Wants vs. needs - the very basics
Since we're trying to save for vacation, and that means being extra frugal, I've been thinking a lot about what we buy in terms of wants or needs.
If we really went to what we only actually need, we could pare it down to living in a tent next to a river and only eating rice and beans that we cook on the campfire. We probably wouldn't need much of a job so not many clothes. We wouldn't need a car or a TV or any appliances. If you traded land rental(for your tent) for lawn care or something, you could live almost for free. But who wants to live like this? (Actually I did read a book once about a man who lived like this, and he seemed to like it pretty well. It was really interesting and unfortunately I can't remember the name of the book)
Anyway, I'm finding much grey area between want and need. Food is a need - but is steak, or chocolate, or ice cream? Probably not, but we buy these things. Shelter is a need, but not neccessarily a $10M house. What about a $1M house? What about a $100K house? (there are places you can still buy <100K houses)
I guess we could all agree that healthful food, drinkable water, adequate (meaning not condemned) housing, and clean clothing are all needs. But how frugally you go for these needs depends on a lot of things besides only money - your personal level of comfort, your community, etc. You may find it cheapest to live in a van down by the river, but if you are not contributing to society as a whole, maybe you should look into a house - or at least a trailer.
What about us? We live in a four bedroom ranch style house, which we rent. We have clean water, we eat good food - as much organic as I can justify. Brent eats steak once in a great while, we each chocolate often, ice cream not so often. Both of us have nice-ish clothes - not designer, but not bag lady either. Do we have more than we need? Oh yeah - way more.
What about you?
If we really went to what we only actually need, we could pare it down to living in a tent next to a river and only eating rice and beans that we cook on the campfire. We probably wouldn't need much of a job so not many clothes. We wouldn't need a car or a TV or any appliances. If you traded land rental(for your tent) for lawn care or something, you could live almost for free. But who wants to live like this? (Actually I did read a book once about a man who lived like this, and he seemed to like it pretty well. It was really interesting and unfortunately I can't remember the name of the book)
Anyway, I'm finding much grey area between want and need. Food is a need - but is steak, or chocolate, or ice cream? Probably not, but we buy these things. Shelter is a need, but not neccessarily a $10M house. What about a $1M house? What about a $100K house? (there are places you can still buy <100K houses)
I guess we could all agree that healthful food, drinkable water, adequate (meaning not condemned) housing, and clean clothing are all needs. But how frugally you go for these needs depends on a lot of things besides only money - your personal level of comfort, your community, etc. You may find it cheapest to live in a van down by the river, but if you are not contributing to society as a whole, maybe you should look into a house - or at least a trailer.
What about us? We live in a four bedroom ranch style house, which we rent. We have clean water, we eat good food - as much organic as I can justify. Brent eats steak once in a great while, we each chocolate often, ice cream not so often. Both of us have nice-ish clothes - not designer, but not bag lady either. Do we have more than we need? Oh yeah - way more.
What about you?
Labels: Saving Money
posted by Tracy at 6:36 AM
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