I feel like an alien when I walk round the Christmas markets and wonder who the utter f is stupid enough to pay £23 for the same bit of tat you could buy (if you were insane enough to want to) from poundland for a fiver, or from temu for £0.75. Those stalls come back every year, and even I'm not cynical enough to believe they're ALL money laundering ops, so somebody must be buying them. That's even before £8 for a cup of ruined garbage wine or a tenner for half a potato and the rough end of a sausage.
I can kind of understand buying food or drink from one of these places, for the vibe or atmosphere, but the random stuff they sell is baffling. They could at least try to sell something slightly original but it's always really terrible tourist-grade crap that I wouldn't buy even as someone partial to a little tat.
I love Christmas markets! I just go for the atmosphere too though. Nice hot chocolate, a mulled wine, a bratwurst and lots of Christmas lights. In 20 years I’ve never shopped at the stalls, no interest in what they’re selling honestly.
We went in today and typically never even entertain the idea of buying any overpriced crap but the missus wanted some baklava so went to buy her a small bit (like 7cm wide) and it was £8! I could have probably done it in a single bite
We went to one a few weeks ago. Hand crafted artisan market it was called. 3/4 of the stuff was random tat like mass produced plastic keyrings but £5 instead of I would guess the 30 for £1 off AliExpress.
Same in our household, we saved and bought good quality ones that have been going for decades. Ours can be passed down and will be, some have been already.
We're using the ones the previous owners of our house left in the loft! It's been five years so I think they'd have responded to our message about them by now if they wanted them back.
It's one day when you're an adult, but as kid, once the advent calendars come out everything is geared towards Christmas.
There is a lot of pressure on parents to make every aspect of Christmas into a magical moment for their kids, and I do kind of love it because it reminds me how magic stuff seemed as a kid, but sometimes it really wears me out, and it gets incredibly expensive if you're not careful.
I think it's so much worse than when I was a kid. The elves. The Christmas eve boxes. Christmas jumper day. Paying £20 a kid to go and see Father Christmas. And it starts in November.
We have got our kids quite a bit but most of it is secondhand and the new stuff is useful things like pants and socks.
It'll get tougher as they get older, but for now the novelty of opening individually wrapped hot wheels cars bought as a job lot from a charity shop for £3 is good enough!
Every year stuff gets put out earlier and earlier, last year my 1st Easter egg siting was the day before Christmas Eve and yesterday I saw a small rack of Valentines cards in M&S when I was trying to find a Christmas card for my husband.
Well yes you don’t need to tell me lol my 2 literally cut out everything from the smiths catalogue and made a huge collage for Santa. Luckily Santa only brings one gift.
I'm talking about decorating the house, getting a nice tree, visiting santa, putting on a nice spread for food, Christmas eve family party, etc. Even just filling a stocking can cost a crazy amount if you're not careful with it.
But yes I'm always one for a free day out, and winter walks (or bike rides with my eldest) are something we spend a lot of time doing that we all enjoy (while the kiddos are little anyway). But there is a lot of stuff that adds to the joy which isn't free, and it's a tough act to balance.
And gift packs that are such bad value. I am all for buying someone a bottle of something for Christmas but don’t buy the gift box that has a crap glass and a miniature and costs the same as a full sized bottle.
I've moved towards a far more minimal Xmas, and I think many friends are the same. My siblings don't get each other anything anymore (maybe a bottle of wine or something if we're visiting), and just get the kids stuff. We discuss what we're getting to avoid doubling up.
I don't think we're being miserly, the greatest gift is time together sharing a drink and plate of food, we're just aware of how avarice has taken over Xmas.
Something to eat/drink and something to do if you're visiting people, like a board game or something - ideally from a charity shop or marketplace. Might be a flop, but that can be part of the tradition.
Socks are the ultimate Xmas gift. They are necessary, you can use them straightaway and all through the year. I swear the downfall of society began when people suddenly decided socks were a crap gift and everyone should be getting £100 advent calendars full of tea-lights and a new telly for Xmas instead. You are totally right that the shops are full of crappy crap which is also massively over packaged and wasteful. The rules are: something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. Pick one or all and stop with the ludicrous, aspirational idiotic gifts. And do not get me started on ‘joke’ gifts that go straight in the bin or to the charity shop for them to desperately try to get rid of all year.
