One of my pet peeves with western culture is the skewed ideas we have about want versus need. It’s to the point that we often use the words interchangeably. (“I need a new iPod – the old one’s broken.”). And I realize that I’m not a paragon of virtue when it comes to this – particularly when it comes to electronic gadgets, and to a lesser extent kitchen gadgetry. So I was interested to come across this survey on what Americans consider wants versus needs. The results weren’t particularly surprising but it’s an interesting framework for me to review my own ideas of wants and needs using the same items they do:
Car:
Anyone who knows me knows we are coming up on our fifth year of living without a car. I would say transportation above and beyond one’s shoes is almost definitely a necessity anywhere in most of North America. If I worked exclusively from home or in the neighbourhood I could go without transit or a bike.
That said, for me, and I would say the majority of Torontonians, cars are not necessary on a daily basis. Transit is good (but we still like to complain), cycling is possible most of the year, and there are at least two car sharing services for those who occasionally need to drive somewhere. I do, however, rent a car every once in a while. There are times I have a client out of town in an area not served by transit. There are other times where I visit people (trips to Vermont and Missouri come to mind) where again, it is next to impossible to travel without a car.
My verdict: I need cars in my life but not on a daily basis.
Clothes Washer:
We have never lived without one. Technically, I suppose it would be possible to live without one but I suspect the additional time required to clean our clothes would be prohibitive.
My verdict: Definite necessity
Clothes Dryer:
We live in a highrise without a balcony now. Indoor drying is possible but not particularly efficient. When we lived in the yurt we would sometimes hang our clothes out when we did laundry at the house on the land. When we quit using their washer and started going to town, drying our clothes outside was not easily done and we quit doing it.
My verdict: Virtual necessity. Sure we could live for a short time without one but it would be difficult. Were we to move to a house with a small yard, though, we’d give it a try.
Home Air Conditioning:
Again, living in a highrise, with windows that open no more than a couple inches each, I think I’d probably say that on many summer days, this is a necessity. Again, were we to move to ground level, I would say that I could most likely live without it on most summer days. Sage, however, would strongly disagree.
My verdict: Necessity in a highrise, less so in a ground-level house. That said, it is required for familial harmony.
Microwave:
We’ve lived with one more than we’ve lived without one. That said, if we moved to a home that didn’t have one built in we likely wouldn’t use it. We could do just as well heating things up on the stove.
My verdict: Not necessary but we have it so I use it.
TV Set:
The last time we owned a television would’ve been sometime in the early to mid-90s. Definitely not a necessity. It’s a little horrifying that 64% of Americans think it is a necessity. Explains a lot, really.
My verdict: Definitely not a necessity.
Car air conditioning:
I could probably live without car air conditioning as much as I use cars. Problem is, I feel like newer cars are designed with the assumption that you have AC. Try driving a new car at highway speed with windows open and forget about conversation.
But for me, if I fly to another town, and just need a car to travel 5 min to a client site fro the hotel, I don’t need it.
My verdict: Not necessary for my life.
Home Computer:
Well, three of us share four computers and lots of ancillary hardware. It plays a huge role in our lives and is necessary from the standpoint that I need one to work and pay the bills. We could probably do without it but the lifestyle change would be large.
My verdict: Necessary to maintain current lifestyle. I’m sure we could live without it if necessary, though. I lived for the first 20 years of my life without my own computer, after all.
Cell Phone:
Necessary for work (and they provide one) and really nice to have but as we have demonstrated on the many occasions when our batteries ran out, not necessary. It’s a convenience.
My verdict: Needed for work, very nice to have otherwise but not necessary.
Dishwasher:
This one’s like the microwave for me. We have one so I use it. Sage doesn’t use it much at all, preferring to use the racks of the dishwasher as a large dish drain for hand-washed dishes.
My verdict: I have it therefore I use it but definitely not required for our lives. If we were to move somewhere without one we would be unlikely to miss it
Cable/Satellite TV:
See television, above.
High Speed Internet:
It is a definite necessity for work, and a necessity for Sage’s podcast. That said, we lived for a long time without it. Were it not required for work, we could probably make it work. Once a year or so I go to visit Sage’s mom and live without it and I definitely miss it when I’m back at 24kbps dialup speed.
My verdict: Not necessary in theory, but almost required for our lifestyle now.
Flat Screen TV:
Oh come ON – 5% of Americans need this?
iPod:
Hard to believe that 3% of people need this but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. I have one, Sage has an mp3 player and we are very glad to have them. Were they to vaporize tomorrow we could live without them.
My verdict: Not necessary
It’s an interesting exercise to go through that – to see what is necessary and what isn’t – to question our own consumption not just of money but of time and how we spend it. I have a few observations:
Our lives would be rather different if we didn’t live in a highrise. Maybe someday we’ll try it. Moving is a huge pain in the butt, and there are environmental advantages to living like this (for example, we rarely turn on the heat – others in the building turn theirs on and so we get warm because we’re surrounded by them.) I really like the idea, though, of living at or near street level – the ability to have a yard, garden, dry our clothes outside, and very high on the list to hop on the bike and head out. Right now depending on the elevator wait, it can be 5-10 min from the time I lock our front door to when I get outdoors.
Electronics obviously rule our lives. I’m going to try to change this one a bit this year. Call it a new years resolution if you must but I’m really going to try to avoid buying any new electronic gadgets (cell phones, computers/accessories, mp3 players, cameras, etc) in 2009. I’m also going to skip purchasing new electrically operated kitchen gadgets. I am happily using all of the ones we have now but I don’t need any new ones.
I could add a few things of my own to the list that are borderline necessities that they don’t even ask about. Books are high on the list and by association, a good library system is almost 100% necessary. Living in a small town with a tiny library that only allowed us to take out 4 books was a royal pain and resulted in us eventually getting a card at a library an hour away that had a much larger system that let us each take out 50 items. I’d also say that another near-necessity would be spices. That would be the thing that would kill the 100 mile diet for me. You mean I’d have to give up cumin, coriander, sichuan pepper, black pepper, most salt, and so on? Even if I were to eat locally I couldn’t give those luxuries up.
So what about you? What are your needs?
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