The Best-Value Life Guide
57 evidence-graded items for people who would rather spend a weekend reading than a decade learning things the hard way.
Quick answer: the highest-return moves in this guide are cheap, boring and non-negotiable — seat belts and smoke alarms, blood pressure and blood sugar, quitting smoking, not chasing “guaranteed returns”, and knowing your legal red lines before you accept a contract.
How to use it: this is a menu, not a to-do list. Pick one or two items and ignore the rest. The original author has said publicly that he does not do most of them either.
What is ours: the selection, the section framing, and the condensation. Every item keeps its original evidence grade and source link so you can check it yourself.
Stay alive: accidents, screening, emergencies
The highest-return items in the book are boring: seat belts, smoke alarms, blood pressure. Nothing here costs more than a few hundred yuan.
01.1 Always wear seat belts, both front and back
Cost No cost at all. It only adds about 2 seconds to every trip.
Benefit According to NHTSA estimates, seat belts lower the risk of fatal injury for front‑seat occupants of cars by 45% and for those in light trucks by 60%.
01.2 Wearing a helmet and fastening the strap while riding motorcycles or e-bikes
Cost A helmet costs between 100 and 300 yuan. It takes just 5 seconds to put on each time.
Benefit Cochrane pooled data from multiple studies. For motorcyclists wearing helmets, the risk of death fell by 42%.
01.3 Install smoke alarms; those heating with coal or gas in winter should also add a carbon monoxide alarm
Cost A smoke alarm costs between 30 and 100 yuan. A carbon monoxide alarm costs between 50 and 150 yuan.
Benefit A study in North Carolina examined homes that had experienced fires versus those that hadn’t.
01.5 Do not pick, buy, or eat wild mushrooms; any “folk tricks” for identification are useless
Cost No expense involved. The hard part is giving up a seasonal delicacy.
Benefit The Chinese CDC investigated 828 mushroom poisoning cases in 2025 involving 2,165 individuals; the mortality rate was 0.6%.
01.6 Electric bicycles must not be pushed into stairwells, elevators, or charged indoors
Cost No direct cost. The tricky part is having to walk a few dozen meters each time to reach the designated charging stations downstairs.
Benefit The regulations explicitly forbid parking or charging electric bikes in public lobbies, hallways, stairwells, or near emergency exits of high-rise buildings.
01.7 Measuring blood pressure and taking meds to reach target levels
Cost An electronic sphygmomanometer costs 100–200 RMB. Each measurement takes 1 minute.
Benefit Data from 123 clinical trials involving over 610,000 participants shows that a 10 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure lowers the incidence of major cardiovascular events by roughly 20%.
01.8 After age 35, anyone who is overweight should get a fasting blood glucose test; if the result is normal, repeat it every three years
Cost A fasting blood glucose test costs just a few dozen yuan. Testing for glycated hemoglobin is a bit pricier, still only a few dozen yuan.
Benefit The US Preventive Services Task Force is the official body that issues screening recommendations in the US.
13.1 Immediate chest compressions can save lives when someone collapses and stops breathing — call 120 and fetch an AED too
Cost This costs nothing. A CPR course from the Red Cross or a hospital lasts half a day to a full day, and one training session is enough for years of use.
Benefit Meta-analysis of 79 studies involving 142,740 participants shows that overall, only 7.6% of people suffering from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive to leave the hospital.
13.3 Sudden facial drooping, weakness in one arm, and slurred speech — call 120 immediately; don’t wait or drive yourself
Cost No cost at all. These three steps are easy to remember: ask the person to smile, raise both arms straight out, and say a complete sentence.
Benefit This conclusion comes from a meta-analysis of 16 randomized trials involving 6,756 patients.
13.7 Chest pressure, tightness, or heaviness lasting more than 15 minutes without relief — call 120; do not drive yourself
Cost No cost at all.
Benefit Israel conducted a nationwide study on acute coronary syndrome. The research focused on patients experiencing ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, a specific type of heart attack.
13.9 A sudden “worst headache of one’s life” that peaks within an hour — go to the ER for a head CT right away
Cost An emergency visit itself costs very little. A head CT in the ER typically runs a few hundred yuan.
Benefit Ten Canadian emergency departments conducted a prospective cohort study on 2,131 patients with “severe headaches peaking within an hour.” They defined clear criteria upfront and tracked outcomes accordingly.
