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Cut housing and food to the minimum: rent a shared room by the month instead of by the day, and cook for yourself or use a subsidized meal canteen instead of delivery

  • High value
  • Evidence B
  • Saves money
  • Free
  • Takes some hours
  • Some willpower

In plain words

In 2025, food made up 29.3% of average per-person spending nationwide and housing 21.7%. Together they are over half, so cutting these two is the most effective. In the author's experience, a daily-rate room or hourly room, converted to a month, costs more than a shared room, and cooking yourself is cheaper than ordering delivery. When you look for work, ask whether food and housing are provided; a job that provides them wipes out these two big items.

Cost

Finding a room takes 1 to 3 days. The deposit is usually 1 month's rent (the author's rough estimate). Cooking for yourself takes 30 to 60 minutes a day. The hard part is cooking for yourself every day and holding back from ordering delivery.

What you get

In 2025, the average resident nationwide spent 29,476 CNY in a year (this is called per-person consumption expenditure). Of that, food, tobacco and alcohol came to 8,631 CNY, or 29.3%. Housing came to 6,397 CNY, or 21.7%. Together they are over half, so cutting these two is the most effective. Meal assistance services for older people are open to all older people, in the form of senior canteens, senior meal tables and meal assistance points, and older people in hardship get differentiated subsidies on top. For reference: as of January 1, 2026, the lowest first-tier monthly minimum wage among the provinces is 2080 CNY in Qinghai and the highest is 2740 CNY in Shanghai (nationwide, 2025 to 2026)

Notes

Daily-rate and hourly rooms cost far more than a shared room when calculated by the month. This is a judgment from experience, with no official figure behind it. Whether meal assistance points for older people are open to people who are not older, and what they charge, varies from place to place. When you look for work, ask whether food and housing are included; a job that includes them can wipe out these two big items directly. The original table on the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (人社部) site would not open, so the figures come from a reposted page on the Sichuan provincial human resources and social security department site.

Evidence grade
B : Supported by research but without a precise number, or based on small or single studies.
Sources
  1. 国家统计局 (2026). 2025 年居民收入和消费支出情况. https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfbhjd/202601/t20260119_1962321.html
  2. 民政部等十一部门 (2023). 积极发展老年助餐服务行动方案（民发〔2023〕58 号）. https://www.gov.cn/govweb/zhengce/zhengceku/202310/content_6911233.htm
  3. 四川省人力资源和社会保障厅 (2026). 全国各省、自治区、直辖市最低工资标准情况（截至 2026 年 1 月 1 日，转载人社部官网表）. https://rst.sc.gov.cn/rst/ylbxjwjgzxx/2026/7/10/89a8ef06cc264d29b282d7c62f362a6b.shtml

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 7, tip 17. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer