The Japanese Kakeibo mindful budgeting method — log spending by category and reflect monthly, free.
This tool runs entirely as JavaScript in your browser. the income, expense entries, and personal reflection notes you enter — all of it stays in this browser’s local storage only, never sent to a server is never transmitted over the network to this site's server or any third party, and is never written to a cookie, to browser storage, or to any log — there is nothing on our end to breach, subpoena, or accidentally leak, because it was never received in the first place. Closing or refreshing this tab clears it completely.
This describes only what this specific tool does with what you type into it. It doesn't cover the rest of this site — see the Privacy Policy for how analytics and advertising cookies are handled elsewhere.
| Date | Category | What for | Amount |
|---|
Kakeibo (家計簿, "household financial ledger") is a Japanese budgeting practice, over a century old, built around handwritten logging and monthly reflection rather than percentage targets. Unlike 50/30/20, 70/20/10, or the 6 Jars system, kakeibo doesn't prescribe how much to spend in any category — its entire method is to make you look closely at what you actually did, and ask why.
Start each month by writing down your income and a savings goal — kakeibo's own "opening ritual." Through the month, log each expense into one of four categories: Survival (rent, groceries, utilities — the things you can't avoid), Optional (dining out, entertainment — discretionary but ordinary), Culture (books, courses, hobbies — things that feed your mind), and Extra (gifts, repairs, unexpected costs).
The reflection section is deliberately not just numbers — the real practice of kakeibo is answering "how can I improve?" in your own words, not having a tool answer it for you. Everything here — income, entries, and your written notes — is saved only in your own browser, tied to this one device and browser, not an account.
Kakeibo doesn’t work that way, unlike 50/30/20 or the 6 Jars system — there’s no prescribed split. The categories exist to help you see and reflect on your spending pattern, not to hit a target.
Culture is spending that feeds your mind or growth — books, courses, museum visits, hobbies. Optional is more ordinary discretionary spending — dining out, streaming, casual entertainment. The line is a judgment call; consistency with your own definition matters more than getting it exactly "right."
Yes — saved in this browser’s local storage only, tied to this device and browser. A different device or browser starts fresh, and there’s no account or server involved.
It clears your logged entries and reflection notes to start fresh — this can’t be undone, so make sure you’ve exported or noted anything you want to keep first.
No — everything is stored only in your browser’s local storage. Nothing is uploaded or shared.
Under Survival — both are recurring, necessary costs the same way rent is. If either is billed annually, divide by 12 and log the monthly-equivalent figure.
It passes your projected savings (income minus what you’ve actually logged so far) into e309 Calculators’ SIP or Recurring Deposit calculator, so you can see what that amount could grow to if actually invested — shown once you’ve logged enough to have a real spending picture.
Choose Kakeibo if percentage-based systems feel too mechanical, and you’d rather understand *why* you spend than hit a fixed target — it’s a journaling practice, not a formula. If you want a quick, structured allocation without daily logging, one of the percentage-based calculators will suit you better.