21元 ($3.42) Taxi, to meet a friend for lunch; I was running late.

75元 ($12.22) Lunch: overpriced mostly-vegetarian yuppie food. Except for a sneaky bit of proscuitto (not advertised) in a sandwich that I ate, because my friend is Muslim/doesn’t dig on swine. And a green juice. There was pineapple and parsley and maybe spinach. Amino acids!

23元 ($3.75) Seven one-way trips on the metro, over the course of four days of intermittent but intense rainstorms.

129元 ($20.99) A trip to the international grocery store: cat food, smoked salmon, a loaf of bread, coconut water, a Ritter sport (Knusperflakes!) and something else but I actually have no idea what, now. Detergent maybe? Or eggs?

23元 ($3.75) One pack of Esse brand cigarettes (like Virginia Slims, sort of, but Korean), one lighter (which broke within 24 hours), four bottles of Tsingtao beer.

23元 ($3.75) My half of dumplings and two other dishes at a Dongbei restaurant, one of which was amazing green beans and potatoes and the other of which looked and smelled like greased gym socks.

100元 ($16.27) Re-upping phone credit. 100 RMB generally lasts me around a month.

65元 ($10.58) Went to Anhui province to “work at a convention” which actually ended up being me and my friend doing the rap from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on stage to celebrate a spa opening. They paid for train tickets, food and accommodation, but I bought a pair of sunglasses and snacks at the train station while waiting to get picked up.

60元 ($9.76) Cab ride home from the Hongqiao train station after aforementioned “gig” (I’m still not sure what to call it).

80元 ($13.00) Two grapefruit shochu drinks at a Japanese shochu-and-Asahi-only bar. Mismatched furniture, bartenders wearing unyielding smiles, and non-overwhelming reggae music. One of my favorite places in the whole world.

30元 ($4.88) I teach kindergarden during the week, and there is the best coffee shop around the corner, and if I don’t have a seat and a latte while the kids are napping I am pretty sure their safety and my sanity would both be compromised.

Robin Silver currently lives in Shanghai but is open to suggestions. Photo: Joan Campderros

$40: Two single-day passes to the Angkor temples. We may have overslept and missed our early start, instead plunging straight into the sweltering mid-morning heat, but it was still worth every dollar. Bring hats; leave your fear of heights at home. Scaling the rickety wooden steps to the top of each temple requires all your wits.

$10: One very expensive blessing at Angkor Wat. Sucked in by a man lurking in a very dark corridor, who pressed incense sticks into our hands and made us touch the feet of his Buddha statue.

$3: A single bottle of water outside the temples. Later kicked myself for totally failing to do the math; it was meant to be just $1.50, but in my eagerness to get rid of some of my Cambodian riel, I accepted a crazy inflated rate without stopping to think about it. (Amateur day!) Even 12-year-old girls can be ruthless sharks.

$14.50: Lunch and drinks for two at one of the stalls on the temple grounds. Surprisingly, these came in the biggest serving sizes we’ve seen yet in Asia.

$12: Tuk-tuk and driver for the day. A cheery but not particularly chatty type.

$3: Six-pack of scented tissues. Apparently finding a roll of toilet paper to buy in Siem Reap is infinitely more difficult than in Bangkok.

$18: Two tickets for the night bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Sleep hindered by some of our fellow passengers, who seemed to think they were aboard the Vengabus.

Esther Goh is a writer currently travelling through south-east Asia. Photo: Paul Arps

Yesterday I went hiking two hours away from my home. Upon arrival, I realized I left my debit card in the pocket of my jeans, which I had left behind. I don’t listen to my father’s sound advice, so I had a mere $2 cash on me, as well as a book of checks featuring panda bears.

$2: Two large Poland Springs water bottles on sale 2 for $2. Quikcheck made it very clear that they would not accept a $2 check, the existence or non-existence of adorable panda bears made no difference to this policy, though I did fight the fight no matter how weak the basis of my argument. I am a true American. In the end, my only $2 was spent early in the day in the name of hydration.

$0: $30 of gas. This should be listed as -$15, but I did not have $15.

~$5: Starbucks Venti Iced Skinny Caramel Macchiato. I did not have a debit card, but I did have Starbucks dollars via the Starbucks app on my iPhone.

