Power of Thoughts

Finding the Balance between ‘Needs vs Desires’

Know what is Need and What is Desire


“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you might find you get what you need.” – Rolling Stones

If you need to accomplish your all dreams, however are struggling to differentiate between your “needs” and “desires”, then you must read this story.

Many years back there lived a King who, in spite of his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.  So one day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This charmed the King, why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy.  The King questioned the servant, “Why are you so happy?”

The man replied, “King, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don’t need too much, just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies.”  The king was not pleased with that reply.  Then later, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor.  After hearing the King’s sadness and the servant’s story, the advisor said, “Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club.”

“The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?” the King asked.  The advisor answered, “Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant’s doorstep.”  So the King ordered it.  When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house.  When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy, many gold coins!  He began to count them.  After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins.  He pondered, “What could’ve happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!”

He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was subtle.  Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.  From that day, the servant’s life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin.  Witnessing this drastic change, the King was confused.  When he sought his advisor’s help, the advisor said, “Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The 99 Club.”

He continued, “The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never content because they always desire and strive for that extra 1 telling to themselves, “Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.”

Read more: Change your mindset to embrace results

Moral:  it’s not necessary that we should have more to be happy. We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we are given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us, all these as a price for our growing needs and desires.  We must learn to preserve the balance of our needs and desires to live a happy life with what we already have.

When chalking out a monthly or quarterly budget, it’s critical to consider what you spend your cash on. Financial planning starts with how you spend your cash “wisely” and for a healthy financial life or to accomplish financial dreams, it’s imperative to find a balance between your “needs” and “wants”. However, what’s needed and wants difference? Is everybody’s view of needs and desires the same? Does it differ from individual to individual?

The normal individual has a lot of debt. They may have credit card debt, loans on furniture, a home loan payment, a vehicle payment, and some more.

However, if you need to improve your financial circumstance whether this implies escaping debt or to quit living paycheck, you will need to confront one significant thing – needs and wants difference.

A few things are needs, yet a considerable lot of the things we purchase are really wants. What’s more, confusing wants for needs might be causing you a great deal of financial pressure.

Keep in mind, the main things you really need contain a spot to live, specific clothing, food and water. To rapidly determine the change between a want and desire, think of a need being somewhat required for existence.

A desire is entirely else. Desires are there to make life somewhat more enjoyable. What’s more, we should all make the most of our lives. 

By realizing what desires are and what are needs, you will have the option to cut some unnecessary spending and improve your financial situation.

needs vs desires
Image Source – Unsplash

What goes in the needs bucket and wants the bucket?

Before you begin building a budget, it’s essential to understand what truly fits into all of these classes, and accurately assess your ways of managing money.

Your rent or home loan EMI payment is totally a need. Your essential groceries, transportation to and from work, dress, and utilities like water, power, food fuel, etc. must be dealt with consistently. Healthcare and insurance are additionally significant requirements. A family unit runs on these essentials and 50% (approx) of your income goes in dealing with this.

Read more: What comes first, Happiness or Success?

How to Understand the Difference between Needs and Wants?

Individuals regularly get confused among “desires” and needs”. Since everybody’s perceptions are unique. What’s more, numerous multiple times it relies upon financial capacities also. When you gather a ton of cash, you may purchase things that you need separate from the things that are required on a daily basis.

By keeping the 50-30-20 rule, you can simplify your budget. It gets simpler that way. This implies half of your budget/spends ought to go towards your needs and 30% of your budget/spends ought to go towards your desires. The rest of the 20% should be spent at all and ought to directly go for your savings. Try to find some kind of balance in these limits and naturally your financial balance will become alright.

Additionally, it may appear that limiting your spending on desires is the first rule. But really the goal is to arrive at a healthier balance inside your ways of managing money. Because you order a cost as a need doesn’t imply that you shouldn’t spend money on it.

First of all – appropriately needs and wants differences indicated by your financial health and month to month earnings. Besides, don’t overspend on your desires (recall that they are luxury). Thirdly, normally review your spending and appropriately designate money for needs and desires in a budget-healthy way. What’s more, finally, to better handle the financial health you may require a budgetary specialist who can assist you with building a financial plan.

Lower Your Spending By Telling the Difference between Wants and Desires

Don’t Let Your Needs Transform into Desires

One of the issues in getting desires and needs is realizing that occasionally our needs can make us spend more than we should, which means needs can transform into desires.

Here are a few examples of needs and wants:

Water – To remain hydrated, all you need is water. However, this need can transform into a want with things like bottled water, soda, coffee, etc.

Food – Food can come in many forms and the more beneficial the better.

Shelter – The spot you choose to live needs to break your budget. You can lease a room from somebody; live in an apartment, a tiny house, a mobile house, and so on.

Clothing – This needs are things, for example, jeans, shirts, and undergarments so you can go out into society and not be naked and placed in prison.

needs vs desires
Image Source – Unsplash

Think before you purchase

Before you purchase something, you should stop and consider whether the thing is a desire or a need.

You ought to ask yourself questions, for example,

• Do I need this to survive?

• Why do I need or need this thing?

• Do I as of now have something comparable?

By first inquiring yourself about these questions, you’ll waste less cash and even keep the mess from assuming control over your life.

Assess what you’re currently Spending Money On

The greater parts of the things you are currently spending cash on are likely simply desires. This is even evident if numerous others have it, think the latest cell phone, a new vehicle, and so on.

In this way, if you are attempting to decrease your budget, then you might need to dispose of certain “desires” that you already have, for example,

• Cell telephones

• Internet

• Cable

• Netflix

• Gym enrollment

• A Car

• Toys

• Going out to eat

Currently, some of these things like the internet or mobile phone are considerably more critical to individuals who need these things to work. The key here is to assess what you really NEED.

Spending on desires is alright. However, it’s everything about being realistic with your spending and your pay. Nobody ought to stray into the debt for something they don’t truly require so as to survive.

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