Niceties or Necessities?

Household Furnishings

Nobody wants to live in an empty house or apartment. Some furnishings are nice, but are the curtains that match the bedspread necessary; or is that need really a want? Expensive artwork, decorative rugs, the state-of-the-art microwave, and the solid cherry entertainment center that houses the big-screen TV are not essential to your existence.

Cable TV

Many people claim they couldn't live without TV, but we'll go out on a limb here and assert that they can live quite nicely without HBO. Cable TV is expensive, and the extras can send your bill through the roof. Look at this area carefully when determining what you need.

Restaurants and Bars

Food is necessary, but eating in restaurants is not. Although it's nice to get together with friends after work or on weekends, you can spend a lot of money on a few drinks in the bar. If everyone agrees, maybe a rotating happy hour at someone's apartment makes better financial sense than the bar.

Wheels

If you need a car to get back and forth to work and to the other places you go, it's a necessity. But there are many cars to choose from, and some cost a whole lot more than others.

Bad Debt

Some kinds of debt are worse than others. A mortgage, college loans, and even a car payment are understandable, necessary debt that you'll have to repay. But if you're paying 18 percent interest on a fancy dinner at a restaurant that you charged to your credit card three months ago, that's really bad debt.

Drugs and Personal Items

There is a lot of gray area in this category when it comes to want versus need. You need vision care and glasses, but do you need designer frames? You need skin-care products, but do you need a basketful of cosmetics in every color produced? You need medicine for your headache, but doesn't the store brand work just as well as the higher-priced Tylenol?

Classes and Instruction

Financing an education is one of the best expenses you'll ever have. There may be a time, though, when you'll have to defer on classes and instructions until you're better financially equipped to pay for them. If you need a Master's degree to advance in your job, then by all means go ahead and work toward the degree. But the philosophy course that you thought sounded interesting will be offered again next year, and it might be a good idea to wait until then to take it. You might also want to hold off on the flower-arranging course, the personal trainer at the gym, and the bassoon for beginners program.

Fashion

You need clothes. You don't need Prada. You need shoes, but you don't need more pairs than you can fit into your closet. If you can get away with not wearing a suit to work, you probably don't need clothes that have to be dry cleaned. Many people have closets full of clothes they don't wear, on which they've spent hundreds, even thousands, of dollars.

Entertainment

Some people will disagree, but we say with conviction that leisure and recreation are necessities. Regardless of what you do, you need leisure time and fun activities with which to fill it. The problem is, leisure can be very expensive. Although you need entertainment, you don't need the fancy cruise you booked to the Bahamas or tickets for two to Mamma Mia!

Extras

You say you need exercise, and you're right. You could get sufficient exercise by running and working out with some weights at home, but you want to take the Pilates class at the gym where everybody goes after work. And the leggings that you love to wear because they make your legs look longer? That's a want, not a need. The expensive salon haircut, the gift you got for your girlfriend last week, the watch that cost a third of your weekly salary, the daily cappuccinos, and the you-name-your-favorite weakness are wants as well.