Friday evening. Work is finally done, dinner is eaten, and there isn’t much energy left for anything. You sit down on the sofa and pick up your phone.
Between friends’ photos and funny videos, an ad appears. A nice sweater. Headphones. One more thing for the home.
You don’t really need it. But you like it. You open it, read a little, pick a colour.
“Oh well, it was a hard week. I deserve it.”
A few taps, and now there is something to look forward to.
You check the order. A notification says it has shipped. Then that it is waiting in the parcel locker. You pick it up, carry it home, unpack it.
The thing is good. Exactly what you ordered. Only somehow the feeling is shorter than you expected.
Has it ever happened that waiting for a purchase gave you more joy than the purchase itself?
Sometimes we put a small promise to ourselves into the shopping cart, too. With this mug, mornings will be cosier. With new sportswear, we will finally start moving. With a nicer lamp, evenings at home will look like the ones we see in other people’s photos.
But on Monday the alarm rings again, work is waiting, and the new thing slowly becomes just one more thing.
Of course, treating yourself isn’t bad. A purchase can bring joy and serve you for years. But it is worth noticing when a new parcel arrives after every harder week, even though what you wanted most was to sleep, meet a friend or have an evening with no obligations at all.
Maybe next time it would be enough to leave the item in the cart until morning. Rest, and see whether you still want it.
You don’t have to keep something in the cupboard just because you regret the money spent. If it didn’t fit into your everyday life, it may be useful to someone else.
Headphones you put on only a few times. A board game that never got its group together. A kitchen gadget you only ever take out to reach the pot standing behind it.
On Findings you can list them for sale or give them away, for free. Listings are shown on a map, so it is easier for someone living nearby to find what they are looking for and arrange a pickup.
And the space that frees up doesn’t have to be filled with the next purchase straight away.
Good to know