We have all been there. It is 9:30 PM, you are exhausted from a long day of meetings and dealing with life, and you find yourself endlessly scrolling through Amazon, outfit inspo feeds on Instagram, or Wirecutter articles for gear. If only you get that one more sweater or a slightly different water bottle or the new cool device, your life will be slightly more complete. There’s that gnawing need to get something.

You can call it materialism, boredom, or a lack of self-control, but I actually challenge you to a different experiment.

How do I stop spending money on things I don’t need?

To stop spending money on things you don't need, you need more than just self-control. The constant urge to buy more is often a craving for creativity. When you lack an active creative outlet, the human desire to engage with and change your environment takes the path of least resistance: consumerism.

There's a concept in psychology on the need for agency, which talks about the innate human drive to interact with, master, and change our environment.

If neglected, it takes the path of least resistance - consumerism.

Buying a new rug or sweater gives an immediate and frictionless way to exert control over your environment. The real response to that need is being creative and making something.

Here is how to intercept the urge to buy and redirect it into the urge to make:

  1. Recognize the misdiagnosis: The next time you find yourself aggressively searching for something you suspect you don’t actually need, pause. Ask yourself: Am I looking for something I need, or am I looking for someone to become? Buying stuff won’t give you the latter.
  2. Move stuff around IRL: You don't need to make a masterpiece to be creative. Sometimes, the craving is simply to show agency over your physical space. Move some furniture, clear your desk, bake a pie, or write down (by hand!) the lyrics of a song you like.
  3. Make something terrible: Creativity is often blocked by perfectionism. Purposefully paint a terrible watercolor. Make a 30-second portrait of your dog. Draw your house or apartment building from memory.
  4. Set a big goal: Sometimes picking an overwhelming goal is what you need to change a habit. Set out to write a novel by writing ~600 words per day over 100 days. Make an insanely detailed drawing on a big piece of paper over days and days. Commit to writing 100 blog posts without an LLM. Build a video game. Pick an audacious goal and work on it every day.

Go make a mess. Commit to making one creative act every day, whether it’s for 10 minutes or a couple hours. Start your streak today.