Furu Anime Panikku

Every anime fan definitely wants more budget for his/her anime spendings. I am no exception. Yet, we often lament that we lack the cash to increase our budget.

Hence, I have come with a brief simple guide. Please note that this is not a guide on how to increase your income, but how to make do with what you currently have and increase your budget for a certain spending channel, which in this case, the channel can be generally classified as “Otaku”.

All the points mentioned below are common sense, but it seems that sometimes people, including me, lack it.

To begin, take a look at the division of your current income.

Be it working adults or student, I am sure everyone gets an income, be it in the form of allowance or pay. Draw a simple chart or calculate the different percentages of your spending. While this may seem insignificant and a total waste of time, it is not. Once you have determined the various fractions of your spendings, the numbers obtained will assist in the planning of your very own “Increase Otaku Budget” plan.

For me, I realised that anime products aside, I mostly spend on food and transport. Beside these 2 main spending channels, the rest of my spendings go under the miscellaneous category. What I have stated here is only for reference. I am sure many others out there would have many more channels, and that would require some tweaking to the plan.

From here, you can work on how to re-channel your funds. Ask yourself, is what I am spending on, beside’s anime, a luxury, or a need?

Take food and transport for example. They are both, with no doubt basic necessities. Without food, you would not be able to have that strength you require to go on your anime merchandise shopping spree, and without transport, you might have to walk hours before you arrive at your destination. It is a must that you must spend on them. However, the question is, how much?

FOOD

Food can range from cheap 2 dollar meals to expensive meals that cost hundreds of dollars. 2 dollar meals are good when you are short of cash to pay up for the horde of preorders, but you should not be having them all the time, due to a couple of reasons.

Firstly, most cheap meals are cheap because they come in small portions. That means, that even though you are eating, you will still remain hungry.

Skipping meals might seem like an attractive way to save money, and I am guilty of such an act. Breakfast isn’t in my dictionary, which isn’t something that I should be proud off. I have learned of the negative effects of the art of meal-skipping, the nasty way. Watching anime while enduring excruciating gastric pain is never an enjoyable experience.

For those who are a on the heavyweight side, going on budget meals and the occasional skipping of meals might be a good thing. You get to shed a few pounds that would add to your wallet.

Secondly, when you go out with a group, and constantly insist that the group goes for budget food, chances are you would never be going out with anyone again. Despite how much you stinge on food, you should never ever insist that everyone skips a cafe just so that you can afford your Shana figurine. Eating in a group also means socializing, and not socializing would probably make your life that of a pathetic outcast. The anime community already has a rather foul reputation, and we do not need one more person to taint it to the next level.

To get that C.C Figurine, abstinence from fast food such as Pizza Hut is required

Another good way to save money would be to avoid fast food. Fast food drains your wallet’s life force at a pace that far exceeds that of the lifespan of an Evangelion running on battery. Also, fast food adds on unwanted fat.

Lastly, if your are the hikkikomori species, you might want to consider stocking up some ingredients from the supermart. It’s cheaper and a much healthier than cup noodles. Tastier too.

TRANSPORT

It is impossible for you to run/cycle to work on a daily basis unless your home’s near it. Unfortunately for many of us, it isn’t. Hence, there would be no savings on the daily transport fees. However, there are still ways you can save.

If you stay a distance away from the nearest train station, you can walk instead of taking the bus. You would be surprised at the amount of you can actually save. If you calculate using the average adult fare, you could be getting an extra figurine if you walked instead of paying the bus fare.

Walking is also beneficial for us anime fans who lack exercise and spend hours on our lazy bums doing nothing but watching anime, playing games and reading manga. It might not burn up a lot of calories, but brisk walking could allow you to sweat it out, exercise while travelling and at the same time, saving on transport fees. That’s killing 3 yomas in a swipe of a Claymore. How awesome does that sound?

For students, you best bet would be to fully utilize the concessions available to you. Many of my friends know that concession passes would save them quite a sum, but refuse to apply for one due to the word “laziness”. Stop being lazy and you might just get yourself an extra CD single with each month’s savings.

Learn from Anime, Walk like the characters in Byousoku 5cm do

Even when increasing your budget for your anime spendings, do not forget the importance of saving. As the saying goes, “Always save for a rainy day”, with a rainy day being a sudden 50% figurine sale or a preorder of a costly figurine which you have to get at all costs.

With this plan, you could at least increase your budget by, say… 15%? It varies from various individuals, so I am unable to give an solid figures.

Some of you reading this might have already put such a plan into action. Good for you. Just try not to overdo the skimping on food portion. For those budding anime fans who would like to getting this plan working, there is no better time than now.