Understanding Needs, Wants and Desires

Have you ever heard yourself saying, “I need…” only to realize you really mean you want or desire that thing? I’ve done it more than once. Luckily, I rarely went out and bought whatever it was while thinking I still desperately needed it, but I’ll share one of the times I did act on a want thinking it was a need.

I had a nice little digital camera that worked perfectly well for family snapshots, but I decided I needed a new one to take better photos for my blogs and to take photos for a magazine I was publishing. So, I spent around $400 on a new camera for taking business related photos.
Now, while it is really nice to have and I am still using it to take all of my photos for blogs and articles a few years later, it was not a genuine need. It was a want. My little personal camera is still going strong and probably would have lasted through the few hundred extra photos I took for business use.
I’m still glad I bought the new camera for work photos because you just don’t get people to take you as seriously when you whip out a cute little snap shot camera to take photos during an interview for an article. However, I do wish I would have realized it was a want before I bought it. I would have saved up for it instead of buying it right away on my credit card! Of course, I was less frugal then, too.

So, what is the difference between a need, a want and a desire?
A need is something you can’t do without. You need food every day. A want is something that will make your life comfortable. You need food, but you want it to taste good. A desire is something that is usually a bit out of reach. You need food, you want it to taste good and you desire it to be Beluga caviar.
Is it wrong for someone who is trying to be thrifty to want or desire something?
If you never wanted anything, you would never be discontented with your life and your bank balance would probably be bigger. On the other hand, your life might not be very fulfilling. (Breakfast…oooh, gloop. But it was free!! More gloop for lunch…but it was also free!!) However, a thrifty person will save for wants and desires instead of letting him or herself be fooled into whipping out a charge card to pay for desires because of all that advertising about how much he or she deserves the best. I think wanting nice things is fine as long as you are willing to save for them.