The Japanses Art of Saving Money 日本的省钱艺术
家計簿(Kakeibo)かけいぼ, 是一本家庭会计簿, 主要 记录家庭的收入和支出。家計簿是日本传统以来的家庭理财方式，大多数的日本妇女都会做家計。家計簿起源於1904年，由日本第一位女记者羽仁元子所发明。当時，其主要目的是让日本家庭主妇能夠有效地管理家庭收入和支出的预算平衡，更精明地掌握家庭的财政大权。
在古日本，日本的妇女都会做家計簿。当时，
基本上，家計簿让我学习到：
- 设定自己的经济目标。
- 妈妈除了分配好基本的消费，也要分配给自己的消费。（比如打扮美美的消费，自我增值的消费，和朋友喝茶逛街的消费，等等）
- 储蓄的目标是为了什么？要有明确的储蓄目的。
在一个国家，掌管财务事物的成为财政部长（Minister of Finance), 首要任务包括预算，开销，收入等等一切财政事务以确保国家收支平衡，国家得以公平的分配和持续的发展。一间公司，掌管财务的称为首席财务官（Chief Financial Officer/ CFO)， 首要任务是处理公司财政方面的业务和策略，包括会计管理、财务计划、财务程序、内部审计、财物、成本控制和投资研究分析等等， 以确保公司帐目透明化，股东能够得到应有的回报。
在您的家庭里，掌管家庭财务事物这重大任务是由谁来当呢？我们应该给这位家庭财长什么称呼呢？Family Financial Controller? Family Financial Officer ? Chief Financial Controller? 这个职位需要确保家庭所有的收入来源足以应付每个月必要的开销，确保每一位家庭成员获得需要的开销以分配。在财务紧逼的状况下，要如何贤明的分配》如何善用有限的资源创造更有意义的生活，更高的家庭价值。
Interview with Terue-san 照江 Age 73, Practice Kakeibo for 44years， and she is still practicing now. She started Kakeibo since married, she learned itself an d also from school. Normally she recorded it once a week without fail, she strongly encourage us to practice it because we can monitor and plan our cashflow.
I get to know this Kakeibo 15years ago from a Japanese Woman-Kaneko’s biography. But I dont really understand this and I dont really practice it. Since after I become a mother, I heard people sharing about Kakeibo also, but in my opinion, no matter how can I practice Kakeibo, my income is still the same, it is fixed amount of income. Until when I become a freelancer with no fixed income, I realise the important of practicing Kakeibo, I gavea tried for 3 months, it just simple jot down all my expenses. After 3 months, I found that I manage to monitor where my money spended, I started to analyse my spending, set limit of spending, set target for expected monthly surplus.
I started to learn more about how Japanese woman practicing this, I read and I asked around my Japanese friends. Something interesting part that I discovered: Japanese woman will allocate money for self-satisfaction (example: afternoon tea with friends, spend on skin care and beauty services, etc etc that can cheer-uo the housewife). Frrom some of the financial litearcy book that I read, I also discovered that, saving must come with purpose. Here I learned to set aside some spending for myself every month( my biggest spending is on: self-enrichment like purchased books, signed up learning course). From practice become habit, although my income is still the same, but with the clearer picture of my spending trend, at least I still manage to enjoy financial freedom. My philosophy is ” Spend my limited money to create highest value in life”.
Mummies, lets try Kakeibo. There are a lot of apps that allow you to try Kakeibo.
妈妈们，开始尝试“家計簿”吧！您可以尝试Apps的方式计算，或者用笔记的方式都可以。