Do not die slowly
Smoking, sugar, salt, teeth. The evidence is strong and the cost is near zero — the hard part is behavioural, not financial.
02.1 Quitting smoking, the earlier the better
Cost It costs nothing — in fact, it saves money. A pack-a-day habit costs roughly $3–$4, which you’ll no longer spend after quitting.
Benefit One U.S. study that tracked participants without assigning them to groups found that current smokers have a life expectancy more than 10 years shorter than those who never smoked.
02.3 Don’t rely solely on willpower to quit smoking — get medication first: success rates more than double
Cost Nicotine patches and gum are over-the-counter products available at any pharmacy.
Benefit A pooled analysis of 41 randomized trials involving 17,395 participants shows that varenicline increases smoking cessation rates by 2.32 times compared to placebo (RR 2.32, 95% CI 2.15–2.51; high-certainty evidence).
02.7 Not drinking sugary drinks — even switching to sugar-free ones doesn’t help
Cost There’s no cost involved, nor does it take any extra time. Switching to plain water or sugar-free tea can even save money.
Benefit Two large U.S. studies followed large groups of people without any subgroup categorization; together they included around 118,000 participants and documented 36,000 deaths.
02.9 Switch household salt to low‑sodium (potassium‑rich) salt
Cost One bag costs a few yuan more than regular salt. It’s easy to switch when you shop, adding virtually no extra time.
Benefit A randomized trial conducted in rural China enrolled 20,995 participants — all stroke survivors or adults aged 60+ with hypertension — and followed them for 4.74 years.
02.10 Brush teeth thoroughly and floss daily; replace missing teeth promptly
Cost Dental floss or interdental brushes cost just a few dozen yuan per year, while professional cleanings run about 100–200 yuan each.
Benefit A Japanese study followed 9,676 participants for six years. Those who used interdental cleaning tools saw their mortality risk drop by about 11% (hazard ratio 0.89).
Money: stop wasting it
Most of these are China-specific: tax reconciliation, housing provident fund, centralised drug procurement. The scam filters are universal.
05.2 Conduct the annual tax reconciliation from March to June; be sure to include all eligible special deductions
Cost No cost involved. The process can be completed in just a few minutes via the “Individual Income Tax” app.
Benefit This process consolidates calculations for four types of income: wages and salaries, labor remuneration, author’s fees, and royalties.
05.3 Housing provident fund isn’t just for buying a home: it can be used for renting, home renovations, and paying property taxes, effective from September 20, 2026 under new regulations
Cost No cost at all. You only need to complete the withdrawal application once.
Benefit The updated regulations expand eligible withdrawal scenarios to nine total. These include covering rental payments, funding home renovations, and paying property taxes for a residence you own.
05.4 Recalculate your mobile and broadband plans annually: downgrade unused services, and file a complaint if the carrier refuses to comply
Cost No expense at all. It takes just a few minutes to review your bill. The real challenge is resisting the pressure from customer service reps who try to dissuade you from downgrading.
Benefit Ministry of Industry and Information Technology rules explicitly state that carriers must not “refuse, obstruct, or delay providing number portability services to users without valid reasons”, nor may they “use blocking…
05.5 Not buying lottery tickets
Cost It costs nothing. Not buying means you save money.
Benefit Fiscal regulations set minimum payout ratios: 50% for lottery and number-based games, 65% for instant-win games, and 73% for wagering games.
05.6 Walk away the moment you see “high returns,” “guaranteed returns,” or “sure profits”
Cost Zero. Just pause for a moment when you encounter these phrases.
Benefit In 2018, the former chairperson of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated at the Lujiazui Forum: “Any product offering a return rate above 6% should raise red flags, those above 8% are highly…
05.11 Skipping extended warranties for electronics
Cost There’s no upfront cost. The trade-off is that once the standard warranty expires, you’ll have to pay out-of-pocket for any repairs — though this scenario is relatively rare.
Benefit Extended warranties are usually priced at 10% to 50% of the original product cost.
05.12 Prefer generic drugs that have passed consistency evaluation and those selected in centralized procurement
Cost No cost at all. When a doctor prescribes medication or you go to buy medicine, simply ask: “Is there a generic version included in the centralized procurement program?”
Benefit The national centralized drug procurement initiative resulted in a 53% average price reduction for the second batch, with some drugs dropping by as much as 93%.
