Tell me what you need...

.... and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
 
Have you ever been involved in a natural disaster? Did the power go off for days on end? Were you ever in a flood or a fire?

I've experienced an apartment fire, a 100-year flood, and more moves than I care to count. Okay. I counted. 27 moves in 33 years. Right now I'm on year 20 in my current house. A record for me. Seriously.

But I digress. If your life has ever been uprooted, you get a really good sense of what you NEED versus what you WANT. I'm sure you've heard this all before: our society is based on WANT. Our economy is focused around getting people to spend money on things they really don't need in order to keep the economy going. I don't know about you, but I used to feel a bit guilty if I didn't overspend at Christmas, or buy the latest gadget, or upgrade to the newest car.

Note I said "used to feel..."

A few years ago (quite a few, actually), I read a book called "Your Money or Your Life." It was a financial management kind of book that was recommended by a friend. Okay. I didn't read it. I skimmed it. What I got out of that book was this:

You work for money. You then spend that money. Figure out how much an item costs you, not in terms of money, but in terms of your time. In other words, how long did you work in order to afford to buy that item?

Now look at it this way: what if you're in a job you don't like? What if you feel your job is taking you away from something you would really, really like to do.

Now re-calculate those purchases with that in mind.

Everything comes with a price and it's not just the monetary price on the price tag. You are spending your time to make a purchase.

If that's the case: don't you think you should pause and consider before you make that purchase?

Here's your goal for today (or this week or month or year, depending on how you're reading this book):

Track your purchases for five days, making sure at least one of those days is a weekend day. Just jot down what you bought and what it cost. Set the list aside. Pull it out two weeks later. Evaluate the list: do you remember what you bought? Did it give you pleasure beyond the moment? Was the purchase a "need to buy" (lunch, groceries, etc.) or was it a "want to buy" (new CD, new shoes etc.)

Was it worth it?