Can Celtic Tiger Cubs grasp the simple life? Declan Cashin accepts the challenge to find out...

Could you live on just €10 a week? You might think it next-to-impossible, but believe it or not, over the past year at least 100,000 people in China have accepted a challenge to live on just 100 yuan (the equivalent of €10.31) a week as part of an experiment to persuade profligate spenders to curb their excess and embrace the simpler life.

The cost-cutting exercise, devised by 24-year-old Chinese businessman Wang Hao, does not include the cost of rent or other regular debits such as electricity bills or other household expenses.

The purpose for Hao was to stop spending so much on everyday things like transport, food and impulse purchases.

As it turns out, Hao failed his own challenge, but his intriguing concept begs the question: could you get by on just €10 a week in Dublin, which recently even overtook London, Sydney and New York in an Economist Intelligence Unit poll of the world's most expensive cities?

It doesn't seem likely, so I decide to try it out for a regular Monday-Friday working week. I live in town, work mostly from home, and I have a bill-pay phone so surely that almost guarantees success seeing as I can dodge most of the costs that eat into a person's weekly budget such as transport, lunch, phone credit, takeaway coffees and so on? I'm also confident that I can curtail my socialising for one week.

In theory, yes that should be the case, but no matter how much you try to ignore it, that relentless consumerist current continues to buzz inside the mind.

I'm the first to admit that I'm a divil for splashing out on books, magazines and/or DVDs at random points in the week. I buy several newspapers every morning (it is for work, after all), and think nothing of popping into a café for a ludicrously overpriced multi-hyphenated coffee drink at least once a day.

What's more, being a dyed-in-the-wool Celtic Cub, I'm prone to exploiting the curse/blessing of the convenience shop where you can spend about €15 on ingredients for just one evening's dinner.

The weekend before the experiment, I make sure to do a decent weekly shop so I have basic foodstuffs at hand.

My only concern is that my determination to stay thrifty will result in me turning into a miser/ sponger/ freeloader/ shameless ligger, or, as it panned out, some monstrous hybrid of all four.

Monday

I start the day with a bowl of porridge made from a huge bag of oats (every house should have one). I have work in town for most of the day, so I make sure to pack a bottle of water, a banana, and a sandwich from home.

Luckily, I can walk to where I need to go, though it will take a bit longer.

I buy no papers, instead reading them online and annoying cashiers by standing in various shops flicking through the hard copies (trying valiantly to ignore the magazines as I do).

I eat lunch on the go, keeping my eyes pointed straight ahead every time I pass a coffee shop. Temptation is strong.

I get a text from a friend asking me over to his to finish off some leftovers from the weekend. Score! I hang in his place for the night drinking his tea and eating his biscuits. A good start to the week, with no expense incurred.

Tuesday

I have an early start, eating breakfast at home, and working at home for the morning. I make some eggs for lunch. In the afternoon, I head off on foot for a meeting and then to do an interview.

Disaster strikes soon after: a slow-burning headache from earlier in the day explodes into full-on agony, I have no painkillers in my bag, plus, to top it all off, I forget to bring my refilled bottle of water with me from home.

I run into a shop and buy the cheapest packet of paracetemol I can find (€1.99) and a bottle of water (99c).

Loads of free coffee during the interview -- huzzah! I make a stir-fry at home that night.

I meet some friends to go to the cinema as I have a pre-paid card so it costs nothing (except for the direct debit, of course).

I bring my refill bottled water with me, and splash out on a bag of Manhattan popcorn (70c) and Maltesers (99c).

Wednesday

Things get tricky. I realise I'm out of razor blades, which would cost the whole weekly budget to buy, so I trim my facial hair with old electric razor to make it look like scruffy designer stubble (not successful).

Then I get a call changing the location of an interview scheduled for the afternoon. It's not walking distance anymore. I definitely can't afford a taxi, and don't fancy forking out over €4 for return bus journeys.

I don't have a bike, so I call on my neighbour, the only available friend I can think of with one.

Alas, she's a lady and it's a lady's bike. I set off (awkwardly) on my journey, hoping nobody will notice the difference (I get one strange look from a school student as I'm locking it).

Before the interview, the PR girl asks if I want anything to eat or drink.

I'm so tempted to order a six course meal but opt to remain professional and order a coffee, water and Coke (hey, I have to get something out of it).

I stop in Smithfield markets on way home and splash out €2 on punnets of raspberries and blueberries for my porridge next morning. I get home and discover I'm out of milk. I'm gasping for a cuppa, so run out and buy a small carton (79c). Dinner at home that night consists of pasta and chicken breast.

Thursday

Whilst out on an errand, I'm handed a leaflet from Knight's barbers in Stephen's Green looking for models to have their hair cut for free by trainees. My hair resembles a wild furze bush, which only makes the aforementioned beard situation worse, so I decide to avail. I'm nervous, understandably, but it turns out lovely.

I get an email in the afternoon from some friends organising a weekend away for July. They want to book flights and accommodation that day. I momentarily ponder if spending on a credit card would count?

After a brief internal struggle, I decide it's not "magic money" and tell the others I'll book after Friday.

I have an invite to a festival launch that evening, so I bring a friend along, and we avail liberally of the free food and booze. Afterwards, my friend insists on buying me a pint as a thank you for bringing her. I can't very well be rude, can I?

Friday

Okay, I managed to avoid it all week, but today I have to take advantage: McDonald's Eurosaver menu. I stupidly forgot my lunch and had no time to nip home for it. I spend €2 on a cheeseburger.

I'm running low on food at home, so I cobble together an 'everything-left-in-the-fridge' omelette (note: always have eggs in the house).

Entertainment that night is a house party for a friend's birthday. My friend allows me to sponge off his bottle of vodka, and sign my name to a card and gift for the birthday boy (all yet to be paid back). I get the Luas to the house (€1.50).

Saturday

Free at last! Experiment is over, and my total weekly spend was €10.96. I'm still pleased with myself so I spend almost three times the weekly budget on a monumental hangover breakfast fry-up with various drinks, as well as purchasing a hard copy of the Irish Independent -- so much better than having to read it online -- a new shirt and anything shiny that catches my eye.

So what did I learn from the week? Living on a discretionary-budget of €10 a week can be done with careful planning, lots of home-made meals and Dalai Lama-levels of self-discipline and self-control.

I did find myself asking a lot of questions: Do I even read those magazines I buy so regularly?

Couldn't I always get by without handing over €3 a pop for a coffee?

Shouldn't I finally invest in a gender-specific bike? Yes, my week of living on €10 has really made me think -- and for that, I'll never forgive it.