Overshoot

I was trying to live on an average daily budget of 200 rmb this month.

I'm going to overshoot that, but not too badly - only by about 500 rmb or so, 16 or 17 rmb per day.

However, this is despite making considerable - if intermittent - efforts at retrenchment. And despite having managed to live almost for free last week (being extensively treated by a visiting friend with a generous expense account, and then 'baby-sitting' a favourite bar over the weekend for a salary of alcohol!).

Beijing is becoming worryingly expensive. A few years ago, 6,000 rmb would usually have been the upper limit of my monthly spending, and I could often get by on 4,000 or 5,000.  Now, 6,000 is starting to feel like a very lean month, and I suppose I typically spend nearer to 8,000. It seems incredible that I was getting by on 2,000 a month for my first six months here back in the early Noughties.

In addition to that out-of-pocket spending, I also have to come up with 4,500 a month for rent, and a little over another 1,000 for sundry 'utilities' (including my annual visa arrangement fees).

This month, I didn't quite earn as much as I spent. Worse, I haven't yet been paid any of the money I earned (or not very much of it, anyway), so I've been having to dip into my savings a little. I hate doing that.

And next month, I'm taking a massive hit with another quarter's rent and my visa renewal due.

These minor vexations are probably exacerbating my current depression. I am coming to realise that - without a pretty radical shake-up in my employment situation - I can't afford to go on living here.