Looking at this theme on what’s essential, it’s important to take a step back and look at a holistic approach of the categories we looked at, as this will help you merge these categories in order to have a broad understanding of your expenses. Pulling from what is essential in your housing, transportation, clothing and the like, gather what is actually essential to your lifestyle above the bare essentials like food, water, and sleep. Pulling this together will provide you with a base-line to start with.