An object’s usefulness should matter after novelty leaves.

Novelty flatters everything for about a month. After that, an object has only its actual usefulness to stand on, and most things bought for their newness have very little left at that point. The real question about anything is what it will be worth to you once you have stopped noticing it.

Give wanting a delay. A few weeks between the impulse and the purchase filters out most of what was only novelty, and the things that survive the wait tend to be the ones you still like years later.