I do actually love Xmas btw! Not a humbug but really hate the pressure and consumerism forced on people-especially young families who struggle to provide this insane present fest that is really not needed!
"Pathological consumption has become so normalised that we scarcely notice it.
There’s nothing they need, nothing they don’t own already, nothing they even want. So you buy them a solar-powered waving queen; a belly button brush; a silver-plated ice cream tub holder; a “hilarious” inflatable zimmer frame; a confection of plastic and electronics called Terry the Swearing Turtle; or – and somehow I find this significant – a Scratch Off World wall map.
They seem amusing on the first day of Christmas, daft on the second, embarrassing on the third. By the twelfth they’re in landfill. For thirty seconds of dubious entertainment, or a hedonic stimulus that lasts no longer than a nicotine hit, we commission the use of materials whose impacts will ramify for generations."
I could quite easily be accused of being an overconsumer by some, but Xmas tat doesn’t even register on my radar. I’ve accumulated a small handful of cute things over the years like Santa trinkets and a nice jumper but honestly it’s the easiest thing to avoid!!
If you've got a dog, take her or him with you. Then you can be prevented from going in to numerous shops. And you can't buy too much from shops that will let you in as you have to hold the lead.
I have a hard time buying gifts because it's all just pointless tat now. I just buy chocolates now unless someone wants something specific. Tbh buying chocolates from aldi is surprisingly thrifty.
For example this year: buy 2 lego sets with missing pieces to make 1 complete set + spares (vinted)
Clean/ repair/ make dress up clothes. (Charity shops using actual clothes/ fabric)
Repair a toy train (charity shop find)
For adults just get food. It will be eaten by someone eventuallly....
Yep, and I’m not doing it this year. 2 secret Santas - one regifted tat, another I sponsored a tree - nieces get money and my sister… well I might have to buy her something I guess
I’m our family grinch. I don’t do presents except money to nephews and parents, and wine to the in-laws (husband is responsible for his parents gifts). As much as he’d like to buy me something, I don’t like swapping gifts with husband as I’d rather we spent that money on a nice long weekend away together. So I can easily not be bothered by the tat in the shops and not buy any.
This is my first Christmas in a house, after living in a flat for a decade and I've never decorated for it or hosted before. It's been a bit difficult finding stuff because lots of things from the stores I've seen are overpriced, tacky (I know it's personal taste), and not very well made.
So instead I've made some ornaments, garlands, and wreaths, and then bought a couple some things I liked from charity shops instead. I feel like my money has been well spent this year and either my decorations will biodegrade or will last hopefully for a long time.
Don't just buy the first presents and chocolates that you see. Shop around for the cheapest deals. I've seen the same tubs of chocolates priced from up to nearly nine quid at some shops, to £4.42 in others (Asda) .
If you're involved in something where you have to buy tat (office secret Santa or whatever) just do it (it's cheaper than being seen as the Grinch) but outside of that once you realize there are no rules for what you have to buy at Christmas it's so.... freeing.
I walk around amazed. Amazed at the tat. Amazed how putting normal things in a cardboard gift set box makes them worth more. Amazed at how anything you eat or drink at a Christmas market is priced like Michelin star cuisine despite being a cheap hot dog or microwaved box wine. I still get to walk round and enjoy the atmosphere but I got off the expensive presents sleigh a long time ago and have never looked back.
I love Christmas. I still overindulge, but don't buy anything I don't actually want to buy.
Our family buys experiences usually. Not those “drive an Aston Martin round a racetrack” virgin experiences but a massage at a spa or a day at a trampoline park for the kids.
It’s been more fun making memories than filling each others houses with junk when no one really needs anything.
This is the first year I’ve bought new decor as the ones I was gifted off people years before just crumbled to pieces and my god there’s so much that’s for sale!
I bought some fluffy Christmas socks tonight, but that’s because my feet are ice blocks and they were £1.99. Grabbed a pair for my son as a stocking filler as he loves fluffy socks.
I spent years convincing my family that “tools are not boring” (ok, other than augers) and I didn’t want to”just a fun thing” and I have enough socks too.
Gifts are for children, money is for teenagers and quality time and some nice food is for adults. Only infantile adults want gifts. Buy 'your' adults a few nice things in the year when actually needed.
Proud owner of a 32 year old christmas tree and baubles passed down from my gran. Does it shed fake needles like it thinks its a real tree? Sure does, but thats part of the authenticity.
