wants vs. needs

As part of my new years resolution to live a more Godly life, I'm going to start examining my wants vs. my needs with both my money and time. Some things of course are so obvious you could just stamp "DUH!" right on them, but other things require real thought and honesty. Before I commit to any purchase or activity I'm going to ask myself what will happen if I don't buy this or do this? Will I later regret having spent money on this or my time doing this when I could have put the money towards something else or spent the time doing something else? How will I feel if I do decide to buy this or do this? I can use these questions for everything from watching TV at the end of the day when there is nothing decent on to watch, to the activities I commit the kids to, to those little impulse purchases or purchases just because "it's a gift-giving type of holiday" that over the long run add up to good amounts of money. I feel this is especially important now that we are about to have 6 kids, we are homeschooling, I'm going back to school, and Jeremy is working hard in a very unstable economy. It's time to simplify and streamline my life, and I think this is a great way to start that process.