Budgetising

I've been keeping a record of all my spendings since I arrived, and I've been quite scared at how much money has disappeared over the last month and five days.

I saved just over £6,000 working at Cadbury World, and adding my life savings, for this trip, then spent about £4-500 on my suitcase, suits, clothes, travel accessories etc.

So I actually arrived in Japan with about Y1,250,000 (£5,975). The Japanese government requires you to have £2,500 for a Working Holiday visa (you can read more about requirements for visas on my earlier post).

Now I have spent Y298,650 (£1,428), leaving me with Y950,350 (£4,547). That sounds like a lot of money to have spent in a month but there are two Y80,000 rent payments and a Y40,000 camera included in that figure.

But I was still shocked by the number, so I have spent the afternoon poring over my Gaba schedule, private student timetable and weekly/ monthly spendings since I arrived. What a fun way to spend a rainy Tokyo afternoon!

This might be too strict, but I will break even if I work 20 lessons every week at Gaba, and earn £100 from private students every month, and spend Y146,300 (£700) a month.

That works out as Y80,000 a month on rent, Y41,800 on food (Y10,450 a week) and Y24,500 (Y6,125 a week) on transport and extras.

This is working on the value of the yen at Y209 to £1, which is the current figure, and what it has been for the past few weeks, although a more general figure that I usually work from (because it's easier to work out) is Y200 = £1.

I've called this my 'Preliminary Budget' so I'll review it in a month's time (or at the end of February) and see if it's possible to stick to it, or if it's too strict.

I think I need a drink...