~$4: Starbucks Tall White Chocolate Mocha. This second Starbucks drink was bought for the friend who accompanied me on the trip, as a “please forgive me that you must end up being my Sugar Daddy for the day” drink. Separately listed because it was a separate transaction, my Starbucks points are important to me. Buying Starbucks is the financial equivalent to lighting money on fire and running through the streets waving it frantically while wearing a wildly caffeinated facial expression, so I win where I can.

$0: Hiking Day pass costs $10. I apologized profusely and made grand promises of future friendship favors worth far over the worth of $10. I don’t know why I feel so bad about this (probably because I’m 25 and carrying the amount of money a two-year-old carries in her doll’s change purse).(- $10 friend currency)

$0: Rock climbing guide to New England for an upcoming trip to New Hampshire. (- $24 friend currency)

$0: One Portobello Mushroom Taco & One Shrimp Taco for dinner + tip. I experimented with a wide variety of hot sauces including Blueberry and Cumin’ & Lime. I learned that I have a genuine distaste for all hot sauces.  (- $15 friend currency)

$0: Humbly asked my Mom to borrow $25 when I realized the next morning that my debit card wasn’t in my aforementioned pants pocket by way of checking my pants pocket and coming up empty handed. I spent this $25 on chapstick, tissues, a kombucha, and a cake pop, among other things I no longer recall. (-$25 mom currency)

$25: Wrote Mom a panda check for the borrowed money. Unlike Quikcheck, my mom accepts all forms of currency indiscriminately. Especially when offered to her by her children.

$64: Brought friend debt to $0. Thanks to iPhone bank apps, my will friends now accept checks. Did I mention the pandas?

Note: Found the debit card 3 days later, ironically, in my hiking boots that I didn’t end up wearing hiking.

Jessica Beckett also writes at The Penny Ledger. Photo: George Lu

$100 is a lot of money and not a lot of money at all. Where did your last hundred bucks go, Pearl Higgins?

$45.59, Gas. My friends got a new puppy. He is only four months old, and we all know that the puppy window is a small adorable window. I couldn’t get to Rochester fast enough.

$10.10, Toll from Albany to Rochester. Ouch New York, ouch.

$3, Peanut butter animal-shaped dog treats for the puppy. It’s bad form to visit a new puppy with nothing for the new puppy. Turns out it’s also bad form to come bearing peanut butter-flavored treats for your peanut-allergic host.

$20, Broccoli and cheddar omelet with an english muffin, hash browns, and tea. We went out for drinks the night before, and they covered my T. Collins, so I put in more for breakfast at the diner. This breakfast easily weighed four pounds, so dollar for pound it was a good deal regardless.

$4, Mushroom pizza at the Sbarro at the Clifton Springs travel plaza. I was hungry, and I ran before I left Rochester, so I decided to reward myself with pizza. The pizza decided to reward me with the bloat for the remainder of the drive.

$2.50, Tea. I got a hot tea from the Starbucks at another travel plaza on the way home, because I drove another 80 miles, and I decided that warranted another reward. Regardless of what style of training my friends will be using with their new puppy, it’s pretty clear that I’ve treat-trained myself.

$10.10, Toll from Rochester to Albany. This stung a little more when there wasn’t a puppy waiting for me on the other side of the toll booth.

Pearl Higgins would like an adulthood mulligan.

Where’d your last hundo go, Audrey Senna?

$10 for a ticket to a Kishi Bashi concert. I don’t know who Kishi Bashi is, but all my friends told me to go, so I’m going.

$35.47 for three books from Amazon. Intrigued by online reviews, I got the sci fi novel Wool by Hugh Howey (indiebound // amazon) and the cookbook Keys to the Kitchen by Aida Mollenkamp (indiebound // amazon). Free shipping is swell, so I threw in City of Bones (indiebound//amazon), a YA urban fantasy that’s going to be made into a movie. If it’s good, then good! If it’s bad, then I can say with authority that it’s bad. This was also my justification for reading Twilight (it was bad). 

I love excuses not to cook on Friday nights. This time it was a Greek grilled cheese at Elmo’s Diner ($9 with tip).

Some friends and I drove to Pilot Mountain State Park for a day of rock climbing, and my share of the gas was $10. The rock face was warm from the sun and covered in lady bugs. Lucky, maybe? We climbed until tired arms, tender fingers, and fading daylight forced us to stop.

