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Comment by redhale | Hacker News Reader

I have found that adding things to a todo (Todist) list called "want-to-buy" gives me the little endorphin boost / anxiety relief without spending any money. I periodically go through and delete stuff from this list after time has passed, and I'm always glad I didn't go through with the purchases. Rarely I will come across something I truly do still want, and will purchase it.

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Similarly, I have a "no same day buy" rule. Usually I wait at least a few days and most of the time by then I don't need the item anymore.

One thing I would always buy right away is book recommendations. If someone recommends a book and it sounds interesting I just buy it right away even if I’m not sure that I want to commit to reading it or not. This helps keep my bookshelf filled with interesting stuff that I could still potentially read someday.

You'd probably enjoy "Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking", which has beautiful photography and possibly goes deeper into cooking than any other book. The main author was CTO at Microsoft back in the day, and another author founded a company that makes a thermometer with some pretty neat tech.

You should buy the Codex Leicester containing many of Da Vince’s thoughts, designs, drawings, etc.

;)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Leicester

I have a 10€/day rule: if I want to buy something that costs 120€, I have to be sure of wanting it for 12 straight days.

That doesn’t apply to emergencies, of course.

I feel the exact same way about Amazon lists and that's what I use them for. I wonder if that's why the "Add to List" button is somewhat hard to find, and if they regret the feature.

I lost my Amazon account and almost had a heart attack.

I do this as well, it’s especially good for media purchases like blurays and video games. Eventually there’s a sale or I just realize I don’t actually care or want to see/watch it any more.

I've been thinking about setting up a small website that lets you input what you wanted to buy, and after 24 hours sends you an email asking if you really wanted to buy/needed this.

Check out the chrome extension on the site! Helps ask you are you sure? before buying something on Amazon. Not on the chrome store yet but can be tested in dev mode.

Also see if you can make do. So many things when really thought about are unnecessary.

I do this with just an ever expanding notes file. Works!

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