How do you stop yourself wanting all the things?

I would try and focus on how nice it would be to feel peaceful and calm, and how wanting and acquiring stuff is actually stressful in comparison. This is what I try and do.

I’m exactly the same. I find it hard to find things I genuinely want to buy for my children. So much plastic tat that I don’t want in my home or their lives. Toys not quality anymore. Sad.

My advice is to keep it simple. Christmas is not about tat from China.

Go to a charity shop and buy your fill of Christmas tat for a few quid, then donate it all back next year. That's what I do. Baubles are 10p each, mugs 3 for a quid, Christmas jumpers and PJs £2.

We are planning to move to Spain next year and have started declutterrating in preparation.
the idea of adding to what we have is horrifying

Yep we do this. Our girls get to each pick a new Christmas decoration each year, and when they leave home they can take them all with them if they want.

They also get a Christmas jumper and pj's each year as they for some reason like to match (I'm definitely not into children matching) and then I donate old ones to PTA jumper sale. I fully acknowledge this is a waste of money, but they rarely ask for 'stuff" so I agree yo this as it's important to them

Yes 😁

I do this by taking pictures of the thing I want. If I find myself looking longingly at the picture a few days later, maybe I do really want it, as opposed to just because it’s there in front of me and instant dopamine in the moment. Doesn’t always mean I end up buying it, and it’s certainly stopped me buying anywhere near as much in the moment!

Note, ‘want’ not ‘need’… I’ve reluctantly accepted there is very little I actually need after many years of buying stuff just because!

I don't get the whole Christmas Mugs/PJs etc thing so I am probably the wrong person to ask. I think of the money I am wasting on it and the hassle of storing it.

And bin the almost identical stuff from last year? Then bin the new stuff this time next year in order to buy yet more very similar stuff?

I think I actually cured myself of this because I never want anything anymore unless it’s practical. I used to look at pretty things and feel a yearning in my belly.

What I did was tell myself I don’t need to own everything I love, I can take or save a picture of it. Or just appreciate that it’s out there in the world being a nice thing. It didn’t take long at all for me to stop bothering even saving images.

I think I know more about marketing now too, which kind of breaks the spell.

I don’t buy any of them.

Buy it buy it buy it 🥳🎅

I get it OP - I grew up pretty poor and have never had a lot of spare cash. I dont have that much now but I'm divorced with no kids at home so there's nobody to answer to if I want to buy something that makes me happy - and nice things do. I'm not a big fan of Xmas themed everything but I'm a sucker for candles, books and stationery.

However I also live in a tiny house so that does limit me because where would I put it all? I ruthlessly decluttered when I moved here and 99% of what I have now is either useful or something I love. So if I'm tempted by something new I do tend to see whether it fits either of those and also ask where I will put it or what I will have to get rid of (generally to a charity shop or give away not bin) to make space for it.

I absolutely get you OP.
I take pictures of all the stuff I want so I can think it over. If I still want it in a few days/weeks, I might buy it. But 99% of the time I have forgotten about it.

And I definitely don’t need a gravy boat that looks like a Christmas pudding, just because it’s Christmas (Aldi).

It’s all so hard to resist the fabulousness isn’t it. I find I want stuff that I’d have never even thought of until I see it x

I used to be like this with pretty much most things - Christmas decorations, mugs, candles, clothes, lipstick, etc.

I’m about 90% cured. I still do occasionally buy a new skirt in 3 colours because I like it, but I will never again buy Christmas decorations. I still like to browse them, but I remind myself that they’re clutter and a waste of money.

My other tricks are to keep a photo of it, transfer your money to a savings account, leave something in your basket rather than ordering it, unsubscribe from email alerts, and I don’t follow any “bloggers” who try to convince us that we need all this tat, e.g because it’s Christmas - we don’t NEED a sparkly handbag or a sequined bolero

But why do you want the things?

Will they actually bring you joy? Will you use them? Are they quality items that you can reuse next year (and reduce next year's spend), or are they cheap tat that will be in the bin the day after Boxing Day? Can you even afford them?

They look pretty and shiny and appeal to some basic instincts

recognise that, enjoy looking and you will
be fine

It is all so relentless, shopping channels running day, and night, encouraging us to buy fancy, expensive face creams that promise the earth. liquid soap, hairdryers that cost hundreds, because they have a wand that comes with it. It is insane.

It’s not only about the wealth though, I can afford to IF I wanted too. But I don’t. I hate clutter, I’m a minimalist, I only buy what I need now. I have everything I want.

Charity shops are full of Christmas stuff too at this time of year - I volunteered on Monday and sold lots of decorations, mugs, toys, jumpers. All second hand. You can scratch your consumerist itch a little more ethically.

Ask yourself what is making you want all the Christmas tat. I'm quite old and when I and my children were children it wasn't a thing to have Christmas jumpers, pyjamas, bedding etc. You might get a new jumper or pyjamas as one of your Christmas presents but they wouldn't be Christmas themed and you could wear them at any time in winter. We still had fantastic Christmases!

Tell yourself you're being manipulated by clever marketing to think you need the stuff, most of which will have been made in a sweatshop in China.

If you cannot resist then do as pp has suggested, buy one beautiful expensive glass bauble every year which will last a lifetime.

I only buy things that are seasonal now if they hit the long term criteria:

1. Love it. Not just like it. Love it.
2. Is quality and will last
3. I already know where I can store it for the rest of the year

Otherwise I don’t bother.

Try and see that we are constantly being marketed to and manipulated into consuming.

I'm very in to second hand buying but I still get a dopamine hit from a vinted purchase!