I consider myself a practical person. I try to be realistic purchasing things my family needs and doesn’t need. Although, my husband is completely the opposite and is always trying to get me to buy products/services I don’t think we need. It’s a constant struggle between us and one that I usually get the “cheapo” nickname for.

One recent example is the iPad, which I received from my husband for Christmas. I waited about 2 weeks before opening the box. I was struggling with the fact that we already both have iPhones, a desktop and a laptop computer at home. Why would we need a bigger glorified iPhone?

I finally threw caution to the wind and set up the iPad last night. I only had a chance to download a few apps, but I was completely and utterly sold within minutes. I had made the right choice. The apps on the iPad were so much cooler than on the iPhone and I immediately started thinking of ways we can make good use of the iPad.

My experience with the iPad really got me thinking about how amazing Apple’s products and marketing truly are to get us to purchase things we don’t really need. And look at Starbucks… do we really need a $5 coffee when we can get it for $1 at MacDonald’s?

The list of examples never ends. We basically live in a world of products and services that we don’t really need. But after all, I guess that is why they call us “consumers”.