I had a good laugh watching my mum, who “hates stuff everywhere”, placing Christmas themed crap everywhere the other day. The tiny plastic Santa adds nothing to the fireplace!
My grandma’s the worst for bringing Christmas themed tat into the home. She’s bought us Christmas plates (?), Christmas napkins, and yesterday presented me with awful Christmas themed hand towels. I tried to say we don’t need Christmas hand towels and have nowhere to store them after Christmas (when we will be moving from a 3 bed house with two offices, two large storage cupboards and a shed to a two bed house with no shed, no cupboard spaces), and she started going on about getting “Christmas storage boxes”. Ridiculous.
But I do appreciate my mum having the energy and thought to decorate as the place is cosier with the tree, lights, and stockings. Doesn’t need more than that though!
We’re a family all of adults, so we don’t buy each other Christmas presents anymore (if we want something, we buy it ourselves, and it had gotten to the point where people were buying each other the same presents before, or we tried secret Santa but you got someone else’s interpretation of the gift you wanted rather than the gift you actually wanted). It makes the period less stressful but somewhat less festive.
Once I’m back in my own place again, my plan is to have multicoloured, hidden smart lights so can use the Christmas colours in winter, without needing to take the lights up and down all the time, and I’d have a small basic tree (probably fake). I’d keep my glittery deer ornaments because I love them, and have good memories of my cat lining himself up with them for his first Christmas with me - that’s if my mum hasn’t forgotten that they’re mine and tries to keep them.
This said, I’d love to be able to make stockings for my “nieces and nephews” (friends children) next year.
Essentially:
Remember that most of it is crap.
If it’s not useful year-round and really beautiful (or fun), consider if it is necessary.
Handmade gifts can be a lot cheaper and more cherished than shop bought products.
Experiences and memories go further than plastic crap, so consider theatre tickets or experience voucher options, too.
Also I learnt this last one the hard way: do not store Christmas lights with the batteries in, bc the batteries can leak and break the lights.
I always found it mad how consumption/spending dramatically increases over Christmas. For example in Sainsbury's it's absolutely rammed to the point you can't move, yet the population hasn't increased, so why is everyone there all at once? Yet I still go haha!
We’re doing a Home Bargains/B&M Christmas with my family this year. Can get a little more from your money and there’s some good stuff amongst their usual tat. I also unashamedly ask for essentials I know I’ll use (shampoo, bar soap, chocolate, a flask for work etc)
You're not being forced to buy it. The modern world is full of situations where you have to have self control and simply say no, either to yourself or others.
Just don't buy it
Future Nobel laureate right hear
Here here
Eyes to the right, nose to the left.. innit
Heeeyah!
Here hare here
I feel like an alien when I walk round the Christmas markets and wonder who the utter f is stupid enough to pay £23 for the same bit of tat you could buy (if you were insane enough to want to) from poundland for a fiver, or from temu for £0.75. Those stalls come back every year, and even I'm not cynical enough to believe they're ALL money laundering ops, so somebody must be buying them. That's even before £8 for a cup of ruined garbage wine or a tenner for half a potato and the rough end of a sausage.
I can kind of understand buying food or drink from one of these places, for the vibe or atmosphere, but the random stuff they sell is baffling. They could at least try to sell something slightly original but it's always really terrible tourist-grade crap that I wouldn't buy even as someone partial to a little tat.
I love Christmas markets! I just go for the atmosphere too though. Nice hot chocolate, a mulled wine, a bratwurst and lots of Christmas lights. In 20 years I’ve never shopped at the stalls, no interest in what they’re selling honestly.
I read that the stalls used to be unique sellers, but now they’re companies that buy cheap and ship out to every Christmas market they can.
you have to remember they are targeting the drunk idiots and stupid tourists who don't know better
I’m both of those, but I don’t buy from them
We went in today and typically never even entertain the idea of buying any overpriced crap but the missus wanted some baklava so went to buy her a small bit (like 7cm wide) and it was £8! I could have probably done it in a single bite
We went to one a few weeks ago. Hand crafted artisan market it was called. 3/4 of the stuff was random tat like mass produced plastic keyrings but £5 instead of I would guess the 30 for £1 off AliExpress.
