Separating Wants From Needs
By LaToya Irby
devider One of the basic concepts of spending money is determining your wants versus needs. As simple as the theory may seem to be, many people make the mistake of confusing wants for needs, leading them to spend more money than they can afford. You can easily convince yourself that a want is actually a need if it's something you want badly about. Getting into the habit of questions your purchases will help you quickly recognize when you're purchasing something you need it or because you simply want it.

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What Are Our Needs?
A need is something you must have to live. Most needs fall into one of these categories:

Shelter.
You need to have a place to live. Without a roof over your head, you'd eventually die.

Food.
Your body physically needs food to live. You can only go so long without eating until your body can no longer function.

Clothing.
Your body has to be protected from the natural elements. Besides, the law says you have to be covered up to go outside; otherwise, you'd end up in jail.

Hygiene Products.
You need things like toothpaste and deodorant. You probably won't die without hygiene products, but life would be extremely uncomfortable and people wouldn't want to be around you, especially the boss who writes your paycheck.

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What Are Wants?
A want is something you'd like to have, but could do without. Needs can turn into wants when you create certain standards of living for yourself and your family. Here are some examples. You need shelter, but you want to have a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house in the suburbs. You need food, but you want filet mignon and sushi. You need clothes, but you want designer labels. You need a toothbrush, but you want the Braun Oral B Electric Toothbrush that costs $130.

When you choose a higher-priced product over a lower-priced, quality, functional product, it's because you want to. Think about the things you spend money on each month and ask if those are things you need or want. If you can't decide, think about what would happen if you didn't spend money on that product or service. For example:

• Do you need cable television? What would happen if you didn't have it? You'd have to watch regular television.
• Do you need a cell phone and home phone? What would happen if you got rid of the home phone? All calls would have to go through your cell phone.
• Do you need an iPhone? What would happen if you didn't have it? You'd use another, lower-priced cell phone.
• Do you need a high-tech computer? Perhaps if your job requires you to have one. Otherwise, you could do with something that costs less.

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Do You Have to Give up Your Wants?

Of course, you can't spend your life giving up all the things you want. Life would be very unhappy. It's ok to make some concessions sometimes. However, if you're struggling to make ends meet, you're overwhelmed with debt, and most of your income is going toward things you want, you have to become more disciplined in your spending. Once you have more financial stability, you can start spending money on more of your wants, but only within reason. You still have financial goals to reach, like saving for retirement or for your kids' college education.

If you're trying to figure out where you're overspending your budget, one of the first things to do is examine how much of your spending is going toward wants vs. needs. You save money if you delay purchasing your wants until you can better afford it.
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