Rule 1: Separate desire from need before the bazaar opens
Chanakya wrote in the Arthashastra that a man who cannot distinguish between what he wants and what he requires will always find his treasury empty. Festive season collapses that distinction by design. The Diwali sale begins in late September now. By the time you walk into a store or open a shopping app on Dhanteras, you have been primed for weeks. The practical fix is mechanical: write two lists before the season starts. One for what the household genuinely needs, the broken mixer, the winter quilt, the nephew's school bag. One for what you want. Spend freely on the first list. Treat the second list as a negotiation, not a guarantee.