They're all just in person drop shippers
I work at a christmas market. Alot of the stalls make their yearly money at Christmas. You vastly underestimate their popularity.
Buy the tat once, pack it away after Christmas, bring it out next year.
Buy tat on Boxing Day on an outrageous discount
This is what I do with Xmas cards 🤣🤣
We used to cut the pictures off the front and use them for gift tags the next year
My mother in law does this and I've adopted it when I can!
When we did it, it was the 80s so there were loads of cards. We used my Nana’s pinking shears (they had a fancy edge) to make them look extra posh lol
Did your Nanna know you were using her shears? 😱
I also reuse Christmas cards for tags, I just wouldn't let anyone use my pinking shears to cut up cardboard 😂
It was her idea 😂😂
That is genius thanks for the tip!
No worries! They look pretty cool and retro
I mean they don't go out of date lol
This man Christmas tats 🙏
I am still using Christmas decorations from when I grew up and some from when my father grew up
Same in our household, we saved and bought good quality ones that have been going for decades. Ours can be passed down and will be, some have been already.
We're using the ones the previous owners of our house left in the loft! It's been five years so I think they'd have responded to our message about them by now if they wanted them back.
Just say no.
We do and nothing bad happens.
I really don’t get the need to go crazy it’s just one day! You need a few gifts a big meal a few chocs and if you drink some booze job done.
It's one day when you're an adult, but as kid, once the advent calendars come out everything is geared towards Christmas.
There is a lot of pressure on parents to make every aspect of Christmas into a magical moment for their kids, and I do kind of love it because it reminds me how magic stuff seemed as a kid, but sometimes it really wears me out, and it gets incredibly expensive if you're not careful.
I think it's so much worse than when I was a kid. The elves. The Christmas eve boxes. Christmas jumper day. Paying £20 a kid to go and see Father Christmas. And it starts in November.
We have got our kids quite a bit but most of it is secondhand and the new stuff is useful things like pants and socks.
It'll get tougher as they get older, but for now the novelty of opening individually wrapped hot wheels cars bought as a job lot from a charity shop for £3 is good enough!
In my local B&M this year I saw staff putting out Christmas-themed chocolate on 15th August! That's a bit too soon IMO.
It's just as bad with Easter eggs. They often appear in supermarkets between 26-31 December.
Every year stuff gets put out earlier and earlier, last year my 1st Easter egg siting was the day before Christmas Eve and yesterday I saw a small rack of Valentines cards in M&S when I was trying to find a Christmas card for my husband.
Well yes you don’t need to tell me lol my 2 literally cut out everything from the smiths catalogue and made a huge collage for Santa. Luckily Santa only brings one gift.
There'd so much free you really don't have to spend much.
I'm talking about decorating the house, getting a nice tree, visiting santa, putting on a nice spread for food, Christmas eve family party, etc. Even just filling a stocking can cost a crazy amount if you're not careful with it.
But yes I'm always one for a free day out, and winter walks (or bike rides with my eldest) are something we spend a lot of time doing that we all enjoy (while the kiddos are little anyway). But there is a lot of stuff that adds to the joy which isn't free, and it's a tough act to balance.
it's a week or more of festivities for most people, it's fine saying it's just one day and Christmas day dinner, but it's not really, is it.
And gift packs that are such bad value. I am all for buying someone a bottle of something for Christmas but don’t buy the gift box that has a crap glass and a miniature and costs the same as a full sized bottle.
This is the true win. I love a Whiskey. I’d never buy myself a box with a glass and wouldn’t want someone to, either
Can't go wrong with socks, books as well, I can also be tempted with hand made fudge
I've moved towards a far more minimal Xmas, and I think many friends are the same. My siblings don't get each other anything anymore (maybe a bottle of wine or something if we're visiting), and just get the kids stuff. We discuss what we're getting to avoid doubling up.
I don't think we're being miserly, the greatest gift is time together sharing a drink and plate of food, we're just aware of how avarice has taken over Xmas.
Something to eat/drink and something to do if you're visiting people, like a board game or something - ideally from a charity shop or marketplace. Might be a flop, but that can be part of the tradition.
