Regulating my "Wants"

Everyone ought to be aware of the popular discussion of "want" vs "need", wherein we discuss the basic necessities each person is in need of, and the objects we desire.  Obviously, if you are reading this blog, you are probably not very good at limiting your expenses to mere "needs", given that those would be the most basic clothing you could find at Goodwill or Wal-mart (or something). Let's face it, if you had to determine your "needs", they would be minuscule and you would be miserable every time you looked in the mirror. So, the key to happiness (and minimalism) is finding the right balance of "wants" and "needs", wherein you fulfill your "wants" without going overboard and just "wasting" (a big taboo nowadays).

I read an interesting article called "http://20somethingfinance.com/control-wants-impulsive-buying/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+20somethingfinancecom+%2820SomethingFinance.com%29" target="_blank">How to Control your Wants and Impulsive Buying" on 20-something Finance, wherein the author creates a Google spreadsheet for all of his "wants" (such a masculine thing to do...) and then reviews them a while later to see if he still wants it.  It's not a new theory, as I have read several different ways to "hold off on buying" and "revisit the desire", but this is by far the most organized and eye-opening method so far!

...Why is it eye-opening? Imagine if instead of just pointing at things in a magazine, or adding things to your wishlist at a store, you pretended you were creating a "gift registry" for yourself.  You make this grand list of all the things you covet, and then a week, a month, a quarter later you review the list to see if you still want those things. I don't know about you, but I actually created a gift registry when I got engaged and I still don't know why I put those things in the registry back then...I mean really? Do I need a food scale? Have I ever used the digital food scale I got 3 years ago? Of course not. It sits in my kitchen, waiting for the day I decide to put batteries in it and put it to good use....

I imagine it is the same with my ordinary wants, it's just difficult to control impulses so I think that next year I shall do what has been impossible so far:  control my impulse spending.  I will make it a habit to list the things I want, and then see if I still want it after, just like this guy ;D

Look forward to the next post!