Welcome to the 210th edition of the Festival of Frugality! Today’s festival is bitter sweet. It’s not only the last FoF of 2009, but also the last of the decade! (What are we calling this decade anyway?) To celebrate frugality in the ’00s, let’s take a look back at the decade’s most frugal – or [...]
Archive | December, 2009
How Japan and America View Christmas and New Year’s Day
Many of my junior high students are surprised to hear that Christmas is such a major holiday in most of the western world. In Japan, New Year’s Day is considered the most important holiday of the year. The Japanese recognize Christmas, but it’s mostly just a nice day for couples to be together and exchange [...]
8 Money Tips I Learned from Clark Griswold and Christmas Vacation
Clark Griswold embodies the American dad. A caring family man who wants nothing more than to host the perfect Christmas for his family and leave everyone smiling. As we know, there were some wrinkles in the process but in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Clark manages to carve out the perfect Christmas for his family. Here [...]
Daily Life of an Assistant Language Teacher in Japan
I’m currently an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) through the JET Program. I work at a Japanese junior high in a small town in western Fukui, about a two hour train ride from Kyoto. I didn’t even know this job existed until two years ago. It’s unfortunate that so many jobs and professions can be overlooked [...]
Money Around the World: Credit Card Use in Europe
Welcome to part 2 of the newly named “Money Around the World” series where we take a look at how citizens of different countries use and view different aspects of personal finance. Two weeks ago we took a look at how countries in Asia use credit cards. From Japan to Russia we learned about the [...]
Simplify Savings with the Envelope System
The envelope system is a popular budgeting tool that allows you to easily keep track of monthly expenses and limit spending in certain categories. I was initially attracted to the envelope system for its ease of use and suggested it to my girlfriend for our monthly food expenses. When she arrived in Japan in September [...]
Give Donations as Gifts this Holiday Season: 15 Charities You Can Help
Christmas time is here. I just finished watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and I’m officially in holiday mode. While watching the movie I couldn’t help but think about the specifics behind gift giving and how necessary it really is. Far too often when we get a present for the holidays, it stays in our lives [...]
4 Japanese Personal Finance Gripes
Note: I’m writing this post while completely content with my life in Japan. I’m suffering from very little homesickness and this post is in no way a vendetta against Japan. I’ve wanted to write a critical post about Japanese finance for a while, but in no way is this me being sad and missing home [...]
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Hi, my name's Austin Morgan. I teach English in Japan and write about money for twenty-somethings. Feel free to contact me with any questions and I hope you enjoy the site!
