Very valuable point. People joke about 'retail therapy,' etc. and I think this is a real problem, where buying things becomes an addictive habit used to escape negative feelings about other things. Its especially easy now that you can shop in an instant online from anywhere.
I think one way to combat this is to setup some rules- e.g. add non-urgent purchases to a 'cart' where you consider them for a week before actually buying, and don't ever buy non-essential things when you aren't feeling well emotionally.
This is why when you get deep into ideas about responsible money use, it ultimately ends up focusing on concepts like Stoic philosophy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), where you can work on reprogramming the internal narratives that lead to buying things you don't really need or possibly even want.
I think one way to combat this is to setup some rules- e.g. add non-urgent purchases to a 'cart' where you consider them for a week before actually buying, and don't ever buy non-essential things when you aren't feeling well emotionally.
This is why when you get deep into ideas about responsible money use, it ultimately ends up focusing on concepts like Stoic philosophy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), where you can work on reprogramming the internal narratives that lead to buying things you don't really need or possibly even want.