The difference between needing and wanting

The strategy I use to spend less is as follows: At the beginning of the month my budget to spend gets transferred into my savings account. That money has been taken out of my current account and is no longer available to spend. Then I run a little list so that every time I am tempted to buy something I commit it to my list. In September the list looks something like this: 1. Magazine subscription 2. Mineral supplements 3. Green polo neck 4. Simplicity pattern 5. Seeds 6. Salad plants for winter 7. Book by Seth Godin Despite decluttering there never seems to be an end to wanting things which is very much influenced by the media,and having been brought up in the post-war generation. Somehow adverts are expert at coming through to us and wanting us to purchase stuff and although my wish has been to become less of a consumer it constantly backfired. At the end of the month I now sit down and analyse the list by asking the question : do I need it or is it nice to have? What remains in the list is the salad plants for winter because that is time dependant as well as time critical. The remaining items are nice to have but not critical. Having decided to consciously spend money on the plants I transfer the money needed from my savings to my current account and gladly make my conscious purchase. If you need a medical expense or your car tire bursts you will not be faced with not having enough money to replace it and gradually I began to realise that there is a lot of stuff I feel I need which in fact are items I want for one reason or another. It is hard to not give in but sometimes I wonder what persuaded me to complete a purchase : it may be cheaper now and I may get the sense of getting a bargain yet there is a certain satisfaction in being able to spend when I really need to. Food is excluded in as much that ingredients are a need but eating out may be a want. Let me know how you get on.