Job Discussion Forums

[Atlas*]

hi, i was at work today and doing some calculations of roughly how much money i have until pay day and was shocked at how little i have left. i can borrow money from family but don't really want to. anyone lived on about 150 en a day before? any hints on how i can cut costs on things and still survive. obviously i will be eating some ramen, and spaghetti, but any other ideas??

i have taken out my work travel and bill costs already. so basically that 150 en is for food and socialising.

pretty sure i will borrow a little bit from my family but want to see how far i can make it on this limited amount. btw roughly 15 days until my payday.

perhaps i should have waited until after payday to buy that bed

[Chris21]

150 yen for food AND socializing? Why not do some traveling as well?

Find some private lessons (quickly), they should offer a little extra cash for food.

[Sweetsee]

Best be asking for an advance, shouldn't be a problem. Surly no one can live on one-fifty a day. That or do some wicket jumping because you are going to be hungry mate.

[Jon Taylor]

[furiousmilksheikali]

How long left until payday?

Some of those bills you may be able to delay paying, unless your company deals with your utility payments.

Find out if you can get any deals on transportation (ie if you are paying for train tickets daily then is it possible to save money buying a "teiki" (commuter pass) or a "kaisu" card (multiple use card that sometimes work out cheaper)?

To be honest, even that won't save you a lot of money and you may have to swallow your pride and ask to borrow some.

[shuize]

[TK4Lakers]

It's funny this thread is started. I'm pretty much broke right now too until payday at the end of the month.

A pro-rated August salary (because of summer vacation), and 3 trips to the hospital for different sicknesses makes one like me wonder how I will survive.

Also, I have the 4,500 yen school lunch fee I have to pay, and the school also informed me that I owe 5,000 yen (5 months pay) for the tea/drinks that us teachers have been freely drinking.

Looks like I'll have to dig through my piggy bank...

[luckbox]

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry... I'm assuming, OP, that this is not a regular state of economic affairs for you, just one of those bad spots we all get into from time to time?

If you have some food reserves at home (e.g., rice, noodles, canned goods) and have no transportation costs, you might be able to get by for a week or so on 150/day. I know I've done it a couple times in my 3 years without having to ask for an advance or loan.

Have you considered brewing your own liquor at home? A real cost-cutter this is. You can even trade it to your neighbours and co-workers for real food, especially if you live in the inaka.

[kdynamic]

There's a show on Japanese TV where they give the participants 10,000 yen to live for a month. It's a TV show because it's so unbelievable that anyone could ever do that. And that works out to be 333 yen a day! Good luck on 150

[luckyloser700]

Most of the supermarkets I've ever been to have free samples of various foods at any given time of the day and often there isn't anyone handing it out; it's just sitting on a tray for anyone to try. Get your food that way and save your money for what really matters.

[Atlas*]

thanks for your ideas
i'm still going to try and stay on a real tight budget, but my partner has said that i can borrow some money when i need it and pay it back right after i get paid.

this is really not a usual state of affairs for me, but it is right towards the end of the first 6-8 weeks teaching so money is running low, especially after setting up my own apartment rather than having a company organised one.

will be fine too, i'm not one to spend much anyway, obviously more than 150 regularly, but a few cheap days will certainly help me out.

also some other good news, that on the 25th i will be doing some english market research work which pays really well - 5000 en per session - usually less than one hour, but very irregular work, so after doing that i will feel rich until the end of the month.

i had budgeted with more money in mind, but it recently occurred to me that i need to pay for all those school lunches i have been eating.

i have swallowed my pride, asked for some help so no more worries.

[bornslippy1981]

Good luck to you.

I knew a guy at Nova who after his flight from America changed what money he had. He had 4500 Yen to last the first two weeks.

He bought bananas at the 100 Yen shop, and made it two weeks until he got his salary advance.

Kinda funny when I think about it.

And, I thought 40,000 Yen was too little to last me 3 weeks when I came.

[lanems]

I had a Japanese friend who said you could go to some bread factories and get the crust they cut off all their bread for free... and you can find recipes for different ways of using this crust.

Now that I think of it, I think it was a joke.

Interesting thought though, what do they do with all those perfectly good crusts? I guess the same thing they do with all that uneaten melon bread at Lawsons...

Have you considered selling your organs? Stealing food and alcohol from graves? Robbing old ladies?

[Glenski]

Look at the thread I started on cheapskates.

[JimDunlop2]

Thanks for reminding us, Glenski. Not only am I going to help the n00bs by linking the thread here, I'll do one better. I'll bump it! Now don't anyone say I never did anything nice for them....

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=4201&highlight=cheapskates