An economy of desire, not necessity

What is the difference between needs and wants?" A need is something you have to have to survive or complete a task. A want is simply the desire for something, in many cases something to satisfy a need. You need food to survive. Quora

If the current shut-down of our economy has revealed anything to me, it is how many of my dollars go to what I desire - not what I actually need. For the past couple weeks, I have not visited these money-sucking places:

• Restaurants (OK, I still do take out.)
• Movie theaters
• Live theaters
• YMCA (membership costs)
• Sporting good stores
• Clothing stores
• Barber shops
• Recreational club meetings and events (socials before or after)
• Dentist for cleaning
• Book stores

and I have greatly reduced my trips to the grocery store and Big Box stores like Best Buy and Target. Given the delivery delays now in place, I've stopped impulse buying from Amazon. I purchase less gas for my car. I've not booked a tour, hotel room, or airline ticket for a month.

All which is healthy for my bank account, but probably not so good for the economy. What I have come to realize is just how few of my purchases in my pre-COVID19 life were for needs, rather than for my first world wants. And I am realizing just how much of the US economy is based on wants, rather than actual needs.

Perhaps it is easier for an older person to adopt to this new spending pattern. I think of how little shopping and eating out we as a farm family did when I was growing up in the 50s and 60s. We almost never ate in restaurants (although we would hit A&W for an ice cream or root beer now and then.) Saturday night was "shopping night" in the small downtown. Dad cut my hair and the nearest bookstore was 40 miles away. We ate home-canned veggies and the freezer was full of meat from our own hogs, cattle, and chickens. We watched broadcast TV and checked out public library books. I changed the oil in my car and washed it with a garden hose. We had fewer "wants", I suppose, because fewer were available to us - not that we were morally superior.

As I do volunteer grocery shopping for a non-profit on Friday mornings, I shake my head at some of the orders placed by our clients. Low-sodium tomato juice accompanied by mixed nuts. Diet sodas accompanied by packages of candy bars. And lots and lots of "Healthy Choice" microwave meals. My own shopping list is nothing to brag about since fresh fruits and veggies make up less than a quarter of my own purchases. Make my own pot pie? You've got to be kidding! The supermarket's inventory must be 80% junk, 20% real food. Have we as consumers been brainwashed into these habits, or are the retailers only giving us what we want? 

Anytime there is a disruption in our lives, we have the opportunity to look at our habits and actions and beliefs from a new angle. This pandemic is certainly no exception. What do we actually need and what do we only desire? What "wants" could we give up spending our money on and instead put in the bank or give to charity? 

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On a side note, the state school library listserv has been debating whether school libraries should be finding ways to continue to check out materials to kids during the home-schooling shutdown. Concerns about the safety of the library staff weigh against the need for our students to have good reading materials at home. This was my little contribution... 

If we stop checking books out to kids (and staff) at this time, do we increase the chance of school libraries being seen as non-essential resources in our schools? Given ongoing budget constraints, too many library programs are already at risk, and now, if we no longer find ways to support our children and staff while they do distance learning, we may be putting ourselves in even greater danger. Do we come out of this pandemic more or less necessary for our schools in the eyes of students and staff, and especially our parents and administrators?