Socks are the ultimate Xmas gift. They are necessary, you can use them straightaway and all through the year. I swear the downfall of society began when people suddenly decided socks were a crap gift and everyone should be getting £100 advent calendars full of tea-lights and a new telly for Xmas instead. You are totally right that the shops are full of crappy crap which is also massively over packaged and wasteful. The rules are: something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read. Pick one or all and stop with the ludicrous, aspirational idiotic gifts. And do not get me started on ‘joke’ gifts that go straight in the bin or to the charity shop for them to desperately try to get rid of all year. I do actually love Xmas btw! Not a humbug but really hate the pressure and consumerism forced on people-especially young families who struggle to provide this insane present fest that is really not needed!
Probably my favourite article on Christmas tat; https://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/10/the-gift-of-death/
I was just going to share this myself.
We’re in the ‘decadence’ phase of empire collapse. But this time, the barbarian hordes are equally enslaved by capitalism.
Buy it in the January sales, put it in a box, wait a year - score. Thank me in 12 months
Don't buy it at all and leave it to someone else to dispose of it - instant gratification.
I like how 95% of people who commented on this don’t understand sarcasm.
You know how you know it's tat? They don't sell it the rest of the year.
My trick is I don't walk around shops - barring the ones I'm paid to be in.
I’m still using the baubles I picked up on the street- someone’s cast offs from over 12 years ago. No tat tax for me!
I just want bath foam.
And a box of licorice.
unfortunately, a lot of the festive holidays are now hijacked and commercialised by business / corporations to sell items.
I could quite easily be accused of being an overconsumer by some, but Xmas tat doesn’t even register on my radar. I’ve accumulated a small handful of cute things over the years like Santa trinkets and a nice jumper but honestly it’s the easiest thing to avoid!!
If you've got a dog, take her or him with you. Then you can be prevented from going in to numerous shops. And you can't buy too much from shops that will let you in as you have to hold the lead.
I have a hard time buying gifts because it's all just pointless tat now. I just buy chocolates now unless someone wants something specific. Tbh buying chocolates from aldi is surprisingly thrifty.
Save something from landfill to gift.
For example this year: buy 2 lego sets with missing pieces to make 1 complete set + spares (vinted) Clean/ repair/ make dress up clothes. (Charity shops using actual clothes/ fabric) Repair a toy train (charity shop find)
For adults just get food. It will be eaten by someone eventuallly....
I ask for consumables. I have a house of crap that I am trying to de-crap. I don't need to add to the pile.
Edit: also restored a dolls house
Are all the wealthy kids on the good list and all the poor kids on the naughty list.
No...?
It's a Cunk quote.
Oh I don't know what that is haha.
yeah christmas junk, piles of it on 60% of shop shelves from september onwards
Yep, and I’m not doing it this year. 2 secret Santas - one regifted tat, another I sponsored a tree - nieces get money and my sister… well I might have to buy her something I guess
Sponsor a second tree.
I’m our family grinch. I don’t do presents except money to nephews and parents, and wine to the in-laws (husband is responsible for his parents gifts). As much as he’d like to buy me something, I don’t like swapping gifts with husband as I’d rather we spent that money on a nice long weekend away together. So I can easily not be bothered by the tat in the shops and not buy any.
This is my first Christmas in a house, after living in a flat for a decade and I've never decorated for it or hosted before. It's been a bit difficult finding stuff because lots of things from the stores I've seen are overpriced, tacky (I know it's personal taste), and not very well made.
So instead I've made some ornaments, garlands, and wreaths, and then bought a couple some things I liked from charity shops instead. I feel like my money has been well spent this year and either my decorations will biodegrade or will last hopefully for a long time.
Don't just buy the first presents and chocolates that you see. Shop around for the cheapest deals. I've seen the same tubs of chocolates priced from up to nearly nine quid at some shops, to £4.42 in others (Asda) .
If you're involved in something where you have to buy tat (office secret Santa or whatever) just do it (it's cheaper than being seen as the Grinch) but outside of that once you realize there are no rules for what you have to buy at Christmas it's so.... freeing.
I walk around amazed. Amazed at the tat. Amazed how putting normal things in a cardboard gift set box makes them worth more. Amazed at how anything you eat or drink at a Christmas market is priced like Michelin star cuisine despite being a cheap hot dog or microwaved box wine. I still get to walk round and enjoy the atmosphere but I got off the expensive presents sleigh a long time ago and have never looked back.
I love Christmas. I still overindulge, but don't buy anything I don't actually want to buy.
"Joke" gifts are the worst. Most of them go straight to the bin.