We got back just in time to catch the Duke-UNC basketball game at a bar. $20.63 got me beer and a burger that I demolished between Mason Plumlee’s second and third dunks.

On Sunday, I wandered over to a food truck rodeo. The crowd was thick and the lines were long, but I stuck it out for a mozzarella-basil-tomato sandwich ($7) and a boysenberry-pear Loco Pop ($2.50). I sat in the grass, listened to jazz, and got sunburned.

Finished off the weekend with a Walking Dead watch party at a bar. I don’t have cable, so I can justify $5 for a beer—especially when zombies are involved.

Audrey Senna lives in Durham, NC.

Where did your last hundo go, Sarah Todd?

$4.98, Rex Goliath sauvignon blanc I got this at my favorite wine shop, where there is a sweet elderly woman who always asks to see my ID. Then she notices that my driver’s license is from Ohio, and she tells me her son used to live there. We talk about this every time I see her. Tradition!

$4.16, Chai latte + tip This year, I adopted my friend’s weekend-only fancy coffee drink allowance, which has made writing in coffee shops feel way more luxurious. While I was drinking the chai, the man at the next table said he was my blood brother because we were both wearing Claddagh rings. We had a brief conversation about Ireland, and then I realized that he wasn’t going to stop talking to me, so I just started typing really fast even though all I was writing was “I hope he stops talking soon” over and over like Jack in The Shining.

$13.50, Movie ticket to Beautiful Creatures + plastic cup of pinot grigio A fine new film! Four stars, a teen paranormal romance Southern gothic camp triumph. Goes great with cup wine.

$23.75, iPod car charger, seltzer, and N.Y.C. Makeup blush in rose glow I was listening to the This American Life episode about Harper High School in the car and my iPod was about to die—I pulled over at a CVS and bought the charger so I wouldn’t have to wait to finish it.

$17, Pad see yew + split order of spring rolls + bottomless cups of green tea + tip Tofu never does that crispy, golden-brown cubed perfection thing when I make it at home. What is the secret?

$8, Cappuccino + chai + tip Friend + me.

$8, Grilled portobello-spinach-basil pesto sandwich Normally I eat out almost never, but that went out the window last week. Frugal February fatigue, maybe.

$16, Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed (indiebound // amazon) I was walking down the street trying to figure out what to do about two life-type matters, and I passed a bookstore, and I thought maybe Cheryl Strayed would tell me what to do and then I wouldn’t have to decide on my own. She is much wiser than I am. But none of the letters were about my two specific questions, which makes sense, because why would they be. It’s not a psychic book. It’s still tremendous, though.

Sarah Todd blogs about feminism and popular culture over at Girls Like Giants.

Where’d your last hundo go, Jen Glantz?

$22.75: Tampax Pearl Tampons (2 boxes). I’m not one for brand names, really. Most of my clothes are either off the bed-bug infested racks of Goodwill or the bargain bins at Wal-Mart. But, when it comes to plugging that time of month, one really shouldn’t cheap out. Plastic always trumps cardboard, and for that, I’m willing to shell out the extra dolla’ bills.

$7.10: Library fines. Thanks a lot Joan Didion.

$50: Tickets to see Fun. In concert: I’d like to think “We are Young” is the love song of our generation. Plus, it’s been a while since I’ve stuffed my junk into a pair of skinny jeans and sweated bullets while shouting out catchy lyrics among loyal, tone-deaf, strangers.

$1: Pizza. It’s really 99 cents, but I have this bad habit of taking my first bite into the slice too soon after it’s out of the oven and so, the scorching hot cheese discharges out the sides of my paisley-shaped mouth and lands on their grainy counters. For that, I usually let them keep the change.

$7: Smoothie at Liquiteria. I like to binge drink my bee pollen.

$6.25: A half-pound of black & white cookies. If you prefer the chocolate half, we should probably date.

$4: Laundry. I’m a sucker for a clean pair of undies and after much debate, I’ve come to accept it’s cheaper to do a load of wash than to go out and buy new ones.

$1.90: A breakdancing homeless dog. This one certainly doesn’t warrant an explanation, does it?

Jen Glantz lives off of NYC street pizza and exposes all of her love affairs here.

