Everything I Regret Buying in 2024

You’ve read enough gift guides. They’re all very good. They all highlight a different independent homewares maker, a status pen, and a sweater that is too expensive to be a gift. Gift guides are very good, but gifting itself is an inherently personal thing. These guides are packed with very great products and this is not an indictment on the products or their makers, or the writers, who take a lot of time. I just have a very hard time applying broad templates to unique people. All of my favorite gifts given and received and deeply personal, reflective of a present moment or feeling, and often times, were made specifically for the gift. Things like a paint by numbers of a honeymoon photo, a commissioned art piece of a dog, or an announcement of a baby. No affiliate links there.

However, I am someone that absolutely loves shopping. I genuinely enjoy going into as many stores as possible, scroll SSENSE like Instagram, and am constantly in a state of validation through consumption. While there’s probably a lot to unpack there, it means that I do typically purchase a lot of things in any given year.

So for my inaugural “guide” for the holiday season, I thought I’d share my biggest purchase regrets of the year…with a twist.

This list is not about the products themselves - they were mostly great - but rather each is a parable about consumer culture and the common motivations behind a purchase. My regrets are not in the purchases themselves, but more regretting WHY I bought them in the first place.

Hopefully it can provide some introspection and clarity during the frenzy of holiday consumption and post-present dopamine withdrawal.