I will only buy joke gifts from charity shops now.
Our family buys experiences usually. Not those “drive an Aston Martin round a racetrack” virgin experiences but a massage at a spa or a day at a trampoline park for the kids.
It’s been more fun making memories than filling each others houses with junk when no one really needs anything.
Don't buy it.
This is the first year I’ve bought new decor as the ones I was gifted off people years before just crumbled to pieces and my god there’s so much that’s for sale!
Regift the tat.
I’ve already sold some of the tat I’ve been given wasn’t wrapped and I wasn’t going to keep it so..
I bought some fluffy Christmas socks tonight, but that’s because my feet are ice blocks and they were £1.99. Grabbed a pair for my son as a stocking filler as he loves fluffy socks.
I order what I want online and don't bother looking in the shops at all. I do live in a village and go to the village shop
I’ve tried to be really intentional with gifts this year and still spent close to £500
My christmas gifts are all from charity shops now. If people don’t want them they can go straight back
Dont find Vinted 😂 Since Vinted I have found even more useless tat but for a quarter of the price. Dangerous
I spent years convincing my family that “tools are not boring” (ok, other than augers) and I didn’t want to”just a fun thing” and I have enough socks too.
Gifts are for children, money is for teenagers and quality time and some nice food is for adults. Only infantile adults want gifts. Buy 'your' adults a few nice things in the year when actually needed.
Proud owner of a 32 year old christmas tree and baubles passed down from my gran. Does it shed fake needles like it thinks its a real tree? Sure does, but thats part of the authenticity.
Afford stuff that’s branded as for Christmas. Afford the shops also helps.
I had a good laugh watching my mum, who “hates stuff everywhere”, placing Christmas themed crap everywhere the other day. The tiny plastic Santa adds nothing to the fireplace!
My grandma’s the worst for bringing Christmas themed tat into the home. She’s bought us Christmas plates (?), Christmas napkins, and yesterday presented me with awful Christmas themed hand towels. I tried to say we don’t need Christmas hand towels and have nowhere to store them after Christmas (when we will be moving from a 3 bed house with two offices, two large storage cupboards and a shed to a two bed house with no shed, no cupboard spaces), and she started going on about getting “Christmas storage boxes”. Ridiculous.
But I do appreciate my mum having the energy and thought to decorate as the place is cosier with the tree, lights, and stockings. Doesn’t need more than that though!
We’re a family all of adults, so we don’t buy each other Christmas presents anymore (if we want something, we buy it ourselves, and it had gotten to the point where people were buying each other the same presents before, or we tried secret Santa but you got someone else’s interpretation of the gift you wanted rather than the gift you actually wanted). It makes the period less stressful but somewhat less festive.
Once I’m back in my own place again, my plan is to have multicoloured, hidden smart lights so can use the Christmas colours in winter, without needing to take the lights up and down all the time, and I’d have a small basic tree (probably fake). I’d keep my glittery deer ornaments because I love them, and have good memories of my cat lining himself up with them for his first Christmas with me - that’s if my mum hasn’t forgotten that they’re mine and tries to keep them.
This said, I’d love to be able to make stockings for my “nieces and nephews” (friends children) next year.
Essentially:
Remember that most of it is crap.
If it’s not useful year-round and really beautiful (or fun), consider if it is necessary.
Handmade gifts can be a lot cheaper and more cherished than shop bought products.
Experiences and memories go further than plastic crap, so consider theatre tickets or experience voucher options, too.
Also I learnt this last one the hard way: do not store Christmas lights with the batteries in, bc the batteries can leak and break the lights.
In this economy you can’t be frugal unfortunately it’s just impossible. But all these occasions just try your best not to spend money like that
I always found it mad how consumption/spending dramatically increases over Christmas. For example in Sainsbury's it's absolutely rammed to the point you can't move, yet the population hasn't increased, so why is everyone there all at once? Yet I still go haha!
Same way you can not be an alcoholic when there's so much booze in to buy.
Just say no.
We’re doing a Home Bargains/B&M Christmas with my family this year. Can get a little more from your money and there’s some good stuff amongst their usual tat. I also unashamedly ask for essentials I know I’ll use (shampoo, bar soap, chocolate, a flask for work etc)
You're not being forced to buy it. The modern world is full of situations where you have to have self control and simply say no, either to yourself or others.