥848
7.5kg wash powder = ￥1428
6x1L Tomato Juice = ￥978
9 bananas = ￥248
500g Pasta shells = ￥228
2x1.9kg Pasta sauce = ￥888
16 Mach3 cartridges = ￥2147
3x160g GUM toothpaste = ￥798
4x140g Aquafresh toothpaste = ￥798

you guys know how much to register? anyone shop there? Wink

6810 · Joined: 16 Nov 2003 Posts: 309

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Me?

I'm pretty cheap every month because I use my teiki to best advantage, make my own breakfast, bentos and eat in a few nights a week. My biggest expense after rent and groceries is martial training, equipment and events. I got a lot of practice weapons and kimono bits to go under armour (the armour's borrowed). This fall I'll do my second samurai festival.

Bozo Yoroshiku · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: spending all your wages ???

David W · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 457 Location: Japan

Bought a house a while back.

Celeste · Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 2:17 pm Post subject:

WHen I lived in Japan (a little over a month ago) I bought a gas oven, a nice TV with a region free dvd player with surround sound, a queen sized bed, a real refrigerator (taller than I am) and various other household things. Now I am in Canada, and with all of the money I saved in Japan, I have bought a car, some furniture, a new wall for my bathroom (dry rot! scary! carpenter coming next week to do framing). Glad I didn't spend it all in Japan. Actually, on the day to day stuff, we were pretty frugal and it is now paying off.