DoingHomework wrote:
That's the problem with the whole want/need thing...everyone has their own definitions.
That's not the only problem.
To me, the biggest problem with these discussions is that it's not a binary value. There isn't a "grey area" because somethings are hard to classify. Rather, everything is on a single, continuous scale. Some things are more essential than other things. Then we arbitrarily draw a line on that scale and say that things on one side are "wants" and things on the other side are "needs."
But where the line is varies by person. So we can debate all day and never come to a consensus.
It also varies situation. So one day your car is a need because it gets you to work. The next day maybe you are laid off and don't need your car any more. The next day maybe you are mugged and the only thing you need at that moment is safety.
And the other big problem is, even if we did figure it out, what do you do with that information? Is it actionable? If you decided the horse food is not a want, are you immediately going to cut it out of your budget? If you decide it's a need, are you going to pay it NO MATTER WHAT? Neither of those is true. Rather, if something happens, you'll keep spending that money as long as it's falls above the line - and if your situation gets more dire, the line will move and more things will fall on the side of the line that causes them to get cut.
