If you’re shopping to fill a hole, you’re pouring water into a bucket with no bottom.

Buying something does lift a mood, which is exactly why it gets used for feelings it was never built to hold. When the ache underneath is loneliness or boredom or a rough week, the new thing works for an hour and then the ache comes back with a receipt attached. No object can close a gap that was never about objects.

Before you order the next thing, name the feeling first. Wait a day and see whether you still want it. If the wanting disappears along with the mood, you learned something useful for almost nothing.