Photo:© Ecocapsule Holding
Now that the age of artificial intelligence (AI) is coming, AI will begin to steal our jobs and reduce our income. How, then, could we bring down household expenses? That is what I want to talk about this time.
When we say “reducing costs,” the first thing we think of is “economizing.” By “economizing,” we mean things like eating one dried sardine instead of our usual salmon fillet or preparing our miso soup without garnish. In companies, economizing means things like double-sided copying or turning off the lights whenever possible.
Such measures do bring down costs, but the money saved will not amount to much. I run a business, so I also know that these sorts of things definitely lead to a drop in employee morale. Everyone gets disheartened and starts thinking of money-saving measures as nothing more than obligations to fulfill.
One inviolable rule of running a business is that you have to focus on your largest expenses first. Drastically bringing those down is more important than whittling down smaller expenses. So what is your biggest household expense? Is it not the cost of housing itself?
Perhaps the first countermeasure we should consider would be moving to outlying regions or to the suburbs. For example, just moving from the center of Tokyo to Fukuoka or Hakata will bring down your housing costs tremendously. You could rent the finest house available for ¥200,000 a month, and the food is cheap and delicious, too.
However, if you think a bit more about where you could economize, you realize that the money you spend on utilities, insurance, and your car is also partly connected to where you live. So… what if your house itself could move?
