The Kakeibo - The Japanese Art of Saving Money

This decade began on a really great note!
I came across this book called The Kakeibo which is the Japanese art of saving money and 2 months down, I do see some discipline in my spending.
It suggests asking these 4 very important questions. I wish I knew this before!

Courtesy:  Google Images

As Indians, we used to be very very good at saving money and hence growing them into bigger funds.
Look at what our moms did?
The monthly expenses would also accommodate kitties and savings and thereby the housewives would also successfully end up saving real good money by the end of every month.
Women are therefore known to be great managers. They know the art of minimalism, and running the household lavishly in a middle house income, was a cakewalk!
Our generation, sure lacks this skill. The savings are almost nil and expenses are over the roof. The credit card bills are a pain and the unending loan EMIs leave us with nothing by the 10th of every month. Further, until the end of the month, it sure is a struggle.
I am sure we all are in a similar situation if not same.
Planning Expenses, investments and savings is a skill.


Warren Buffet has quoted :
Do not save what is left after spending; instead spend what is left after saving.

And to follow this one principle, I picked up this book. Kakeibo has really helped me visualize!
Visualization is the first step of achieving something. We have a habit of swiping our cards left right center, losing track of what we spend.
The secret of saving money is to break the month up into weeks and plan for a single week at a time. Further break it into days of the week and plan the days accordingly. This visualization, at the start of month / week is really really helpful.
This exercise has gotten me on a great start to the year and i hope I improve my saving habits.
I highly recommend this book / saving journal to all. I'll revisit this review by the end of 2020 and have an update!
You must invest in this book to begin with, and once it becomes a habit, you can maintain your own ledger
I wish and hope a very happy saving and wonderful plans thereafter~!
Rating : 4/5

Book Review - The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Before I jump on to the book review, here are some facts about the Birkenau Concentration Camp, Auschwitz.

1. The Birkenau camp was the largest of the more than 40 camps and sub-camps

2. The Auschwitz camp consisted of 28 blocks. Most of them were residential buildings for prisoners. The blocks were intended for about 700 prisoners, however, their number reached even 1,200. In the second part of the camp – Birkenau – there were two types of barracks for prisoners: brick and wooden. Each of them lacked sanitary facilities, lights, and heating. 

3. Prisoners had to undress before bathing in their barracks and – regardless of weather conditions – go naked to the bathhouse. For many prisoners, it ended with illness and death.

4. Jewish prisoners were persecuted during the procedure of admission to the camp. Authorities treated Jews most ruthlessly, often with sophisticated cruelty. According to SS the value of their life was the lowest. All of them became victims of hunger, cold, work beyond strength and constant abuse or died in gas chambers.

5. There were about 232 000 of children under the age of 18 years deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

6. At least 1 million of Jews were killed in Auschwitz

7. A lot of prisoners were used in cruel Joseph Mengele’s pseudo-medical experiments.

Source: https://discovercracow.com/auschwitz-facts/

The book is based on a true love story of Lale and Gita (Ludwig Eisenberg and Gisela Furman), who survived the horrific time at the Birkenau Concentration Camp. This book doesn't necessarily represent the dark truth of the concentration camps unbeknownst to the humans of 21st century, but it beautifully, does take us through the pain and sufferings of two hearts who found love amidst pain and torment.

Why should you read this book:

1. If you haven't read any book based on WW2, this is one of the books you should begin with.

2. It's a love story! 

3. The writer beautifully takes us through the bunks, blocks, buildings of the camps with each character strongly exhibiting grit and strength. This is a book that will instill your dying hope in humanity! 

4. World history is very underrated. You must read first hand stories and not what is only written in text books!

5. You will appreciate everything you have in life! This story must be shared, told, heard and read!

Why shouldn't you read this book:

1. This is not one of the best reads, in the genre of Holocaust fiction books. Sure there have been better. 

2. This book was written for a movie, I guess, so the flow of the story is a tad flawed, but the bright side is, it is very easily imaginable and easy to read

3. If you are not a fan of love stories don't pick this up!

4. If you want to stay in denial about WW2 and the holocaust, you can give this a miss!

5. There was definitely a lot that could've been there in the book. It could have been more inclusive. You feel the need to know more about other characters! 

But this was about Lale (32407) and Gita and you end up falling in love with their personalities!

Read it anyway! :)

Lale - Tattoo # 32407

Rating this book - 4 stars out of 5

Thank you Sarvesh for recommending this one!! :)