to ask if you've achieved the nirvana of not wanting to buy stuff you REALLY don't want

[ClownsFear]

I have really want to buy all of the jellycat fruit and vegetables (these kind of things

https://www.gracegentle.co.uk/collections/jellycat-fruit-vegetables )

and display them in a massive basket. I really want them.

I don't need them and I don't really truly want them. If I bought them I'd waste a huge amount of money. I'd be happy for about a week and then I would just become stressed out by the amount of dust they are collecting.

I frequently feel like this about stuff - not just stuffed toys, but random stationery, ornaments, strange furniture and often stuff posted randomly on MN. For example I saw recently a table shaped like a burger not this but a bit like this:

www.amazon.com/TAUODUYY-Decorative-Modelling-Material-Changing/dp/B0CL2CQTNS

I really wanted to buy it but same thing - know I don't really want it and it would just end up annoying.

I would have hoped by now I'd have grown out of this desire for junk stuff. I think it must be peak adult to not have this.

I suppose I'm better as I tend to resist but I want to rid myself of the urge to buy utter crapulous stuff I don't need.

How do you attain this state?

I moved house sixteen times in ten years, from house share to house share. That really helped me to stop wanting useless stuff - every time I thought about a purchase I'd be thinking about how much space it took up and how I would end up having to pack and move it!

I also used to covet 'alternative' fashions/objects, and then had a realisation that owning such things didn't make me quirky/alternative/interesting; it was just marketing/branding just the same way as any of the other types I was a bit snobby about (prosecco lifestyle, yummy mummy, etc)

Basically a lot of people are in endless rounds of buying stuff only to throw it away.

Out neighbours buy vast amounts of stuff each Christmas and then every summer they have a huge skip filled with other stuff . They don't even bother giving it away or recycling it.

I’m free of this and have been pretty much all my adult life because I lived in flats which cost so much to rent and had almost no space for clutter. Then I had kids and had even less space.

I read Marie Kondo when I had amother baby and it has stayed with me for a decade now. I got rid of so much stuff. Never regretted it for a second.

Not to be smug but I really hate clutter and waste and I actually find it difficult to find clothes / presents / or anything in shops I actually want (apart from food).

Came to say what @Newsenmum has said, it’s certainly stopped a lot of my unnecessary spending. Most of the time I completely forget about the basket of crap I have waiting on a tab on my phone

Oh no I really only want to buy stuff I need.

I'm more of a get rid of stuff person 😅

Honestly I'd live in a very bare house if I could.

@Mooda

My Mum works in a charity shop and I recently had the (dis)pleasure of seeing the lock up behind the shop, full of all manner of absolute pointless crap. Oh my god. Actually made me feel physically sick thinking how that must be replicated in about 10 charity shops in our town alone - and then what that would look like across the country. We humans are absolute dickheads aren't we.

Oh my god you are so right. Charity shops are so full of tatty old junk especially weird looking ornaments and things.

They make me really sad looking at the homeware, ornaments, pictures because probably every single one was bought for far far FAR more than it's now on sale for at 10p and were once a thing loved by a granny, uncle, aunt long since dead.

that's the thing though isn't it - a basket full of brand new fluffy amuseables is adorably cute. A 20 year old dust laden enjoyed for a bit then stuck in the attic basket of amuseables is tat to get rid of. just using this as an example - If they were all cleaned up and kept together as new they'd still be a nice thing but more likely they'd be shoved on a charity shop shelf as dusty old single items.

One mans treasured item is another persons land fill.

Think of all the things you really do want and need make a list with cost. Every time you are tempted to buy rubbish put the cost down but don’t buy you can get it later after you have thought about it.Add up all the things you didn’t buy and get the thing you really need. I used to buy clothes when my Mum died she had wardrobes of beautiful designer clothes and shoes that she didn’t need cost a fortune Luckily they fit me will not need to buy any for years but still want to So I sell something to buy something if neccessary otherwise I would be overwhelmed by stuff.