05.9 When kids make in-app purchases or send gifts, parents can demand refunds for large sums spent by kids over eight if they never gave consent
Cost There’s no direct monetary cost, but it does take time to gather evidence and negotiate with platforms.
Benefit Minors aged eight and older are classified as having limited legal capacity — meaning they may only engage in activities appropriate to their age and maturity level.
Legal red lines and account security
If you write code for a living, this is the section that can cost you your freedom rather than your money.
11.2 Do not make or sell game cheats and aids, including AI aids that “only read the screen and never touch memory,” and do not sell modified builds that add features to software such as WeChat
Cost No money spent. The trade-off is giving up income from such orders and “little tools.” The hard part is that the money comes fast and it is unclear who will pursue you
Benefit Providing programs or tools specially used to intrude upon or illegally control computer information systems, when circumstances are serious, brings up to 3 years and a fine concurrently or alone.
11.3 Do not write or sell scripts for ticket snatching, flash sales, fake orders, or coupon farming — even if they merely “automate button clicks”
Cost No expense and no time required
Benefit Illegally accessing computer systems or obtaining their data via any technical means can lead to imprisonment of up to 3 years, a fine, or both; more serious cases incur 3–7 years in prison.
11.4 Crawl only public pages that need no login; do not bypass anti-scraping, do not touch personal information, and do not sell the data you crawl
Cost No money spent. A crawler is a program that automatically flips through web pages and pulls down the data on them.
Benefit Taking system data by bypassing protections has the same sentencing range as item 3 (ticket-snatching, flash-sale, and fake-order scripts): up to 3 years, or 3 to 7 years.
11.5 Refuse development orders for gambling, fraud, or adult-content apps; do not set up payment gateways or unblock accounts for such “clients”
Cost No direct monetary cost. The trade-off is forgoing outsourcing projects that pay well but have vague requirements.
Benefit Providing technical support or payment settlement services to known online criminals can lead to imprisonment of up to 3 years and/or a fine, especially when the circumstances are serious.
11.6 When you leave, hand over all account access; do not delete databases, leave backdoors, or change passwords and lock the system — even if the company owes you money
Cost No money spent. If the company owes you wages, get them back through labor arbitration; do not act yourself (labor arbitration is in Section 7).
Benefit Illegally controlling a computer information system, when circumstances are serious, brings up to 3 years and a fine concurrently or alone; especially serious cases bring 3 to 7 years.
11.7 When you leave, do not take source code, client lists, or technical documents; do not upload them to a personal cloud drive; do not reuse them at the next employer
Cost No money spent. Before leaving, delete company materials from your personal computer and cloud drives.
Benefit Violating confidentiality duties by disclosing trade secrets or using them yourself, when circumstances are serious, brings up to 3 years and a fine concurrently or alone; especially serious cases bring 3 to 10 years…
11.9 Do not test others’ systems without written authorization; “good intentions” and “reporting afterward” are not defenses in the statute
Cost No money spent. Before joining a vendor SRC or a public bug-bounty test, first obtain a document that states the authorized scope, target list, and allowed testing window.
Benefit Systems of ordinary companies and individuals are computer information systems outside the fields of state affairs, national defense construction, and cutting-edge science and technology.
11.10 Report vulnerabilities as required; before a patch, do not publish details, release exploit tools, or hand them to parties abroad
Cost No money spent. Report the vulnerability to the product provider, or to an official platform.
Benefit This regulation covers three kinds of subjects: domestic network product providers, network operators, and organizations or individuals engaged in discovering, collecting, publishing, and similar activities involving…
14.1 Turn on two-factor authentication for email, payment, and social accounts; prefer phone pop-up confirmation, with SMS codes second
Cost No cost. Set it once per account; two or three minutes each.
Benefit Google counted 350000 real account takeover attempts (also called account hijacking).
14.7 Do not tap “accept all” just to use an app: for non-essential data, refusing must not cost you the service
Cost No cost. The hard part is not tapping “accept all.”
Benefit The law states two rules. First, you may not refuse products or services on the grounds that the person does not consent or withdraws consent, except where processing that information is necessary to provide the…
14.8 You have the right to view, copy, correct, and delete your personal information; if refused, you can sue
Cost No cost. You only need to complain or sue if the other party stalls. A real lawsuit starts at several months, and you pay your own lawyer fees, so complaining first is usually better value.
