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Wants and Needs

September 5th, 2013 at 02:37 am

I always find it interesting to hear about the things people buy. I try not to make judgements. But I find it interesting to hear of people buying wants, and then complain they didn't save enough, or don't have enough for some need.

Sometimes I just want to shake them and say, "Do you hear what you are saying?" What you are doing isn't matching up with your goals. You aren't going to get where you are going by doing that same thing over and over.

Of course, I don't usually say anything. I do at least take a moment to look at our own spending. Have I bought something lately that is taking away from my goals? Could I do better with my spending? What am I doing right?

I do know I sent DH to the store this evening for more tissues, ibuprofen, tea, and 12 hour decongestants. Apparently there has been a run on the decongestants this weekend. So instead of the generic I was expecting, he bought an allergy/decongestant combination. It was the only thing available at the store and it probably cost twice as much as I expected him to spend. In reality, it wasn't a need. We have the four hour decongestants that would work. The problem here is that my own husband doesn't think the same way about wants and needs. He assumes that since I asked for it, it must be a need. I probably would have made the trip normally, but I'm really run down with my cold.

Do you find yourself taking a step back once in awhile to see how you are spending? Is it really needs? Are you justifying your wants as needs?

Posted in Spending | 8 Comments »

8 Responses to “Wants and Needs”

  1. Jazzmint98 Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 02:57 am 1378349855
    1378349855

    Yes, I do occasionally monitor whether a purchase is a want or need. In fact, I should most likely be a little more cautious and reevaluate purchases more frequently!!

    I hope you feel better real soon :-)

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 03:16 am 1378350961
    1378350961

    Yes. Even though we're approaching our goals at a good clip, I'm aware of the fact that we have a lot of stuff in the "wants" category. I'm not ruling out the thought that if we want to supercharge our progress and meet our goals sooner, we could cut way back on luxuries. I won't bring it up until our goals are in reach, though; I know my partners will take some convincing and it'll be easier if they can see how close we are! Smile

  3. My English Castle Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 03:20 am 1378351249
    1378351249

    It's a constant ongoing thing here. Some we win; some we lose.

  4. snafu Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 03:30 am 1378351809
    1378351809

    I hope you're feeling better and that the items DH bought help speed recovery. I think your DH did well by sticking to the list! My DH gets distracted and buys extra things because they are unusual.

    We've family and friends who never set goals and wonder why they rarely achieve dreams or wishes. They repeat the same mistakes, never plan and seem genuinely bewildered by unexpected outcomes. It's pointless to make suggestions unless they ask for help due to potential for destroying relationships. I keep telling myself to keep my mouth shut as I listen to their tale of woe.

  5. mamasita Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 09:43 am 1378374209
    1378374209

    Hope you feel better soon, I'm sure the decongestant will come in handy eventually!

    You've reminded me to take another look at my goals, as my spending and saving has gotten unorganized due to the move. If I commit to my goals again, the rest should fall in place.

  6. PauletteGoddard Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 10:19 am 1378376346
    1378376346

    About 12% of the time I can differentiate between wants and needs. I am usually id-powered, yet able to withstand the pull of instant gratification, probably because there's so little money left over by the end of the month I am very reluctant to go into debt for something that does not greatly enrich our quality of life. I cope 88% of the time by prioritizing my wants and attempting to do things myself (e.g. "I need coffee" really is "I want coffee" and that's met by "let me grind the beans, heat the water and get the cone and filter ready for a pourover" rather than "let me pay $3 for an 8 ounce espresso drink and tip").

  7. creditcardfree Says:
    September 5th, 2013 at 11:53 am 1378381997
    1378381997

    @Paullette, I am similar in the I want something, but find the less expensive way to do it.

  8. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    September 7th, 2013 at 05:05 am 1378530322
    1378530322

    What I find hard sometimes is when I have goals that compete with each other - not necessarily two financial goals. The non-financial goal means that I need to be a little looser with my money. I still can be careful about *just* how loose I am, but I still can't obscess over how much I'm spending ... otherwise I'd hurt the chances of achieving the goal. The competing financial goal ... to really be able to reach it, I need to cut back on most extraneous spending - most of the spending I'm doing for the other goal could be considered extraneous. So ... there's the connundrum. Both goals are important to me, yet they ae somewhat at odds with each other. So far, I've just accepted that the financial goal will take longer than I'd hoped for originally.

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