this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

Last Thursday, when deciding how to spend my time while Bug was at school, the word "need" was popping up in my head an awful lot.

I NEED to go to Target because I NEED to buy Easter things for the boys and I NEED to buy them Easter clothes and I NEED to buy candy for the Easter Egg Hunt.


Right.

The boys love our sandbox in the backyard, but their shovels and pails are due for a replacement (i.e. they are all broken), so that was what would go in their Easter baskets.  And I decided that the basket itself would become a sand pail after Easter. I kinda sorta wanted to buy separate baskets for them to use for egg hunting (the old ones bit the dust last year after several years of use), but decided we certainly didn't need two baskets for each boy.  So, I pared down all the Easter things I wanted to a more reasonable list.

I quickly talked myself out of the Easter clothes.  Normally I get at least a new tie for the boys to wear to church on Easter (or make something), but this year I, ahem, uh, bought myself a new dress which didn't leave much money left for anything for them.  Plus, when I asked Bug if he'd like to go shopping for new clothes (something he normally thinks is pretty cool), he first said yes, but then changed his mind citing the fact that he could just wear his blue shirt and his blue tie for Easter. Fair enough. I still wanted something for them, but decided it certainly didn't fit into the need category.

The candy, I guess I could have done without.  The parents would probably not care if I filled the eggs with animal crackers or cereal, but I imagine the kids wouldn't be amused.  And it would serve me right when my boys managed to choose only our eggs and I ended up with a bunch of candy-less eggs.  At which point I would not be amused.  So, though it's not a need in the true sense of the word, I decided I needed Easter candy.

And, though it's further away, I still maintained that I NEEDED to go to Target and chose it over a certain other store.

The word "need" seems to pop up in my vocabulary an awful lot. What about you?  How do you filter between the genuine wants that you can easily survive without and the wants that you kinda-sorta need, but probably really don't?