Day 4 – Want -v- Need

So yesterday after we went to the dog park and I completed the days training for couch to 5k we had to stop into the butchers to pick up meat I had ordered last week. When I was getting out of the car mam said “get us a cornetto” which is something that would happen all the time. If somebody is going to the shop and they ask if you want anything you generally respond with:

“Get us something nice”

“something nice like what?”

“A surprise”

This surprise generally consists of something containing chocolate or ice cream which is neither healthy or needed which is what made me think: How many everyday things do we flippantly buy but we really don’t need. Since I started No Spend Month I have kept a list of everything I have seriously thought about buying:

• Washing Powder
• New Running Shoes
• New Dog Collars
• Bin Bags
• Rabbit Tunnel
• Princess dress for Miss P’s Birthday
• Minion Umbrella for Mr F
• A slow cooker
• My Little Pony Sticker book for Miss A
• Hair oil
• Chinese takeout

So that is a grand total of two things on that list that I actually needed.

I want new running shoes because I plan on taking this running thing seriously and of course if I am to believe the media then I need fancy shoes and expensive workout gear that has a saying like ‘These feet were made for running’ emblazoned on it and one of those flashy armband things to hold my phone and those fancy earbuds that have the swoop over ear thingy so they stay on and the kitchen sink etc etc OK not really but you get where I am coming from.

I think a lot of people confuse the fact that you have to have stuff to be something. If I want to be a runner I have to have all the latest gear. If I want to be a health nut then I have to have to have all the expensive food from the organic store and farmers markets. If I want to be more conscious about my money then I need to buy a budgeting app and an ebook. Then we become obsessed with what we want and it drives our desire for more.

Realistically all we need is food, water, shelter, sleep and oxygen (but hey that’s free for now until we mess the environment up some more but thats probably a problem for my great great great great grandkids I digress) On top of that we need money and human contact. Anything else we have is basically a luxury.

750 million people around the world do not have access to clean water. 840,000 people die each year of a water related disease. I have a tap that I leave running when I brush my teeth. Around the world 1 in 8 people experience hunger on a daily basis, about 2 billion people suffer from under-nutrition. I have food that goes off and I throw out. There are over 3000 people in Ireland that are homeless and I have a spare bedroom.

Now don’t get me wrong I can complain just as much as everybody else about how hard some of my life is but at times like this I like to do a little things I call “The Gratitude Perspective” Basically I write a list (is anybody seeing a recurring theme of lists here, they feature heavily in my life) of five things that I am grateful for in that moment.

So what are you grateful for? What do you actually need in your life? I hope you can follow the train of thought in this blog post because honestly it sounded way better and less rambling in my head. Oh well what can ya do?

If this is the first post you are seeing here is the link to the challenge I have set for myself if you want to check it out:

The Challenge

Day 1 – Meal Planning

Day 2 – Batch cooking in all its glory…

Day 3 – Oh the temptation!

Until next time, let your gypsy soul wander.