Throughout our lives we make tens of thousands of purchasing decisions–some more thought out than others. Knowing the difference between our wants and needs is an important part of learning to manage our money in a mindful and empowered way. It’s easy to spend money. What can be more challenging is spending money in a way that is truly attuned with our values and desires.
One simple way to guide conscious spending is to get super clear on our needs and wants, and actually list them all out on paper:
Needs are the essentials—the basics of life that you must have to survive: food, shelter, clothing, medical care, etc.
Wants are basically everything else: eating out, entertainment, travel, gifts, gym membership, etc.
One of my mentors, Mikelann Valterra from the Women’s Earning Institute, offers some parameters to delineate needs and wants. She suggests analyzing:
What is all the stuff you need or want?
What are all the services you need or want?
What are all the experiences you need or want?
In addition to needs and wants, I like to tack on another list to the mix: a wish list! This is where you start to dream—digging deep—and imagine things that might somehow be off-limits to your conscious mind. These are usually the desires imprisoned by limiting beliefs. I love to help clients with this process of opening up their desires to discover wishes they fear may be unattainable for them.
Personally, I adore hearing my client’s wishes! This is often where their “dream big” ideas come out to play, and it is a delight to work with them to create a plan on how to achieve them. I push the envelope to uncover that part of them, where their true desires hide, so they can come out in a safe space and be honored. I hear things such as “I want to hike the Appalachian Trail,” “I would love to get a weekly massage,” or even “I want to start my own business.”
Obviously, needs, wants, and wishes are completely individual, and will differ widely. What is important here, is for you to get clear on what these are for you.
