LOL, interesting that you mention that 003, it reminded me a few years ago when I bought loads of books and audio CDs in an online store from Germany called zweitausendeins (check it out, they have great prices) and I ended up buying stuff I would never read or listen too. So a poor deal after all.
I like to bake, sometimes from a mix, sometimes from scratch. If I see a bunch of holiday themed cake mixes and frostings on sale at Walmart for 25 cents or 50 cents, I almost always buy them. I suppose this counts as something I don't need because nobody needs to bake a cake. It's more of a want than a need.
I'm not one for buying foods I don't need.. because I don't really like the foods that I don't need lol. Junk food tastes terrible when you're not used to it anymore! lol. I save my unnecessary purchases for other categories
I can only afford to buy absolute essentials right now but I'm pretty sure that buying things I didn't need got me into my current mess! Thankfully, I've got into new habits and can hopefully keep these up as my financial situation improves.
I used to think that sports go under the things that we do not need, but in reality we really do need to buy affordable things to allow us to do some exercise. Sporting goods, like a treadmill, basketball, stuffs that we might not be using all the time, might be really useful. They cost more, and some require maintenance, but these sporting goods are necessary things. Another one is musical instruments, like the piano and the guitar. They are not really needed all the time, but we do need them on occasions.
I'm notorious for buying things because they are cheap or on sale... but we forget cheap things add up and become very expensive at the end! The thing I'm doing now that is giving good results is leaving my credit cards at home and just getting them out when I really need to pay for something big.
I am so guilty of this. My son loves Mario from the Super Mario Bros. If I'm anywhere and see anything with Mario on it, it automatically goes in the cart. And it's really bad with t-shirts. Just about everyone that he owns has Mario's big face on it. He has the Mario shoes, sleeping bag, wallet, watch, cap, posters, lunch box, cups, plates, snacks, curtains, towel, bed sheets, pillows, and the list goes on and on. He even has 2 plush Mario's that he carry with him everywhere.