FW-80 -- Frugal Watch Is Back, and "Managing Money with Baby"

* * * * * * * * F R U G A L W A T C H * * * * * * * *
A weekly roundup of how to be frugal in the world's most
expensive country to live (unless you read this!), written
and compiled by Wendy J. Imura.

Regular edition, November 22, 2005 Issue No. 80
+++ INDEX

- Frugal Watch Is Back, and "Managing Money with Baby"
- Credits

SIGN UP FOR FREE!: Send a blank email to
join-frugal_watch@lyris.lincmedia.co.jp

========================================================
JIC Sponsored Interviews

You read Terrie's Take and JIN, and so do 54,000 other
executives inside and outside Japan. Let them know what your
company does, with our new Sponsored Interviews service.
We create a lead-in for the interview, and run it within the
newsletters, with links back to the page holding the full
interview. For a small additional charge, we will also run it
in the Japan Inc magazine, the www.japan.com website, and the
www.japaninc.com web site for archiving. Cumulatively, your
message will be seen by at least 120,000 English-language readers.

E-mail: sales@japaninc.com for more information.
========================================================

***Frugal Watch Is Back, and "Managing Money with Baby"***

Dear Frugal Readers,

Greetings fond Frugalites - and many thanks for your patience with
my maternity leave. I certainly appreciated the break, and
I know my family did. For the record, Baby Imura was born in
late September, and is doing very well - while we're not sleeping
that much, we certainly are enjoying ourselves. I'm happy to
be back again, and look forward to your continued readership
and participation. Yoroshiku!

While I can promise that babies and children will NOT be the
dominant Frugal Watch topic from here on out, I couldn't resist
sharing a few of the things (both frugal and not) I've discovered
over the last month or so. Even if you never have a baby in Japan,
it's bound to be interesting from a cross-cultural perspective.
So, with no further ado, please enjoy my top three tips for
managing money with a baby in Japan.

1) Make a post-baby budget AHEAD of time.
Many women (or men) take time off from work to care for an
infant. Whether your parental leave is six months or semi-permanent,
most families suffer through lost income a financial hit during
the first year of their child's life. Planning ahead, both through
creating a financial "cushion" and calculating your post-baby budget
before Junior is born, can save a lot of headaches later.

2) Have a realistic view of your post-baby expenses.
Some will go up, some will go down. Aside from medical expenses
such as hospital bills, you can count on higher water, electricity,
and gas bills for at least six months to a year, particularly during
winter. Babies create lots of laundry, particularly if you are
using cloth diapers. Diapers, formula (if your baby is not breastfed),
diaper wipes, and other myriad consumable items also add up
significantly. Keeping track of your baby-related expenses in a
separate category in your household accounts will help you control
them better.

3) Know, and take advantage of, the public welfare/company
payments due to you.
As you might know, expenses for a normal birth are not covered
under Japanese National Health Insurance or corporate insurance
plans. Instead, you pay out of pocket and are reimbursed by
a 300,000 yen "gift" to offset the expenses through the insurance
body. In addition, depending on your situation, a number of
other payments may be due: a percentage of your salary
if you are a regular employee on maternity leave, unemployment
payments equal to a significant portion of your salary if you
have a baby within six months of quitting your job (and you
paid into unemployment insurance), and even special allowances
from your town or city government or company. If you meet income
requirements, your child may also be eligible for reduced medical
care expenses (we only pay 500 yen for each doctor's visit until our
child is 5 years old!), or "kodomo teate" (welfare payments for
children) - 5,000 yen/month per child until the child reaches the
third year of elementary school. As with most public welfare payments,
you can only receive them if you apply for them. Thus, it pays to do
research.

There are, of course, plenty more tips for controlling costs
when baby arrives, but these first three should help get you
started.

Frugally Yours,
Wendy J. Imura

========================================================
BiOS IT Support Services

Introduce some discipline and control to your IT infrastructure
by getting a quotation from BiOS for J-E bilingual support and
engineering. With 50+ engineers, we have the size and experience
to look after most sites and projects. Whether you have one
person or one hundred, we welcome all customers.

For more info: technology@biosjp.com.
http://www.biosjp.com

========================================================
The J@pan Inc magazine currently has an internship opening
for a web programmer.
The Intern will assist the Design Manager with design
programming in the HTML, CSS, PHP languages at the Japan Inc
Communications office twice a week and be reimbursed for
travel. For further information, contact Naomi Shirogane
(03-3499-2099; interns@japaninc.com)
=====================================================

------------- ADVERTISEMENT ------------------
In need of frugal, yet convenient, translation services for
visas or passport paperwork? Occams Inc.'s affiliate service,
Nihongo Benriya, provides affordable, quick-turnaround service
for koseki tohon (family registry) translations, marriage certificates,
drivers' licenses, and even automobile registration/export paperwork.
Visit www.nihongobenriya.com for more information!

-----------------------------------------------
Subscribers: 1,081 as of November 22, 2005

END
+++ ABOUT US

STAFF
Written by: Wendy J. Imura (frugalwatch@japaninc.com)
Edited by: JI

Copyright 2005 Japan Inc. Communications Inc.