Benefit In several situations the company must delete proactively: service stopped, agreed retention period ended, you withdrew consent, the original collection purpose was achieved, and so on.
Work, layoffs, and social insurance
Overtime, probation, severance, unemployment benefit. The rules are written down; most people just never read them.
19.1 Overtime pay runs at 1.5×, 2×, and 3×; if unpaid, complain to labor inspection, and late payment triggers an extra 50% to 100%
Cost No cost. Routinely keep copies of clock-in records, shift schedules, and overtime approval forms, and screenshot work-group messages where managers assign extra work.
Benefit Normal working hours under the law are no more than 8 hours per day and no more than 44 hours per week on average.
19.2 Annual leave is 5, 10, or 15 days by cumulative service years; unused days are paid at 300% of daily wage
Cost No cost. Add up years worked at all employers once; social insurance payment records are proof.
Benefit After 12 consecutive months of work you are entitled to annual leave. The number of days follows **cumulative** working time—years at all employers added together.
19.3 Probation has a legal cap, wages must be at least 80%, and it can only be agreed once
Cost No cost. Before signing, spend a few minutes checking the contract term against the probation length.
Benefit For a contract of more than 3 months but less than 1 year, probation must not exceed 1 month.
19.4 If you are laid off, calculate N first: one month’s wage per full year, half a month if under six months
Cost No cost. Run the numbers once with a calculator; about ten minutes.
Benefit Statutory economic compensation under the Labor Contract Law is what the employer owes when you are laid off—commonly called N.
19.6 For unlawful termination, damages are double the economic compensation standard
Cost No cost. Arbitration takes several months. The hard part is staying with the process the whole time and not dropping out midway.
Benefit The Labor Contract Law provides that where an employer unlawfully terminates or ends a labor contract, it “shall pay damages to the worker at twice the economic compensation standard under Article 47 of this Law.” The…
19.7 Do not sign “resignation for personal reasons”—once signed, N usually disappears
Cost No cost. The hard part is resisting pressure to sign on the spot.
Benefit The Labor Contract Law limits economic compensation to the legally listed situations.
19.8 Before leaving, save pay slips, attendance records, the labor contract, social insurance records, and chat logs
Cost No cost. About half an hour to archive materials. The hard part is remembering before you walk out.
Benefit Once you return the computer and accounts, these materials are gone for good. Labor disputes follow “who asserts must prove”: what you claim, you must prove.
07.1 After losing a job, apply online for unemployment insurance benefits first
Cost No money spent. You can submit the application on a phone through any of three portals: the "Zhangshang 12333" (掌上12333) App, the electronic social security card mini-program in WeChat or Alipay, or the National Social…
Benefit All three conditions must be met. First, your employer and you must have paid unemployment insurance for a cumulative full 1 year.
07.2 When wages are owed, complain to labor inspection first, then apply for labor arbitration; both routes are free, and most cases have a result within a few months
Cost No money spent; complaints and arbitration both charge nothing. Gather the labor contract, pay stubs, attendance records, transfer records, and chat logs, and visit the human resources and social security bureau or the…
Benefit The first step is to complain. Call 12333, or complain to labor inspection at the local human resources and social security bureau.
07.9 Do not let the annual 400 yuan resident medical insurance lapse; hardship households can get reductions
Cost The individual share is no less than 400 yuan per person per year. That is the national standard for 2024 and 2025; localities may set it higher.
Benefit Besides the individual share, finance adds a further amount per person. In 2024 it was no less than 670 yuan.
Housing: rent and buy without getting burned
Deposits, agency fees, subdivided flats, pre-sale permits — each has a regulation behind it.
15.1 When renting, the deposit amount, refund timing, and grounds for deduction must be written into the contract
Cost No monetary cost. Spend an extra ten minutes when signing the contract. The hard part is raising it in front of the landlord.
Benefit Administrative regulations state clearly: “Where the lessor collects a deposit, the amount, time of return, and circumstances in which the deposit may be deducted shall be stipulated in the housing lease contract.
15.3 Agents must not collect or pay rent and deposits; payments go directly to landlords
Cost No cost at all. It takes just a few minutes to verify the recipient before paying.
Benefit Administrative rules explicitly forbid real estate agencies from collecting or paying rent and deposits on behalf of landlords.
