20年の家計簿が支えた3人の娘の夢
Why I Started Keeping a Household Account Book
About twenty years ago, I attended a seminar where someone spoke about keeping a household account book, and their story moved me deeply. Ever since that day, I’ve been recording every yen and every expense.
That person’s husband had been laid off, and their family faced a financial crisis. But because she had kept detailed records of their finances, she was able to remain calm, manage expenses wisely, and help her children continue their education. Her story gave me hope.
When I was in fifth grade, my father quit his job. He changed jobs several times after that and eventually divorced my mother. I often think—if my mother had been keeping an account book back then and could have given me even a little sense of security about our future, maybe I wouldn’t have grown to resent my father so much.
That’s why I decided to start keeping one myself. I bought my first household account book right after that seminar. I wanted to have something that could help me feel secure if our family ever faced a crisis. Numbers, I thought, could help ease fear and prevent the worst from happening.
Since then, I’ve continued every year. In 2025, I’ll reach my 21st volume.
The Motivation That Kept Me Going
My husband is eleven years older than I am (I’m in my early fifties), and our family situation is a bit unique. From the moment our first child was born, I knew that by the time he retired, our three daughters would be in high school or junior high—our eldest in 12th grade, our second in 9th, and our youngest in 7th.
So I made a plan: by his retirement, we would have saved enough for all three children’s education. Thankfully, my husband never quit his job—though he often said he wanted to. When the children were small, I couldn’t tell him to just quit. We still had a mortgage and future tuition to think about.
He stuck it out, albeit reluctantly, until retirement. Thanks to that, we paid off the mortgage and saved enough to cover the basics of our children’s education.
Still, we were only able to save about 7.5 million yen per child—just enough to cover a national university while living away from home. Private universities were never part of the plan.
My husband worked for a public organization with a salary comparable to that of a civil servant. It was enough for daily life, but saving for education while paying off the house and buying cars wasn’t easy. When our youngest turned two, I started working part-time. Over the years, I increased my hours and now juggle several part-time jobs to keep supporting our children’s education.
After retirement, my husband was rehired at the same workplace. The salary is smaller now, but we’re grateful for the steady income.
When My Eldest Chose Her Path
In September 2023, my eldest daughter, then a senior in high school, finally decided on her path. After visiting several schools, she chose a beauty college in Osaka.
She had been in the art program at a private high school. When she told me during her first year that she might not pursue art in university, I honestly felt relieved. Art universities—especially private ones—are expensive and highly competitive.
I explained to her that if she wanted to attend a private university, she’d have to borrow from her sisters’ education funds temporarily. Even so, I told her that if she was determined, we’d make it work.
After several visits, she chose the beauty college in Osaka. Though there was one nearby, she insisted on going there, and after calculating the costs, I decided to support her.
The First Mountain: Tuition and Student Housing
She took the entrance interview in September and was accepted. We immediately paid the 150,000 yen admission fee and secured student housing through the school. The contract fee was 250,000 yen.
Because her application was relatively late, cheaper rooms were already taken, and we had to settle for a more expensive one.
The tuition could be paid monthly, semiannually, annually, or in full for two years. I decided to pay one year (1.5 million yen) upfront—just in case she lost motivation later. The payment was due in January.
For the student residence, I chose the plan with two daily meals, which cost about 1.4 million yen for the year, paid in March.
By the end of March, we had already spent 3.3 million yen.
Then came a study trip to Paris and Korea—optional, but she was determined to go. That cost another 700,000 yen, followed by a 120,000 yen Tokyo training trip.
Since the program is packed with lessons and contests, she has little time to work part-time, and living expenses are tight. But seeing how fulfilled she is makes me grateful we supported her choice.
I give her 30,000 yen per month for living expenses, paid every six months.
The total for her first year came to 4.48 million yen.
For her second year, tuition was 1.3 million yen and the dorm 1.1 million yen (now with breakfast only). I increased her allowance slightly to 300,000 yen every six months.
That brought us to roughly 7.48 million yen—the full amount we had planned.
Thankfully, with Japan’s new tuition support for multi-child families starting in 2025, we were able to apply successfully, and part of her tuition (290,000 yen) will be refunded after performance review.
Her job after graduation is already decided, and she plans to continue living in Osaka. I hope that refund will help cover her moving costs.
The Second Mountain: Our Second Daughter’s Journey
Our second daughter, now a high school sophomore, wanted to work with animals. She entered a prefectural agricultural high school—the only one in the prefecture offering animal care courses.
I gradually realized she likely has borderline intellectual functioning. Despite my professional background working with children who struggle in school, it still took me years to recognize her learning difficulties.
Her working memory seems weak, which affects her academic performance. Even with steady effort, her test scores rarely went above half.
We prioritized her interests and happiness over academics when choosing her school. Since the school is far away, she lives in a dormitory and comes home on weekends, which costs about 30,000 yen a month for travel and 40,000 yen for the dorm.
She has grown remarkably confident and happy, and I truly believe we made the right choice.
Originally, I thought university wasn’t for her, but recently she’s become interested. I explained the costs and challenges of writing a thesis and encouraged her to consider the prefectural agricultural college instead. Tuition there is about 1 million yen per year—very affordable—and dorms are included.
Still, rural locations often mean she’ll need a car, so some of the saved funds will go toward that.
The Third Mountain: The Youngest
My youngest, now in her final year of junior high, hopes to attend a very specialized high school—one of only three in Japan offering her chosen field. I sincerely hope her dream comes true.
She’s also open to the idea of college someday, but for now, we’ll wait and see.
Looking Back — and Ahead
Sometimes I ask myself, Where am I now in life?
There’s still a long road ahead, but I finally see a path.
If I hadn’t started keeping a household account book twenty years ago, I honestly don’t know what would have happened. I would have lived in constant fear, unable to make big decisions.
Because of that simple habit, I’ve been able to save for my children’s education—three full plans. It required many sacrifices: we rarely ate out, and we didn’t visit theme parks for years. But my children understand.
Recently, I read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill (the new Japanese edition titled The Mindset to Build Great Wealth). I realized that keeping a household account book was my way of “turning thought into reality.”
The one I’ve always used is The Budget Life Household Account Book by Fujin-no-Tomo-sha. Unlike regular ledgers, it starts by creating a yearly budget—estimating income, subtracting taxes and savings, and dividing the remaining “disposable income” into detailed expense categories such as food, housing, education, and entertainment.
This process—thinking ahead and writing it down—truly manifests thought into form.
A Note About My Family
You may have noticed that my husband hardly appears in this story. The truth is, our marriage has been functionally broken for nearly ten years. We live mostly separate lives.
Still, I’m grateful he continued working and helps with our children’s rides and logistics. That support has allowed our family to function.
I chose not to divorce, thinking primarily of our children’s stability and education.
Now that the first mountain is nearly behind us, I’m climbing the second and third—one careful step at a time.
Together with my household account book, I’ll keep walking this pathless road, wherever it may lead.