Monday was pretty good as far as not spending money went. It was my flatmate’s turn to pay for the taxi to work and I walked home. Dinner was leftovers from the meal I cooked last night, so no money spent there either!

Today (Tuesday) I spent a little money going to Dongmen (by metro) to try and buy some wool. I have a plan to make something for someone but I don’t want to say what in case the person reads this! Unfortunately I didn’t manage to find any wool at all, let alone the type I was looking for, despite walking for close to two hours and hunting through three fabric malls as well as lots of small streets and shops. On the plus side, I definitely beat my daily steps target of 8000! And instead of buying things i can probably make do without, i only spent the metro fare there and back (4.75rmb) plus the cost of a can of apple vinegar (not what it sounds like! Kind of like appletise with a little more sourness for 5rmb). I think I’ll have to go to plan B for my secret project.

This evening is my writers workshop and I have a new plan for going to Costa (which is where we meet) without spending money. It was only when I started doing this and recording how much I spent when I went there that I realised how expensive it is. My new plan is to bring a reusable mug/flask with a lid (is there a proper name for those?) and just ask for hot water when I get there. People who know me will now be thinking, ‘But she doesn’t like water!’, and you’d be correct! Which is where the sneaky part of my plan comes in (if I remember) – to bring my own teabag with me.

Is that wrong??

Update: Karma just told me it’s wrong! Just burnt my mouth on the scalding hot water because I forgot to ask them to add a little cold water. I then had to go back and ask for cold water in a cup because I’d already added my peppermint teabag and couldn’t take it out as I had nowhere to put it. Maybe next time I’ll bring my own cup but buy the tea here. What do you think?

I worked late on Wednesday, totalling around 12 hours at school, as we have reports all due in very soon. They’re not difficult to write just very time consuming. I was very tempted to jump in a taxi home and order food, but I resisted the urge and walked home. I then had the thought of seeing if anyone was at The Brew (pretty much my local) as I fancied a glass of wine after all those reports, and I walk past it on my way home. Luckily for my purse no-one was there and by the time I finished my 45 minute walk home all I wanted to do was have some food, watch an episode of ‘The Gifted’ and go to bed. I had also decided what to have for dinner – M&S pea and mint soup that had been sitting in my cupboard for a while – so I walked via the local Bread Talk and picked up some fresh bread to dunk in it. Some of the new buns and things looked really good (white chocolate and cranberry roll) but I resisted those and instead got some cheesy bread to dip in my soup and plain white bread (not sweet!) for making toasties (total 21rmb).

Halfway through the week and I’ve spent just under 50rmb! The expensive day will be Saturday when I’ve got a night out planned.

It’s now Sunday and after doing so well at the beginning of the week it went slightly awry for the rest of it! I ended up eating out not just once but on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ooops. Thursday we had D&D for the first time in 3 weeks and as I felt like I hadn’t properly seen my friends recently we went for food between work and D&D. Friday I was invited to HK for dinner by a friend who lives there. I spent a total of HK$252 which is 203.75rmb or £22.78 which was just getting there and back plus dinner. I again resisted the urge to buy lovely food in M&S!

As I’d predicted, Saturday was my most expensive day. My friend in HK came over so we went out for dinner before going to the Saturgays event I already had a ticket for. I ended up spending 525.5rmb (£58.74) which covered taxis, dinner, drinks and McDonald’s at about 5am!

Sunday I showed my friend around Dongmen, an area of Shenzhen known for cheap shopping. The only thing either of us bought was food, which was pretty cheap as it was all street food. It was 2.85rmb (32p) on the metro each way plus I spent 30rmb (£3.35) on a strawberry toffee stick, chestnut rice baozi (steamed bread dumplings) and 5 garlic & rice noodle-topped scallops. The only other cost today was the taxi to and from the border when my ground my friend went back to HK, which was 40.5rmb (£4.53) there and back.

My total spending for this week is eerily close to how much I spent last week, completely unintentionally. Last week I spent 1094.79rmb (£122.38), this week’s total is 1095.1rmb (£122.42) – only 0.31rmb (4p) difference!

Review at the end of my first 4 weeks: it’s been quite easy so far not to buy ‘stuff’, although it has made me think twice every time there’s been an opportunity to buy something and I’ve stopped myself buying things I don’t really need. The hardest part is not ordering take out food as it’s so easy to do here. I failed on that front last night/this morning when we ordered McDonald’s delivery, but I blame the alcohol for that lapse! That’s the first time I’ve ordered take out this year though, and considering I used to order food or pick some takeaway up on my way home from work probably at least 4 or 5 times a week before I started this challenge, I think that’s pretty good going. The other hard part is only eating out once a week, as you may have gathered. That’s one of the things my friends and I often do when we hang out together, so I’m actually missing people. That’s why I ended up eating out so many times this week, plus my friend coming over from HK of course.

I think I’m going to amend my eating out rule so I’m not missing out on seeing my friends: I can eat out as long as my total spending for the week doesn’t go over 1000rmb (£111.79). What do you think – does that sound reasonable?