15.5 If the home is sold during the lease, the lease stays valid — you do not have to move
Cost No monetary cost
Benefit The Civil Code has a rule called “sale does not break lease” (买卖不破租赁). The statute reads: a change of ownership of the leased thing during the lease term does not affect the lease contract’s validity.
15.8 Do not rent subdivided units: the minimum rental unit is the originally designed room; kitchens, bathrooms, and balconies must not be lived in
Cost No monetary cost. The trade-off is that on the same budget you live farther out or in a smaller place.
Benefit The rules state clearly that the minimum rental unit is the originally designed room; one room must not be partitioned into several units rented separately.
15.10 When you buy an off-plan home, look at the pre-sale permit first. Earnest money, the down payment, and the loan go only into the pre-sale funds supervision account named in the contract
Cost No monetary cost. Look at the pre-sale permit before you sign, and check the account before you pay — a few minutes.
Benefit An off-plan home is called a commercial-housing pre-sale in the regulations — the developer selling you a home that is still being built.
Skills and building a platform
Certificates, subsidised training, and what a paid website legally needs in mainland China.
23.8 Before you spend money on a certificate, check whether it is on the National Vocational Qualification Catalogue or on the list of evaluation agencies filed with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
Cost No money. One check, about a dozen minutes.
Benefit The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has run a nationwide campaign for this.
23.9 It’s best to use government subsidies for training — don’t jump straight to paying for commercial courses out of pocket
Cost Zero cost, or at least a substantial reduction. Training does require time. The real challenge is resisting the urge to sign up for paid courses right away; first, check the local subsidy list.
Benefit The national target is clear: over 30 million subsidized training slots for high-tech industries, critical sectors, and priority employment groups between 2025 and 2027.
23.10 When picking a skill to learn, prioritize those that require hands-on work and on-the-spot judgment — these are the hardest for automation to replace
Cost No cost at all. Before making a choice, run through the skills you’re considering using this criterion as a filter.
Benefit This study assessed 702 U.S. occupations to estimate the likelihood of each being automated — the result showed that about 47% fell into the high-risk category.
26.2 Most websites that charge need a license; selling only your own goods, without letting others open a shop, does not; matching a trade is another license; a free site only needs filing
Cost Filing costs nothing. A value-added telecommunications business license costs money.
Benefit The regulation says: "The state implements a licensing system for commercial internet information services, and a filing system for non-commercial internet information services.
26.4 File if the server sits inside China; file an app and a mini program before they are listed; the access provider must itself hold a value-added telecommunications license
Cost Filing costs nothing. You submit it together with the server, at the service provider, and you usually wait a few days to a few weeks.
Benefit The regulation says: "Without filing, non-commercial internet information services may not be provided inside the People's Republic of China." A website that does not charge users still has to file first, as long as it…
26.7 If you offer posting or instant messaging, require the user to provide real identity information
Cost You have to connect a real-name check channel, and this kind of channel charges per use.
Benefit The law says: "Where a network operator handles network access or domain-name registration for a user, handles network-entry procedures for a fixed telephone, a mobile telephone, or the like, or provides the user with…
26.10 Personal information must not be casually transferred overseas; legal conditions and thresholds apply
Cost No cost involved. The simplest solution is to keep user data within China. If transfer overseas is unavoidable, follow standard contracts or obtain proper certification.
Benefit To lawfully provide personal information to overseas entities — whether to foreign companies or foreign servers — at least one of four conditions must be met: passing a security assessment by the Cyberspace…
Source, licence and what we changed
This page is a condensed selection from HowToLiveBetter (《高性价比人生指南》) by eternity4719, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Original repository: github.com/eternity4719/HowToLiveBetter. English wording follows the community translation at github.com/dlgrv/HowToLiveBetter, which is unofficial — where it differs from the Chinese original, the original prevails.
Changes we made: selected 57 of the original 767 items; shortened the cost and benefit text; added section titles, section intros, and this note. We did not add new claims. Synced against the 2026-10-21 version of the original.
We are not affiliated with the author, and this page is not an endorsement by them. No PDF or EPUB is hosted here — the author publishes free official downloads and an e-book edition via a publisher.
Not professional advice. The rules cited are mainland-China regulations and clinical guidelines as of October 2026; local enforcement varies and policies change. For anything medical, legal, or money-related, check with a doctor, a lawyer, or the relevant government office before acting. The evidence grades and source links come from the original guide; we have not re-verified each study.