Needs and Wants

When I was growing up we had one telephone, one car, a black and white television which on a good day received four channels, an AM radio and board games. We were happy. What happened?

We have let the marketers out there convince us we need stuff, more and more stuff. We are told we can't live without the latest IPad, cell phone, notebook, big screen TV and 200 channel cable systems. I got news for you, you can only watch one channel at a time. 

When you are poor like me, you quickly realize once the credit cards are maxed out and you might lose the house, that you really don't need a lot of stuff. When it comes down to eating or having those 200 channels which is more important? While fasting is good for Catholics for Lent, it is better when you do it becasue you want to, not becasue you have to. 

For most of us we realize that we need three things, four when we have kids living at home. 

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• Shelter - a place to live
• Food - We need to eat
• Transportation - We need to be able to get to and from a job, which makes all the other things possible, unless of course you believe in entitlements
• Our children's needs - We need to take care of them first. 

Everything else is a want not a need. The sooner you learn the difference, the better off you are. Am I saying to never "want" anything? Not at all, but you need to take care of the needs first and go from there.

"For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world" - 1 Timothy 6:7