Is Buying Really the Solution?

Defining your "needs" and "wants" can help you declutter your home and life. Shutterstock

Often when we want to solve a problem or make some kind of change in our lives, we’ll go out and buy something:

• We want to get organized, we’ll buy containers or folders or closet organizers.
• We want to lose weight, we’ll buy diet food or an exercise machine or a gym membership.
• We want to help the environment, we buy green products.
• To get out of debt, we’ll hire a financial planner or new financial software.
• We want to save gas, we buy a gas-efficient car (perhaps a hybrid).
• We want to start new hobby, we’ll buy new materials or equipment.
• We want to do almost anything, we’ll buy new clothes for it (workout clothes, work clothes, yoga clothes, dressy clothes, hip clothes)
• We want to make our house look better, we’ll buy new furniture or decorations.
• We want to be cooler, we’ll buy new gadgets. Or cool T-shirts.
• We want to improve our lives, we buy new books on different topics.

I could go on, but you get the picture.

But buying is not the solution. Or at least, it rarely rarely is.