Necessity is defined as being indispensable or required.
Luxury is defined as extravagant living.
In trying to "cut the fat" and live as simply as we can to get out of debt it has really made us consider what can do living without. It has surprised me what I once thought of as a necessity but I can look at as more of a luxury.
What has brought this to the forefront of my thoughts was my shampoo.
I have a salon shampoo that I love to use. Years ago I decided a way to use salon shampoos and rotate it with a bargain shampoo. The salon shampoos last me about two years. I considered this a necessity. That is until after I purchased it the other day, and realized that was $20 in our household budget that could have went to something else. I haven't opened them yet, I keep debating taking it back. Knowing me I probably won't return it. I feel really guilty about it.
Back when we first started I saw lots of foods that I bought for snack or whatnot as luxuries. One of these was bananas. I love bananas. However, as a snack food they are an expensive item to sit around the kitchen and sometimes go bad because they were forgotten (although super rare at my house since my children devour them). have you ever looked at the cost of a single bunch? Most ran between $3 and $4. That is a lot of my food budget for a snack item my children devoured the moment they saw them.
My husband loves single use drink mixes for his water bottles at work. Granted I love to get them for him because 1- he drinks more water, 2- doesn't and isn't tempted to buy soda pop from the vending machine, 3- they are sugar free and therefore aren't adding the weight on. But at the cost of the packets it was eating into our food budget. Our compromise is that I make a pitcher of a flavor up and fill his water bottles to take it with him. It isn't perfect. It is barely working.
What are some things that you use to see as necessities in your life, but working on getting out of debt has changed your perspective?
My next question is at what point can we add these things back in our lives? Living without some of these things for over a year now, it is really hard mentally denying yourself of any luxuries.
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