I looked up the average salary in NYC out of curiosity and I make well above the average there.
but I live extremely cheaply and part of that is the lessons I learned as a child. I could afford a much bigger house, much nicer cars, more toys. I choose not to.
I know people who will finish paying off a vehicle and turn it in for another one. Not essential.
Just because someone _feels_ as though something is important doesn't mean that it is. The difference between middle class and poor is that poor has to deal with reality, middle class gets to keep the delusion that things like nice cars are essential.
These people are choosing not to move. It's great that they can afford it but maybe they should stop complaining vociferously about how victimized they are for choosing to live in that area.
Good, then nothing is essential and we can stop worrying about whether something is essential or not and go back to talking about desirable.
You may try and argue some of the grey areas, but most of the things you listed are _clearly_ not essential, they're desirable by specific people, as you said.
(personally speaking, like many people I have eczema, and my wellbeing tends to be diminished by having a scraped anus)
My mother has heart issues and she has a pump that's connected to her 24/7. She has a medical condition and so has special needs. I would not call that pump an essential but it certainly is essential for her.
The context of this conversation has been _in general_, my responses were never meant to apply to those with medical conditions.
to answer your question, a bidet is a nice to have, a toilet would be an essential otherwise you're shitting in the street, as you implied about downtown SF. Because toilet here does not mean literally toilet, but someplace reserved for using the restroom. When I go to the river to fish they have an outhouse there and I absolutely use it, as do construction workers with the mobile outhouses they employ.
defecating and urinating are absolutely essential activities, how you clean yourself afterwards needs to happen but any specific way of doing it is not essential.
But doing them in a toilet is not, unless we start expanding the definition of essential to include dignity and thriving.
buuut... well you know your response is bullshit.
hey guys, dontcha know the only essentials are death and taxes! otherwise you have to admit that a brand new car driven off the lot is also an essential!
yeah, ok...