I'm enjoying following that advice. We have no mortgage, no credit card debt, no car payments, no debt at all. If I want it, I can buy it, but that means there is no thrill in buying the trash that commercials are trying to sell us. "Man does not live by bread alone". We are not denying ourselves anything we desperately need or want, but neither are we defining our lives by the stuff and toys we accumulate. My life is centered on my wife, my kids, and my friends - and, as you say, that is as it should be.
Nice feeling, isn’t it? Serenity.
Knowing the simple difference between, need and want would serve many people well. But too many people see everything as a need and that attitude is followed by debt.