Savings target · AUD
Save A$25,000 in 12 months
That is A$2,083 every month for 12 months, which works out at A$68.45 a day. The number is the easy part; which envelope pays for it is the question this page answers.
This is beyond what habit changes deliver. Treat it as a decision about fixed costs or income, with the ledger tracking whether the decision held.
Twelve months is the horizon kakeibo was written for. The year end reckoning is part of the original design rather than something budgeting apps added later.
What this asks of your income
The ladder simply runs the division backwards: A$2,083 a month is twenty percent of A$10,417, ten percent of A$20,833, and thirty percent of A$6,944. Find your own income on it and you know what you are asking of yourself.
| If you save | Take home pay that implies | Left to live on |
|---|---|---|
| 10 percent of your pay | A$20,833 a month | A$18,750 a month |
| 15 percent of your pay | A$13,889 a month | A$11,806 a month |
| 20 percent of your pay | A$10,417 a month | A$8,333 a month |
| 25 percent of your pay | A$8,333 a month | A$6,250 a month |
| 30 percent of your pay | A$6,944 a month | A$4,861 a month |
Which envelope pays for it
Kakeibo sorts spending into four envelopes rather than dozens of line items, and that is what makes a question like this answerable. Survival is what keeps the lights on (rent or mortgage, groceries, power, rego and fuel, insurance). Optional is takeaway, subscriptions and the shopping you would not miss. Culture is a course, a gallery membership, books. Extra is the irregular hit: car repairs, a wedding gift, the vet.
Splitting it across Optional, Culture, Extra and Survival is one way to arrange it, and the Survival line is the honest part: at A$2,083 a month, no rearrangement of takeaway, subscriptions and the shopping you would not miss covers the whole figure. Survival means fixed costs, so that share is a housing, transport or insurance decision rather than a willpower one.
| Envelope | Share of the monthly figure | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Optional | 45 percent | A$938 a month |
| Culture | 15 percent | A$313 a month |
| Extra | 15 percent | A$313 a month |
| Survival | 25 percent | A$521 a month |
| Total moved to savings | A$2,083 a month |
Targets this large are almost always a deposit, a sabbatical or a debt being cleared. All three reward writing down what the money is for, because the reason is what survives month nine.
The four questions, against this target
The method is four questions asked once a month, in that order. Here they are with this page's numbers in them. The long version of each, with the reflection prompts, is in the four questions guide.
- 01How much money do you have?Everything that lands in the month, before anything is committed. The plan below only works from a real figure rather than a remembered one.
- 02How much would you like to save?A$2,083 a month, or A$2,100 if you would rather set a round standing transfer and finish early.
- 03How much are you spending?Recorded by hand, in four envelopes, as it happens. This is the part that makes the A$25,000 possible, and the part every method skips at its peril.
- 04How can you improve?Answered once a month for 12 months, in writing, against the running total rather than against a feeling.
The same target on every other horizon:
- 3 months · A$8,333 a month
- 6 months · A$4,167 a month
- 9 months · A$2,778 a month
- 18 months · A$1,389 a month
- 24 months · A$1,042 a month
- 36 months · A$694 a month
The same target in another currency:
Or work from your own figures in the save an amount by a date calculator, and start from the method itself in what is kakeibo.
Common questions
- How much do I need to save each month to reach A$25,000 in 12 months?
- A$2,083 a month. Set it to A$2,100 and you arrive early with a small cushion, which is usually worth more than the exact figure.
- What is that per week and per day?
- A$481 a week, A$962 a fortnight, and A$68.45 a day across roughly 365 days.
- Which kakeibo category should the money come from?
- Start with Optional. On this target it carries about 45 percent of the monthly figure, which is A$938. The ledger tells you the specific lines within a fortnight.
- What happens if I miss a month?
- The shortfall spreads across what is left. Missing one month here adds about A$189 to each remaining month, so it is recoverable, and the monthly reflection is where you decide whether to absorb it or move the date.
A$2,083 a month is arithmetic. Holding it is the ledger.
Kakeibo works because you write the spending down as it happens and read it back once a month. The app does the totals so the writing down is the only work left.
