- Ria quit five non-essential expenses to save Rs 7.2 lakh in 18 months
- She cut dining out, shopping, subscriptions, social outings, and weekend trips
- Ria maintained spending on health, partner time, and quality home food
A social media user recently sparked a debate on life and priorities after revealing how she transformed her life by quitting five 'non-essential' things. On Instagram, the user named Ria opened up about the physical and mental toll of corporate life. The 33-year-old said that before quitting corporate, she cut five things "nobody talks about cutting". She further mentioned that over the course of 18 months, she managed to redirect Rs 40,000 every month into an emergency "freedom fund," accumulating a total savings of Rs 7.2 lakh.
Here's a list of things she cut
Dining Out and Food Delivery: She said cutting out restaurant meals, quick coffee runs, and delivery apps helped her save around Rs 20,000.
Shopping: She added that she paused all non-essential purchases, saving Rs 10,000 per month.
Subscriptions: She even cancelled streaming services and app subscriptions, freeing up Rs 5,000 monthly.
Social Outings: She said refusing frequent events, birthday dinners, and brunches cut spending by Rs 3,000 each month.
Weekend Getaways: As the last point, she said scaling back on leisure travel added another Rs 2,000 per month to her savings.
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See her post here:
What she refused to cut
Despite strict budgeting, she maintained key priorities such as health, with a focus on gym, walks, sleep. She also continued spending time and money on evenings with her partner, quality food and home.
"Cutting isn't about deprivation," she said. "It's about priorities."
While still employed, Ria apparently built side revenue streams. By month 18, her side income reportedly crossed her regular corporate salary of Rs 1.6 lakh per month, prompting her to resign officially.
In one of the posts, she revealed that she was even hospitalised with severe burnout at age 30, which served as a wake-up call and prompted her to take some strict action.
Social media reactions
The viral post divided users as she highlighted that quitting abruptly out of frustration is wrong. "If social commitments cost me only 3k per month, I won't be cutting it. Human connections are pretty important in general day-to-day life. Building your own village takes effort. cannot imagine a life where I am not hanging out with friends or family. One can cut the expenses around it, but a complete no to it is not worth it for some of us," one user wrote in the comment section, sharing their point of view.
"And then? Is it like cutting all of these for the rest of your life? I don't find it viable. Someone may cut eating out and travelling and all sorts of shopping, but still, if someone has to stop going to family events, that's sad. Like a wedding is a one-time thing, mostly," another user noted, disagreeing with Ria on some points.
"That's real! Takes discipline & some sacrifices. Did you find ways to still connect with your friends that were meaningful?" a third user asked
