Full-time Housewives Much More Than Top-level Luxury In Economy Crisis

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Full-time Housewives Much More Than Top-Level Luxury In Economy Crisis

 

 

By:ReplicaEstore.com

Japan is among the countries that have the highest living expense in the world. The housewives in Japan all have a knack of housekeeping, but in the likely persistent economic recession, it is getting more difficult to make ends meet on one single income and therefore many housewives might have to go out and look for a job. A full-time housewife has become a luxury that Japanese husband can’t afford.

According to Reuters Tokyo, living expenses in Japan rank among the highest in the world. Housewives in Japan have got talents for housekeeping；since the economy may fall into a long recession, they now have to fully display this talent and cut costs.

There are 17 million housewives in Japan whose husbands’ monthly salary is 270 thousand yen on the average. For many of them, it is no easy job to keep house on this money.

The 27-year-old Suzuki Asuka, who lives in the northern island of Hokkaido with her husband, says that she has to pinch pennies and resist the temptation of spending to control the monthly food expenses.

“Sometimes I do feel a bit disappointed,” Suzuki Asuka says in the email interview, “because I cannot buy clothes I like, go travelling, nor have interests that would take a lot of money. But I plan to buy an apartment in the future so I must try hard to save money.”

Before she goes out to buy food, she will search the internet for all local supermarkets’ promotions, check the stock in the refrigerator, and then come out with a week’s food purchasing list.

After, she will put just enough money in her wallet --- bring no credit cards with her---and go to the supermarket on a bicycle, if the weather permits.

Suzuki Asuka is only one of the hundreds of housewives described by Charming Housewife, a monthly magazine which recommends people all kinds of frugal tips, from saving electricity by turning off the television to the reuse of the water after washing rice, with other advices including making cushion covers using old clothes, making toy houses for children using carton boxes, and etc.

Food is the largest item of expenditure for many Japanese families; even the thriftiest housewife would pride herself in providing different dishes every evening.

Department stores’ sales drop as customers begin to abandon high-priced goods and turn to promotion stores. Compared with the same period last year, this October’s sales drop by nearly seven percent, which is in low for the eighth month; while the sales of Uniqlo, a chain discount couture house, increase by over 30% in November and some online retailers like ReplicaEstore.com are lauching promotion by heavy discount.

Some specialists also say that although these thrifty housekeepers try their best to cut the cost, it is more and more difficult to maintain a house relying on one income and they may have to find a job. “It helps to alleviate the pressure of household expenditure even though they only get 50000 or 60000 yen per month”, says Haruko Hagiwara, a financial reporter who has written books on how to plan budget and lower costs, “A full-time housewife has become a luxury unaffordable for the Japanese.”(Louis Vuitton e-Store ReplicaEstore.com)