MIDORI Kakeibo A5 Monthly Household Budget Book

The MIDORI Kakeibo A5 is a calm household budget book for people who want to see where the money went without turning bookkeeping into a second job. The idea behind kakeibo is simple: write down what came in, what went out, and look at the total once a month. This is the "kantan" (easy) version of the MIDORI kakeibo, so the layout stays out of your way.

What you get

• One two-page spread for each month, so a full look at income and spending fits on a single opening.
• 42 pages in total, enough for 21 months of monthly entries.
• Body size H217 x W163 x D5 mm, with H210 x W148 x D4 mm paper inside, about 106 g, made in Japan.
• A PVC cover with a zipper pocket and a pen holder, so receipts and a pen travel with the book.
• Three cover designs: apple, pig and bird, each with a printed paper band.

How people use it

Most people keep the book on a desk or in a drawer and fill it once a week from a wallet or a phone. The zip pocket is where shoppers tuck the receipts they mean to sort later, which is the part that usually decides whether a budget book survives past February. Written entries also work as a gentle record of the year: what the household spent on food, on outings, on the small things that never show up in a bank summary.

Good to know

The cover is PVC rather than cloth, so it wipes clean but has a slight shine. Entries are written by hand; nothing is pre-filled and no app is involved. If you prefer a book that pairs each month with a weekly page, the kakeibo with weekly spreads is the closer match. The book is designed to be used rather than collected.

Explore more

More Japanese paper goods live in the MIDORI collection, and the budget book sits nicely beside the rest of our journaling supplies and notebooks and paper. If a monthly page alone is not enough, compare this one with the kakeibo that adds weekly spreads, and for everyday writing there is the MIDORI color dot notebook.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is a kakeibo?

A: Kakeibo is a Japanese household budgeting method: you write down the money that comes in and the money that goes out, then review the totals at the end of the month. A kakeibo book is simply a notebook laid out for that habit.

Q: How many months does this book hold?

A: The book has 42 pages, with one two-page spread used per month, so it covers 21 months of monthly entries.

Q: What is the difference between this and the MIDORI kakeibo with weekly pages?

A: This is the easy monthly version: every month gets a spread, and no weekly page interrupts the flow. The weekly-page version adds a week-by-week record inside each month, which suits people who want to track daily spending.

Q: Does the cover hold receipts?

A: Yes. The PVC cover closes with a zipper and includes a pocket for receipts, plus a small holder for a pen.

Q: What size is the book?

A: The body measures H217 x W163 x D5 mm and the paper inside is H210 x W148 x D4 mm, so it is an A5 book with a little extra room around the pages. It weighs about 106 g.

Q: Which design should I choose?

A: The three designs share the same layout and paper; only the cover pattern differs. Apple and bird lean toward a soft, illustration-heavy look, and pig is the most playful of the three.