When Buying Stuff (Capitalism) is Good

I am a very curious case. On one hand, I am very anti consumerist and capitalist. On the other hand, I am very pro-capitalism and pro-consumerism in other contexts and domains. This is the tricky thing:

There are times when buying stuff (merino wool clothing, happy lamps at home, workout equipment and weights for home) is legitimately a good use of money. And there are other times when money is a huuuuge waste like buying expensive sneakers, expensive watches, expensive cars, etc.

Then I suppose the pragmatic goal we have is this:

When is capitalism-consumerism bad, and when is it good?

So the ‘when‘ question needs to be addressed!