TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 NEED OR WANT (MONEY CONTINUED)

 TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2021 NEED OR WANT (MONEY CONTINUED)

Moving from Greed (yesterday) to Need/Want today.

It seems to be a pretty easy issue - need or want?

Need Definition:
require (something) because it is essential or very important.

Want Definition:

have a desire to possess or do (something); wish for. "I want an apple"

Sometimes we use the wrong word.  “I want an apple or I need an apple”!!

Okay, background story.  My 2012 car “needs” work.  (I don’t think the car can think and 

Say “Hey I want some servicing!!!”  Of course, my car does tell me it “needs” attention.  The “Check Engine” light has been on for months. (And it is a long and boring story).  I have had the car into a transmission shop, a regular car shop, and a dealer’s shop.  The message seems to be “hmmm - we think there is a short, it would take a couple of hours to find out what’s happening - maybe about $500 of work.  There are some other issues (like I have to use my key to open my driver’s door).  

So, I either “need” or “what” a newer car.  

Car salesmen (and other salesmen) sell the ‘want’.  They want to upsell - a more expensive, more powerful, bigger, and obviously more expensive (and more money for the salesman and for the dealership).  

For me, I “need” dependable transportation.  Yes, that is debatable in these days of Uber and Lyft.  I have friends who live in New York City that don’t have cars - don’t “want” cars and don’t “need” cars. I think I need a car.  I drive other seniors who don’t have vehicles (mostly because of finances), and there are those who don’t drive because possibly their children have determined that Mom (or Dad) aren’t competent to drive anymore.  

So, I “need” a full-size SUV!!  I “need” a BMW!!  I “need” a Tesla.  

I did look at a very efficient and reasonable vehicle last week that would meet my needs.  It was a manual transmission car with roll-down windows (remember those?)  So, I decided I “needed” a car with automatic transmission and power windows!!  I drove one like that but found that I also “needed” cruise control.  Yes, I can drive a manual transmission car; yes, I can roll down the windows; and yes, I can get by without cruise control.  So my needs are mixing in with my wants.  I did buy (or I think I did) a new 2021 car with power windows, automatic transmission, and cruise control.  I haven’t seen the car yet!!  (It had just arrived at the dealership and my salesperson took my phone and took a few pictures for me).  I did try the manual one and it seems about the right size.  

Other dealers tried to sell me bigger cars (for more money).  I am finding that 90% of the time I am alone in my car.  The other 10% I’m driving one of my senior friends and they can sit beside me in the front seat.  I don’t ‘need’ a car with more features (although there are features I would like (aka “want”) as some of the safety features.  For a few years, I have been telling myself that my next car would be an autonomous (or self-driving car).  I haven’t done any long-distance trips for years, but I am planning two (Arizona to visit my sister and brother-in-law), and to go to Wisconsin for a high school reunion for my first teaching job after college.  

I am already missing not having a CD player in the new car.  My phone has some songs and I can also use the Pandora app for more music for those long trips.  I can listen to audiobooks.  But my current car (for two more days) has a CD player that I like.

So, at what point do I “need” and I “want” overlap and become an issue?  

Well, Philippians 4:19 gives a Biblical answer: “And my God will meet all your NEEDS according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”  (I added the emphasis!)

*****

Personal Story:  As a kid, I ate breakfast cereal. I’m thinking I was about six or seven. At that time, there weren’t all that many options - and because of his TV presence, I ate Kellogg Frosted Flakes (with Tony the Tiger as spokesperson).  They had a promotion, send in three box tops and $1.50 for postage and handling, and you would get a deep-sea diver figure.  WOW - I wanted that.  I think I ate extra amounts of the sugar-laden cereal to get the boxtops and coerced my mother to send in the boxtops and the money and waited impatiently for the deep-sea diver figure to arrive.  After what seemed like ages, it did arrive.  WOW - I opened the package and there was a green figure of a man with scuba tanks on his back.  There was a flap on the bottom so I could put some baking soda inside the figure and it would “swim”!!  I couldn’t wait to take a bath.  This was going to be great!!!  Well, it was okay, but not great.  It just was a shaped plastic figure with some baking soda that interacted with the water.  Not worth the three boxtops or the postage and handling money.  Thinking back, it was a great lesson- not everything is what it seems on television commercials.  I really had wanted this dumb toy.  And, it was a disappointment.  I sure didn’t need this toy!!

*****

So, maybe I’ll have to buy the manual transmission with crank-up windows - that seems to meet my real needs!!!  (But, not my wants!!!)

More on money tomorrow!!!

LOVE WINS!!  

HUGS!!

Karen