I find it helpful to think "so cool I really want it!" And then leave it at that. Don't actually act on the impulse, just leave it as a thought.

Also avoid temptation as much as possible. Unsubscribing from all marketing emails, Instagram, don't browse shops for window shopping etc etc

@ClownsFear

Learn to crochet...

Toft garden

Utterly addictive and cute (as are all their patterns). And the flowers, birds, animals… etc

You are so right people buy things they don’t need. I hate stuffed toys most or did when my kids were small. Then they hang on to stuff until it’s no good to anyone then dump it on the charity shops. I have worked for rich people who cannot part with all the crap they buy because it was expensive. They store it badly until it is nested in by rats and mice discoloured and no use to anyone and fill all available space for their relatives to get rid of Its madness use it or lose it recycle sell but for gods sake get rid So much waste and clutter and it will drive you crazy in the end

I was just going to say, do as I do and tell yourself why buy them when I could MAKE them! (Or something similar). I usually get about ten minutes into researching how exactly I might go about this before I think, oh fuck it I don’t want them that much after all.

Why the fuck would anyone want to buy vegetables they can't eat?

Just draw faces on the ones you can eat then peel that bit off when you want to eat them?

I live in a flat with two kids with no lpft or garage. No space for crap. One of the very few benefits of the housing crisis.

They are lovely. I just remember

• once I've bought them i will want something else.
• they will always be available
• it's literally just stuff. Dyed fabric with happy faces, not a really cute pea in a pod.
• someone just wants your money and they've invented something to swap for it

And I try really hard not to browse. Looking is the first step to buying. Discounts and time pressure is the next. All they marketing team need to do is catch you on a down day where you feel like you need a treat and then they have your money.

As a fellow maker the problem os that once you've made loads of stuff and given it away as gifts yu still have the urge to produce and nowhere to send it. Especially handmade that hasn't been tested to CE standards (which is a whole other thread!)

Who said anything about giving it away?!🤣

If she’d going to buy them, making them takes longer, more satisfaction and keeps you occupied instead of doing the scroll of doom

I'm a nightmare for things like this. However I have learned from my mistakes because I'm also a nightmare for buying things and leaving them in a bag in the bag of my wardrobe.
It's one area where online shopping is good for me because I hate paying for delivery so often I add things to my basket but when I see the extra I'm paying to actually receive it I don't bother buying.

When I had the realisation standing in a huge department store that everything I was looking at would end up in landfill one day.

@BrainWontWorkAnymore

Those are so cute but you aren't helping.
you are now showing me things I want to buy that also involves me doing work.
it's even worse!

Yes, I have. I mostly spend on experiences now. Not having much space and moving a fair bit helps. Soft toys don't interest me anyway. My vice is books.

I just do not see the point of buying crap like that. Yes, they are quite cute. So put a photo of them on your phone and look at it.

You don't need to own them. The space they would take up is worth more.

I buy basically very little. I don't think it is nirvana but it is definitely cheaper.

just look at this
https://www.toftuk.com/PD.aspx?product=garden/vegetables/-Broad_Beans_Kit
and you can even customise the colours of it.
but its £26. I can buy a jellycat for that without the hard labour :)
I then I'd be even more invested in the tat that is a bean pod because I'd made it - so even less likely to throw it out.

It'll make you feel good though

If you make useful things you can send them to Knit For Peace.

very lovely. but not helping.

This
https://www.toftuk.com/PD.aspx?product=gourmet//-Confectionery_Tin_Trio

and this

https://www.toftuk.com/PD.aspx?product=Animals/Beginner_Kits/-Rufus_the_Lion_Kit

and this

https://www.toftuk.com/PD.aspx?product=Animals/Beginner_Kits/-Mini_Piotr_the_Polar_Bear_Kit

@bergamotorange

If you make useful things you can send them to Knit For Peace.

I'm fairly sure some amateur crocheted beans by me would not class as useful.

Knit for Landfill in my case.