Wants vs Needs

It’s a new year, and newspapers and magazines are filling column space with suggestions for meaningful resolutions, tips on how to keep our resolutions, and explanations on why we fail to do so.

I’m not a big fan of new-year resolutions because I think if we see something in ourselves that we want to change or improve, why wait for a new year? So the process of self-improvement goes on throughout the year.

However, I’ve been puzzling over the question of wants versus needs for a couple of months now, so the timing seems good to tackle that popular save money resolution: “I’m only going to buy things I need, rather than things I want.”

Sounds good.

The question is, what constitutes a bona fide need? At base, it means simple food and drink, a few pieces of clothing and maybe some shelter.

This doesn’t quite cut it in Singapore, where we factor in transport, work clothes, and morale boosters as well. Who is going to argue against having cheerful surroundings for mental well-being, or recreation? Here is where the going gets murky, and where I got stuck late in 2010.

I went to a talk at the photo festival and met a photographer who had just upgraded his camera, which was already one model up from mine. I made him an offer, and got myself a used camera which was better than mine, so well-kept it was like new, and which came with extra batteries, a bag, and a storage card. All for $400.

However, that good deal was followed a by a sale which offered a $900 tripod for $355 – which required a tripod head for $316 (it was another sale, but I don’t know the markdown).

I was still reeling from the expenditure when my brother, who’d gone to KL, phoned to ask if I wanted a set of extension tubes (for macro photography) for RM600. Since I have a ringgit account, I thought, gulp, why not?

One can say that, as an enthusiastic amateur photographer, all these things are terribly useful. In fact, when a friend got access to a lovely spot from which to see the New Year fireworks, he told us not to bother to bring our cameras if we didn’t take along a tripod as well.

However, it was a huge outlay in such a short period of time, and prompted the musing over wants and needs.

Since I hardly make any money out of photography (the grand total from dSLR photography stands at $115), it can’t be justified, but once you get a dSLR, surely it doesn’t make sense not to get anything other than the dinky kit lens that comes with the body?

And what about deciding not to buy any books, CD or clothes this year? On the surface, it sounds fine –I’ve got lots of music to listen to, books to read and clothes to wear. But if there’s a warehouse sale... Certainly, it’s a good place to look for useful stuff, at good prices.

I suppose one sign of something being a need is when it is used – if you need it, you use it. So I plan to use whatever I buy this year, or give it away as a present.
A friend just suggested I try to earn twice as much as the cost of the item when I buy something that falls into the grey zone. Not a bad idea, and just in time for the new year, too...