Where’d you spend your last hundo, Allegra Ringo?

$1, Box of pancake mix at the 99 Cent Store. Used to make pancakes that were used as props in a sketch, not eaten. I felt like a real first-world shithead about it.

$13, Ramen at my favorite ramen restaurant. I don’t mean to brag, but I added tofu AND an egg. Then I made it into two meals by adding packaged ramen noodles to the leftover broth, so I feel this purchase was well-justified.

$10, Having the groomer expel my dog’s anal glands. I still have no idea what expelling anal glands entails, and I would pay thousands of dollars to keep it that way.

$24, Pizza delivery. I was hungry and it was raining, and in Los Angeles there is an explicit rule that we do not leave the house when it rains. My hands were tied.

$27, Misc. dog supplies. $15 of this was a harness she chewed through in 10 minutes. Another portion went toward an adorable if unneeded toy.

$22, Breakfast for my boyfriend and me at Ed’s. It’s my favorite diner and the only place I have a “usual” (we share a breakfast burrito and a stack of pancakes).

$3, Mysterious Japanese candy. I stopped at a Japanese market and bought some strawberry candies so I could use my debit card to get cash. Then I threw in some tomato-flavored candies because they sounded weird. Both candies were pretty bad, and the store didn’t give cash back.

Allegra Ringo writes for Top Story Weekly.

Where’d your last hundo go, Ryan O’Connell? 

$13.39: Degree Clinical Sport Deodorant. It’s embarrassing to admit this but I spent a decade of my life smelling like a legit homeless person because I sweat too much. It got so bad that at one point I even considered getting Botox injected into my armpits. Fortunately, though, I discovered prescription-strength deodorant, which solved all my odor problems. The only downside to using this deodorant is that it’s so chemical-y and strong that I’m pretty sure I’m giving myself cancer. But whatever—at least I smell nice!

$3.75: Crest toothpaste. I should really start using the organic kind that’s just made out of mint leaves or whatever, but no.

$8.99: Disposable camera. I don’t own a digital camera because I want “to save money” but the amount I’ve spent on disposables throughout the years probably trumps the cost of any decent camera I could buy. 

$6.49: Brilliant Brunette shampoo. (It should be noted that all my purchases thus far have been made at a Walgreens AKA the one place where I can spend a hundred dollars in five minutes and not feel totally sick about it.)

$15.95: Crazy Salad and Scribble Scribble by Nora Ephron.

$24.00: Lunch for one at The Smith. I know it seems like a lot of money but it’s the lattes that get you. Never order a latte at a restaurant. I once ordered one at The Mercer Kitchen, only to discover that it was a whopping $7.50. My pasta dish, on the other hand, was only $11.00. When I told the waiter about the hilarious irony of having your meal only cast $3.50 more than your coffee, he rolled his eyes at me and said, “It’s Soho.”

$13.00: A bottle of wine. I recently graduated to the $9 to $13 price range and I feel really good about it.

$14.00: Drunk nachos, a taco, plus tip.

Ryan O’Connell lives in NYC and edits Thought Catalog.

Where’d your last hundo go, Liz Riegel?

$38.47: A silly expensive Japanese lunch jar, because I left my old one on the subway by mistake and I was obsessed with it, and it is literally the only way I can compel myself to pack my lunch at home.

$20ish: A pile of cheap microwave lunches and trail mix at Trader Joe’s, because, no, seriously, I cannot force myself to pack my lunch at home in cheap leaky leftover takeout containers, which is all we have in my apartment, and my new lunch jar won’t arrive from Amazon for a week. 

$22: Two drinks at a bar, even though I swore I wasn’t going to spend money at a bar in all of this month, but it was my friend’s 40th birthday! That’s a big enough deal to break my resolution, for sure!

$5: A fancy cookie and milk at a cookie shop, even though I was really, honestly not going to buy food out for all of this month even though I’d already broken my prohibition against bars, but I was with my friends and we’d just eaten a frugal dinner at home and THEY wanted cookies so who was I to impose my puritan resolutions on them, and also the cookies looked REALLY good.

$13.50: Two sheets of postage stamps that I used to send postcards to all of my non-local friends and family, because at least I’m capable of keeping ONE of my resolutions.

Liz Riegel lives in NYC.