To secure a contented spirit, measure your desires by your fortune, and not your fortune by your desires.

Contentment is a ratio, and you can work on either side of it. Most people only ever push on the income, which moves slowly and tends to be matched by a corresponding rise in what they now expect. Adjusting the other side is immediate and free, and it is not the same as giving up: it is deciding what you want on purpose rather than by drift and advertisement.

Write down the three things you currently think you need. For each, ask whether you wanted it before you saw it, and drop the one that fails, at least for this month.