Reducing fixed expenses challenge

[RetireJapan]

Okay, so as I wrote in today's blog post I will be taking a look at our fixed expenses and seeing if we can reduce them a bit. You can play along too!

Post your success story in this thread

[Dabitto]

Okay, let me try to shock you with my monthly phone bill

I pay 1395 yen a month (tax included) for up to 3GB of data usage and the option to call (10 yen/30 seconds) and text (3 yen/SMS). If you call a lot, you can add an aditional service for 500 yen a month that lets you make free calls if the individual calls are under 5 minutes long (so for the extreme cheap skates; you could call for 4 minutes and 59 seconds, end the call, and call again, if you want to dodge extra fees xD). However, I almost never call or text, so I did not add that option.

Here is the product info page of the service I am using: https://www.bmobile.ne.jp/jfsim/index_voice.html

Furthermore, there are no stupid cancelation fees if you stay with them for at least 4 months. And you can access your account, payment methods, aditional options, and cancelation option anytime and anywhere with the very simple and good working online service desk (its idiot-proof ).

Data cost overview (excluding tax):
データ使用量 月額基本料(ドコモ)
1GBまで 990円
3GBまで 1,290円
6GBまで 1,790円
10GBまで 2,590円
15GBまで 3,590円
15GB以降も低速度でご利用になれます。

[RetireJapan]

Okay, let me try to shock you with my monthly phone bill

Yup: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/mobile ... n-japan-2/

[Dabitto]

Okay, let me try to shock you with my monthly phone bill

Yup: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/mobile ... n-japan-2/

O wow! You win haha!

You could, however, save 300 yen a month, if you decide to switch and stay within your 1GB data limit .
(1071 yen a month at b-mobile for up to 1GB (tax included))
But this only makes sense if you stay with them for 20 months or longer, because of the 3000 yen you have to pay to take your number with you using the MNP service + the 3000 yen you have to pay for your new SIM-card.

So I guess that would not really be worth the hassle There are far better ways to save on your monthly expenses.

[adamu]

I think nothing I do could beat the fact that if I move, I could save 30k + a month. Unfortunately, inertia and generally liking where I live right now is far greater than my will do to anything about it...

Even if I have to pay a 150k reikin, that would pay for itself in 5 months. I should really get onto this, maybe a trip to the fudousan is in order.

[RetireJapan]

The biggest one on my radar is getting rid of our cars. If only we had a cheap rideshare service in Sendai... I've been using Bolt here in Estonia, and it is easy, cheap, and convenient. Most of the drivers are also taxis too, so I guess it is just a separate sales channel for them.

[captainspoke]

An article detailing how much you could save by brewing your own coffee also mentioned haircuts:

... cited another example, this one from famed investor Warren Buffett, who once estimated he could save $300,000 over a lifetime by getting his hair cut every five weeks rather than four, while spending $18 per visit rather than $25.

One friend here has his wife cut his hair--free. I've been going to a bare bones place for years and get a senior discount (comes to ¥1296), but another branch of the same chain (out on the edge of town) undercuts that--I think it's ¥1000 for anyone. (And I like the cut I get.)

Or, you could pay ¥5000, like my wife does (but that includes some coloring).

[jcc]

An article detailing how much you could save by brewing your own coffee also mentioned haircuts:

... cited another example, this one from famed investor Warren Buffett, who once estimated he could save $300,000 over a lifetime by getting his hair cut every five weeks rather than four, while spending $18 per visit rather than $25.

One friend here has his wife cut his hair--free. I've been going to a bare bones place for years and get a senior discount (comes to ¥1296), but another branch of the same chain (out on the edge of town) undercuts that--I think it's ¥1000 for anyone. (And I like the cut I get.)

Or, you could pay ¥5000, like my wife does (but that includes some coloring).

QB house really does a good job considering the low price. When I was living a life of excess(not quite) I would get my hair cut at a nice place in harajuku with head massage and whatnot. That was 8k a pop. It was a bit better, but honestly, after a week or two it's hard to notice the difference from QB

[Bubblegun]

After reading the thread I thought i would actually do something.So thank you for the motivation, as I attempt to try and put that money into an iDeCo without actually cutting back drastically.

So I stopped starbucks last year and Switched to Mr Donuts. 230 yen per cup and free refills. Savings? Good enough to be very happy, plus i get to sit outside and relax with my book and listen to the radio. I also did this at McDonalds. I stopped buying the food but bought tea instead.(just to get out of the house).



I invested in a hair clipper which cost me initially 4000 yen but saved me between 1000- 1500 per haircut( sometimes I wanted that wet shave) .So after one year I am saving.
3000-4500 per year.

Next I swapped going out to the bars at approximately 5000 yen a week to go to the cinema,Onsen or something else.
Again after taking into account the expenditure that's another 10,000 yen saved a month.( but i do still go out now and then)
700 yen for the onset, 200 for an ice cream.LOL.

I managed to move to one of the new mobile phone companies saving approximately.
12,000 per year.

I have also swapped my insurance company in the UK which has resulted in good saving.from 400 to170 pounds.
Saving 31000 yen. I also hated their stupid fee because i didn't reply to some letter. ( or they said it was and frankly i dont even remember them saying they were going to charge my a fee IF i didn't reply.So screw them!

I also switched to Transferwise instead of Japan post, where I seem to spend an hour and half of my time...either going, coming, looking for documents, filling them out, and then sitting there. Never mind the money but that is one heck of a saving.

So I seem to be saving approximately,give or take the kids needs, school trips,
147,000 yen per year.

(hidden savings)
I broke my Iphone, well actually I dropped it in the toilet, and decided to buy a second hand phone ) and I'm refusing to upgrade).


Finally I increased my mortgage payments, which should save me about
5,800 pounds in interest over the long run, and pay it off in 9 years faster.
As I am putting quite a bit extra month into this.I really want to get rid of this debt.


It seems to be paying for the IDeCo.

[RetireJapan]

Fantastic stuff

I managed to move to one of the new mobile phone companies saving approximately.
12,000 per year.

Was it only that much? When I switched from Softbank to Aeon, my bills went down by 6,000-7,000 yen a month!