Where and what to cutdown on?

After we have create our budget and tracked our expenses, it's time to make a list on all the non-essentials that you have been spending on for the past 1 month. If you are wondering what's an non-essentials, it just means stuff that you buy but without them, you will still survive and carry on with your life.

Eg.

• Meals out (tea breaks, coffees, high class / expensive lunches / dinner)
• Drinks (alcoholic, can drinks, anything except plain water / mineral water)
• Mobile internet plans
• Books / magazines / papers (unless you can't get them from the library)
• Cinema / DVDs / Videos / CDs
• Gym / Yoga membership
• Presents
• Clothes (except when you really need it or has run out of it, not when you still have tons at home, unworn)
• Beauty and toiletries (including hair) but just those that you've bought but never use or hardly use.
• New laptops / computer / mobile phone (when you still have a working one at home and didn't use that to trade in)

These are stuff that you can cut down on until you have reached a point where you've attained financial freedom, and your passive income is already way beyond your expenses such that you can easily afford all these even without your active income then, by all means get them if you want. After all, there's no point having lots of money but being unable to spend them to pamper yourself once in a while.

Reference: The Lazy Girl's Guide to Success: Financial Success, Step 2, Pg 118 - 121