Late last year, I posted on various social media asking what people would spend $50 on – but with the catch it has to be a want, not a need.

 

Want Not, Need Not?

 

 

Why A Want?

Personally, I have a lot of trouble spending “small” amounts of money on wants. I have focused so much on setting up “proper” finance “stuff” in recent years that i find it hard to spend money on wants. Kind of. For me, needs are paid for by my salary and on time. This means bills, food, medication. That pesky life stuff 😉 Wants will be purchased whenever I find something suitable at an acceptable price. Often wants are second hand. Acceptable price varies wildly depending on what the want is. A new bag, maybe $5. A new couch, more than $5! 

 

Responses

I’m not sharing details of responses I received on my personal Facebook or in groups because I did not intend to share the information, and I don’t have consent to. I did find it interesting that nearly every response was different. Which I actually think is great. It means people know themselves, which is only ever a good thing in my book. Weirdly, the responses on my Facebook Page were all needs, not wants, which frankly annoyed me and I couldn’t be assed replying. 

 

I didn’t post it fishing for ideas exactly – I have $50 I was given for my birthday sitting around unused because I don’t like to spend gift money on life needs. I’m glad everyone else has an easier time spending money on wants than I do though. I was going to get a Joby tripod second hand but someone beat me to it, and since then I’ve got no idea what to spend it on.

 

I also feel like this is an odd post to make without mentioning privilege somewhere. Yes, I can currently pay my bills on my salary. Not everyone can. It hasn’t always been the case for me either. If I was unemployed tomorrow, $50 would have different meaning. Do you think that when you finally have your needs taken care of, it’s hard to move onto wants? It’s not part of your brain and money make up?

 

What WANT would you spend $50 on?