Luxury V Essential, ive pasted this from another thread, but would quite like to know what everyone else thinks but PLEASE, be nice

[MadCreamLady]

Ah, i can see this has moved on to necessity v luxury. That is really interesting.

Anna has said about computors and internet not being a luxury and actually, i tend to agree - we use ours for our business, such as it is, but we still need it. Then of course there is mumsnet , an evil necessity.

Car? I guess it depends where you live, if you can get to work on public transport, but yes, in some circs a luxury.

Dishwasher?? Are you MAD? absolute essential.

Sky or broadband? For me, a total luxury, ive never had either, dont want either really so my attitude towards that comes out of my not really wanting it. Some might, but i still think its a luxury.

Washing machine - nuff said

Tumble dryer - luxury, ours broke, we manage, although DP is nagging that we need one, im determined not to cave in. They are cheap enough to buy but too dear to run.

Central heating/adequate heating - essential

decent shoes for the children - essential, i only buy startrite/clarks or equivalent, even though sometimes i have to borrow to do so.

New clothing - luxury, i buy from charity shops and quite enjoy the challenge (its like my little hobby).

Holidays, hmmmm, now this is one i hesitate on - i was going to say luxury, but im not so sure actually. We have had our problems, finances nearly caused us both to break down - we did a SUN holiday (thankyou again chippy) and i try believe it saved our relationship, things have been so much better between us since then - so, no, not a luxury actually - it of course depends on the holiday.

Activities for the children - somewhere in between luxury and essential i think. My DD does ballet and adores it, i was really loathe to start it but she enjoys it so much - I don't think i would do anything else though.

Computor games - luxury (or are they?)

TV?? Id rather do without this than my computor, but Silent Witness is finished and i feel bereft, i got two doses of eye candy for the price of one there. Fecking crap story lines though

Meals out - luxury (we do this too much)

Take away - luxury, although they are never really that nice so its weird referring to them as a luxury

Nice bubble bath - essential for my sanity

hair cuts - luxury

oh and the list goes on and on....

Sure is!!! i had to reboot! So, at least we have established that the S is an essential part of internet life.

What i was TRYING to say was: That this thread is very interesting (congratulatory pat on back). Some people have exppressed at what others have thought of us luxury.

Solidgold did add a good category to, unnecessary!!

It all rides on semantics and how you wish to think of luxury V essential.

If you want to pare it back to the bare bones, then essential must mean anything that will sustain life. So, food and shelter then. Anything other than that would therefore, by definition, be considered a luxury.

However, we live in a society that does make other items "essential", cars - or at least some form of "Quick" transport. Computors, due to the way business is conducted these days.

Also, do you think of luxury as something you can have, but it is a "treat" or do you consider a luxury to be something that you really shouldnt have or even want?

For instance, some people have introduced microwaves as essentials, others have said that they are luxuries. I, for my own mad reasons, don't like microwaves, so don't consider them either a luxury or an essential.

Clothing, well, at the moment im a SAHM and i shop totally from charity shops, i do manage to look smart sometimes, but i have always been a bit of a scruffy mare and my work has never REALLY dictated that i look smart. So, clothes aren't that "important" to me, so i consider them a luxury - im quite ugly really so i can't see the point of trying to make a silk purse iyswim. IF i were, as a friend of mine is, very pretty i might consider, as she does, nice clothes and make up to be essential, even though they are quite hard up.

I guess we have to apply the question to how we view certain items to live our lives as apposed to whether they are really absolutely life preservingly essential.