Community Chat

[RainyDayGal]

So is part of it an age thing? I know the older I get (almost 56), the less I want. My values have drastically changed since I was in my 20s and just starting out.

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Sometimes threads like this seem resentful of modern life. I'm not sure why that is. Having luxuries doesn't mean one is void of happiness just as a lack of luxuries means one has a happy/ier life. I don't see one as being preferable over the other. It's finding a balance.

[Mominohio]

On 7/2/2014 KittyLouWhoToo said:

Is there a point to arguing semantics?

Surely people understand the difference between a need and a want.

People just seem to get so defensive around the whole issue.

I started this thread because I think that there are truly people who don't know the difference between a need and a want. Not everyone, and not even everyone who has disagreed with me on this post. But this country is so full of people who don't even begin to understand what a real need is, and I love the input from both sides. I think (so far as I've read today) that people are being respectful in their disagreements and discourse. There is some defensiveness, but there is often something to be learned when we get defensive, even if only about ourselves.

[NoelSeven]

On 7/2/2014 mominohio said:

On 7/2/2014 KittyLouWhoToo said:

Is there a point to arguing semantics?

Surely people understand the difference between a need and a want.

People just seem to get so defensive around the whole issue.

I started this thread because I think that there are truly people who don't know the difference between a need and a want. Not everyone, and not even everyone who has disagreed with me on this post. But this country is so full of people who don't even begin to understand what a real need is, and I love the input from both sides. I think (so far as I've read today) that people are being respectful in their disagreements and discourse. There is some defensiveness, but there is often something to be learned when we get defensive, even if only about ourselves.

You based your argument, your example, on a reality show that is not real. They're scripted.

This country isn't full of people who don't understand real need, there are many that go wanting.

[Mominohio]

On 7/2/2014 evelomaddict said:

On 7/2/2014 mominohio said:

On 7/2/2014 TaxyLady said:

In order to combat self centeredness and greed, every American should spend a week in Uganda. I believe they would have a new appreciation for what they have.

And may learn that their lives are full of things they really and truly could live without, thus not really a need.

much like the computers we're using to waste our time on this forum?

YeS! Like that!

[Mominohio]

On 7/2/2014 evelomaddict said:

just give me a roll of toilet paper, some water and a good book and i'm all set. and, if i happen to run out of toilet paper, i can always use the book.

Just remember to use only the pages you have already read!!

[straykatz]

On 7/2/2014 RedConvertibleGirl said:

So is part of it an age thing? I know the older I get (almost 56), the less I want. My values have drastically changed since I was in my 20s and just starting out.

You make a great point...I'm finding the older I get the less I want too....I'm not to the point of being a minimalist but I'm working hard at reducing all the accumulated stuff so I can simplify things around me.

[RainyDayGal]

On 7/2/2014 ------ said:

Sometimes threads like this seem resentful of modern life. I'm not sure why that is. Having luxuries doesn't mean one is void of happiness just as a lack of luxuries means one has a happy/ier life. I don't see one as being preferable over the other. It's finding a balance.

I don't see it that way at all.

[NoelSeven]

On 7/2/2014 mominohio said:

On 7/2/2014 BlueCollarBabe said:

No one "needs" luxuries. You desire them. As to the OP's question, this is why Americans are so deeply mired in personal debt, filing bankruptcy, low credit ratings on multiple credit cards, taking out reverse mortgages, etc.. They're not spending their own $$ on material goods. They're spending the bank's $$. Ours is a consumer driven society urged on by advertising - more so than even other Western nations. There's no happiness in it because they just make shinier brighter stuff that they convince you that you "need" to be cool and current and happy. Any new technology you buy is "outdated" in a year or so for this reason.

There is a "minimalist" movement afoot that I personally love as I get older. The goal is to live comfortably but simply in an environmentally and financially responsible manner. Our plan is to downsize sooner rather than later and I've already donated, sold or tossed lots of "stuff" that I once felt I just "had to have". It's so freeing and we have absolutely no debt.

Great post! And I have to agree with you on all points.

The great post is a stereotype, and certainly not true for all Americans.

[NoelSeven]

On 7/2/2014 ------ said:

Sometimes threads like this seem resentful of modern life. I'm not sure why that is. Having luxuries doesn't mean one is void of happiness just as a lack of luxuries means one has a happy/ier life. I don't see one as being preferable over the other. It's finding a balance.

I agree, and resentful of what it is thought some others might have.