How to Stop Wanting to Buy New Things | Minimalism

One video I made a while ago was how to stop wanting to buy things, and I wanted to sort of revisit this idea, but specifically talk about upgrading, replacing, and just buying things we don't necessarily need. This list will basically be a few things I wish I knew when I first got into minimalism and frugal living, and how they were, and frankly still are, keeping me from bringing new things into my life, and spending where I don't need to. But first, if you're new to my channel, thank you for stopping by. Here we talk about minimalism, frugal living, tech, and things of that nature. So if that sounds good to you, and you end up liking the video, be sure to like, and please emote on the subscribe button. Let's get started. The first tip I have here is stop browsing for fun. This was something that was easy for me to dismiss because I didn't realize how much I actually did it. I remember just casually browsing on Amazon or the Nintendo eShop to see what was on sale, and once in a while I would come across something that wasn't even on my radar for purchase, and I had zero desire for when I opened up that shop. But whether it was just a really good deal, or something I was convinced would bring me some temporary joy, it was enough for me to sometimes buy it. I had a moment of clarity during one of these sessions, and I really just asked myself why I was even browsing on one of these places in the first place. Shopping seemingly seems to be disguised, or not even disguised, as a hobby these days. So once I realized that all these websites and places that want me to spend were literally designed to be fun and make spending more enjoyable, ultimately I learned that browsing for new things and shopping for fun really just isn't that fun. Remember that wanting things is often about emotion, not usefulness. And when I say emotion, in my experience it's usually about coping with some sort of boredom or stress. Boredom creates fake problems that spending feels like it might be able to solve, and stress feels like it can be temporarily numbed by buying something that might spark a moment of joy for me. I needed to learn that obtaining new things really wasn't a good way to deal with any sort of emotional problem I might have been facing. What it took for me to personally turn this around was just to simply separate my wants versus needs and make sure pretty much any decision emotionally wasn't really a good idea. You know it's been a while since I had a random intermission in a video and just thanked you guys for watching, and I feel like it's way overdue, so thank you guys for watching. Let's get back to it. Reuse your favorite things intentionally. This is a point I'm actually really excited to talk about, because revisiting my favorite things a few times a week, or even if it's just a couple times throughout the year, has in some cases felt like I'm rediscovering them all over again. This basically applies to anything that I own from games, to clothes, to tools for work. But I think a key part of this was realizing that the novelty of new things fades pretty quickly, and that getting more time and use out of my favorite things only deepens my appreciation for them. Part of this appreciation comes from when I discovered Wabi Sabi, which is a philosophy that embraces imperfection and wear. That taught me to love stains or tears that accumulate on my clothes or backpack, to the dents or scratches on some of the other things that I use daily. It really just makes me feel like I'm getting my money's worth when my favorite things are getting used more intentionally, and it makes me appreciate them a lot more. Remember that novelty fades fast. I kind of just brushed over this, but let me elaborate for a minute. I think this applies more to spontaneous or impulse purchases, but I'm sure we've all had scenarios where we purchase something and the novelty or excitement fades rather quickly. That in itself kept me in a loop of buying things, always chasing for that short-term excitement, and that would lead to basically instantaneous buyer's remorse. When I think about all my favorite things that I use often, all of those items had a lot of thought and even waiting periods behind them, and that helped me make sure I wasn't making this purchase for the short-lived excitement or novelty. Moving forward, I recommend just paying a little bit more attention to purchases to see if they actually have intentionality behind them. Create a routine that doesn't revolve around consumption. This one can be pretty simple or complicated depending on your current routines. What I mean by that is that I, over the years, curated a routine that ultimately avoids constant spending and always wanting to buy things. I know for me, I was always most vulnerable and spending prone when I had no hobbies or projects going on during those periods of my life, and it's pretty easy to be convinced that having any sort of fun or beginning any hobby requires some spending to just get started. And to be fair, to a certain degree, it might. I've talked dozens of times about free things or nearly free things to do, but this point is more about trying to reduce or eliminate the triggers in your routine that lead to consumption. Whether that's eating every day at a restaurant or going all-in on gear when you're just trying out the new hobby or activity. Things like walking, reading, drawing, cozy gaming, cooking, exercising, listening to music, or just organizing your space. These create satisfaction without feeding those consumer cravings. Realize that owning fewer makes your favorites stand out more. To me, this is one of the unmatched best things that came out of decluttering and becoming a minimalist. One important thing decluttering taught me was that owning fewer things magnifies how much I like or appreciate something. This might also just be a problem with my attention span, but when I was buying new and more things, it just felt like my attention was being constantly divided amongst these new things. And I hypothesize that one of the reasons I felt like this is because my current things never got the chance to feel important or useful for me. I really think a good way to look at this is to think about before we were adults who had jobs and spending money, and maybe we were just more open to using things we already had because we couldn't just drive somewhere and buy a new item. But getting back on track, when I initially decluttered my life, I learned that for the most part, all my most important items can fit into a backpack. And when I didn't have to focus on excess items, I could just focus on the most important ones. This would absolutely keep me from wanting to buy new things because I simply wouldn't even be thinking about it anymore. I would be happy with the These were just a few tips on how I pretty much eliminated the urge to constantly want to buy new things, and I hope you gathered some value from this video. Let me know if anything specific resonated with you or if you have some of your own tips to share. Anyways, as always, I appreciate the time you spend here and I appreciate you watching. If you did like this video and you like this type of content, be sure to like and consider subscribing to my channel, and I'll see you next time.