how to overthink purchases less

i overthink a lot of purchases. today i spent two hours researching tote bags, deciding which one to buy.

basically i succumb to the paradox of choice, spending all this time to maximize on my purchase but end up overall less satisfied than if i just satisficed and settled.

i reflected on why this tote bag was taking so long to buy and i came up with a few reasons:

• like many people I care a lot about my appearance so I'm very wary of purchasing the wrong bag
• the purchase doesn't feel reversible bc i hate returning online purchases
• it also feels like potentially a large amt of money (some nicer bags i saw were $100). i don't have a strong framework for guilt free spending so whenever i spend above a certain amt for a product i feel bad
• i can't quickly evaluate the physicality of this bag since i'm shopping online
• i dont have very clear thinking on this purchase

there are some possible improvements here

• work on becoming more comfy with how i look / caring less about being high status by looking good
• have a system for spending guilt free. specifically after i set aside 20% of my income for savings a month, the rest i can spend guilt free
• shop in person for physical things
• lay out the goals/use cases for your purchase before starting the search. then once you find a product that meets your criteria and is good enough, buy it and move on
• timebox the purchase
• ask a friend for what they bought and just buy it