To control your spending, understand your desires. Not the desires for a bigger X or more luxurious Y, but the “missing piece” you think the X or Y will fill.

Odds are this missing piece was never for sale anyway. Only by finding it and naming it and extricating it from the grasp of your subconscious will you a) spend less and b) be happier.

Sure, you can try to control excess spending without addressing the gap you thought the spending would fill. You can also try to fell a tree by pruning it. Pleasantly busy-feeling, even outwardly productive, but futile.