Budget of an exchange student in Japan

Ever since I landed in Japan, I have meticulously recorded down every single expense (or income) I've incurred in the hopes of studying the cost of living here. As you may expect, my records are not 100% accurate although I do try my best to cover all grounds. But, I believe it is at least 80% accurate. How I did it: a) for expenses that had receipts issued, I kept them and added to my Excel spreadsheet before tossing them out, b) for expenses without receipts, I made sure to record the amount spent in my phone before moving on with life, and c) for expenses which I had forgotten and wanted to backlog, I'd estimate the amount with my fuzzy memory. Situations like c) occurred rarely, maybe once or twice a month.

So, moving on to the interesting part, and probably the one you came here for, the numbers. My dormitory bill was 64,000 yen for each month, and as I chose to pay it at the convenience store or konbini, I had to pay an additional handling fee of 324 yen. I've excluded this below.

In March, I travelled in Kyushu with a group of friends for 9 or 10 days. On this trip, I spent:
17,000 yen on Accommodations
24,914 yen on Transport (Topup of IC card, bus pass, shared car rental, luggage shipping, excluding plane tickets)
19,690 yen on Food
3,620 yen on Attractions (Museum tickets, entrance fees etc)
6,305 yen on Shopping (Omiyage and anything that does not fall under the above categories)

After the trip, there was a brief period of 3 days or so which I spent in Kawasaki City, while waiting to check-in for my dormitory. During this short stay, I spent:
3,356 yen on Food
1,000 yen on Transport
3,400 yen on Shopping
Note: Hotel stay was paid for by my dad, so I did not have to spend any cash.

For the rest of March after I checked into my dormitory, I spent:
14,194 yen on Food
24,700 yen on Transport (20,880 yen went to my 3-month student commuter pass)
8,304 yen on Household Items
13,298 yen on Entertainment/Shopping

April was my first full month of dormitory living, during which I spent:
35,535 yen on Food
5,350 yen on Transport
1,312 yen on Household Items
14,331 yen on Entertainment/Shopping
I bought this pair of nice black pumps which I can bring back to Singapore for formal/office wear. I also bought some clothes and makeup which was why the spending shot up.

In May, it was:
37,828 yen on Food
3,310 yen on Transport
4,412 yen on Household Items
7,190 yen on Entertainment/Shopping
Spending on food increased a lot because there were SO MANY social lunches/dinners with my Tomodachi group, Kendo circle, SMU friends, Motosumiyoshi dormitory friends, etc.

June is ending next week. I have adjusted my spending pattern and really tried to save more money to make up for my rash behavior in the earlier months. Before buying perishable food items, I forced myself to think hard about whether I can finish using them before they go bad. Having thrown plenty of rotten foods away, my guilty conscience is on fire. Eating out too often is not only hexing on the wallet, it's also unhealthy and fat-inducing in the long run.

Leave a comment to let me know if this has been helpful for you or whoever is planning to come to Japan for exchange. Wish me luck for the rest of June~