Do we Really Need This?

Today’s post was a contribution from one our most committed readers - Howard Fischer.

It was only a beach towel, drying on a wooden rail wooden rail outside our motel room. Since we were on a beach vacation, we needed to replace it. Off we went in search of a new towel. 

Know this: my wife and I are Social Security adults. 

• Economic condition: stable. 

• Living space: reasonable, though we are on the “downsize” side of life.   

• Spending habits: disciplined. 

And yet, this pilfered towel surfaced an issue that neither of us saw coming.

See, the swiped towel had a match. But there was zero chance of finding an identical substitute. We looked through the assortment of candidates, and the two of us considered that maybe—just maybe—we should get two towels…matching! The unstolen towel? Well, we’d give it a proper home with our other orphaned linens, sure to help out when rains or spills or floods might visit.

So we purchased two towels, and they sort of matched. An extravagance, I guess. In our younger, tight-money days, we certainly would not have gotten two towels. “One is needed, one is what we’ll get.”

But because we could afford two, we got two. We have space for two, so we got two. 

It seems that in this time of life I need to grow a new muscle, one to replace the “we cannot afford it” monster that long gripped my wallet. “Economics” was once such a handy reason for not buying things. Nowadays my credit card is used to being seen in public, and it more freely flits about to gather this and that. 

We really don’t need this and that so much. 

The two of us took a walk later that day. And lo and behold, we saw the kidnapped towel discarded in an alley. Did we retrieve it? You bet we did! 

And now we have four stupid beach towels, a reminder that just because we can get more does not mean we should get more.