How do you stop yourself wanting all the things?

This is exactly how I feel. It’s why going into shops at all makes me feel anxious hence I avoid it as much as possible.

I try really hard not to buy useless crap but then I see necessities like this and I have to buy it

I have no problem not wanting those particular things- I have the same Christmas decorations as I had 15-20 years ago and it wouldn’t occur to me to buy new seasonally-themed items for Christmas,Halloween, Easter just because it suited some marketing executive’s strategy to get my money. I do struggle with wanting better furniture and high quality renovations in my house, however, but no amount of wanting is going to conjure up the thousands of pounds my plans require. So I have no choice but to wait and save and plan and do it bit by bit!

Personal finance/money management experts often recommend having a good audit/declutter of what you currently own as a means of keeping your desire to buy more in check. I found this was a really good method (during lockdown especially). Also, giving your possessions some love - painting skirting boards, polishing furniture, pressing clothes, whatever- can calm the wish to spend and have more.

I don’t like tat or extraneous items, so I’m not particularly tempted to buy lots of stuff.

I tell myself I'm not going to buy a single thing until I've unpacked and reviewed what I have. When you accrue seasonal things it's easy to forget when you're out and about. I don't have landfill tat. I have dishes, decorations etc that I've built up over the last 25 years, and are carefully packed away each year. So even when I'm drooling over a gorgeous cake stand, or serving dish, I don't allow myself anything until I see/remember what I have.

I agree with the previous poster - warm check red or green tartan pj's will last all autumn winter and still look festive. I found some one year in a Ralph Lauren outlet, I bought them before I met my ex-husband and they are still perfect 23 years later! I also have tartan check warm bedding which looks very festive.

Table runners/napkins in tartan or red/green look festive on a dressed up Christmas table but also are functional for longer.

My son has had the same wooden advent calendar for the last 21 years. I just change the treats I put in it.

And I have family members just dying to get a hold of all my old Swarovski sample sale baubles. 😉

I just don’t engage with it at all. I don’t go shopping. I buy things I need from the internet. If I do have to go into a shop and happen to see these sorts of items, I’m not tempted to buy because they don’t appeal to me. So much stuff in the shops is poor quality. I’m not drawn to it. I’m not interested in candles or home furnishings or clothes. On the very very rare occasion that something catches my eye, I ask myself if I need it and if it is good for the planet. If the answer is no to either or both, then I don’t buy it.

I am similar, i was on a really tight budget for ages, so it wasnt habit to look at (unneccessary) things for myself because i wouldnt be able to afford it.
I think on a practical level if I already had stuff at home, unless it was getting old or tatty then Im not usually tempted to buy more.
I have some Christmas pjs, that I bought about 6 years ago (from Facebook market place, so not new) but i actually very rarely wear winter pjs so even if I liked a style of new ones, I wouldn't think it was worth it

To summarise the teachings of the Buddha “stop wanting stupid shit”

Im very lucky as there’s hardly ever anything I want.

If there is something I want then I usually don’t buy it straight away as I worry about spending the money (even if it’s only £3).

I regularly wait so long to buy something that it gets taken off the shelves and then I spend months kicking myself, looking all over eBay etc trying to find it - this happens multiple times a year and I still haven’t learnt my lesson!

I grew up very poor and my mum was a hoarder so I’m sure there’s something psychological going on but I just don’t tend to buy things unless they are practical.

I think most women do tend to buy unnecessary things.
Most men would be happy with a sofa and tv but women tend to need to fill the room with other bits.
Maybe it’s an evolutionary thing.

Oh watch out!

This is a lovely tradition which we did growing up BUT it was incredible how we all seemed to remember choosing the same ones as "ours" so make sure they are listed somewhere. You could do this as a tasteful "memories" list for each year, (2025: x chose this, y chose that) rather than obviously allocating them.

We got into such a bunfight my mother kept them in the end and we have to see them at her house, which works for now! It is about the only big squabble over things we have had as siblings - and I hate to think how the Christmas decorations will be shared out when my mum dies! I still have one in mind I just KNOW is mine and they all say it isn't!😡

I can't keep it up this proper made me laugh 🤣🤣

But she would have new sparkly stuff 😁

Unfortunately we're conditioned into believing that buying all the things equates to a happy Christmas.

Rubbish, throwaway society.

😂You win my MN favourite comment award for this week.

Actually, no second (behind a poster who cautioned that calling a girl Harris might open her up to nn Harissa.)

I don't own any Christmas-themed objects, but if I did, it wouldn't occur to me to buy new ones every year. If wanting stuff is really a problem for you, I'd suggest staying out of shops for the time being.

Over The years we collected a lot of stuff so a few years back I did a proper sort out. Invested in an expensive prelit huge trea that we love. Also went through the decor and kept the sentimental or expensive ones. Each year we add more but it’s one or two pricier items. If it’s genuine tat then leave it, but if it’s stuff that you will use again then go for it

Then she’d be a right twit 😁

I agree with this entirely. When I was younger and perpetually skint, I always wanted more whether it be clothes, gadgets, make up, household items etc. Now that I have enough money to buy whatever I'd like (within reason), I no longer feel the desire to buy things. I realised it doesn't actually make me happy, it's just a little dopamine hit which disappears as quickly as it came. I think a big part of wanting things is being unable to have them, or to have them sensibly. I now cringe when I think how I frittered money away on things I couldn't really afford when I was younger.

We have Christmas decorations, most of which we’ve had for years and we occasionally add to/replace but we don’t have any Christmas “stuff”

So no Christmas jumpers, PJs, bedspreads, crockery or mugs.

I always felt that buying small children a Christmas jumper every year which would then be thrown out was outrageously wasteful so my children didn’t get one until they stopped growing.

I don’t own one at all.

I do love Christmas - but Christmas shouldn’t be about stuff.

What is it that actually makes you want all that stuff though? Is it a feeling they’d make Christmas more magical for the family?

I honestly can’t imagine wanting all that. Family members bringing all the Christmas tat around for our kids is bad enough!

I feel like that OP, especially recently. Would love to be able to decorate for a really beautiful Christmas. I don’t have much Christmas stuff but I also have nowhere to store more. The lack of space and money stops me from buying anything, and I try to take my mind off the things by focusing on other life stuff until I forget about them.

I have a teenage daughter. I imagine the lovely throw / pyjamas / candle lying on her bedroom floor. As that is where it will end up.

Works like a charm!

No. It's clutter to me. I hate shopping this time of year.

De clutter your entire house. Oh my lord it takes forever and I'm not even a shopper. We get lots of tat gifts at Christmas it's really de valued the want to buy anything like that for me. Knowing I'll be sorting it out for hours re gifting binning charity shopping it.
I have no shopping apps on my phone and provably visit an actual shop every 4/5 months. You soon get out of the buying habit and don't even think about it.

I much prefer vinted and secondhand over buying new and it's cheaper on the whole. I also find having not much money helps 😂

I disagree - a materialistic person to me is someone who actually values wanting stuff above the important things in life, and who judges others on what they have