well you do not need gear.
no matter what it is you want to do, you can particpate in it now.
the real question of waste is not the cost of things, but like the amount of use and utility and beauty they imbue in your good life.
when you experience a pang of "oh it would be so cool if i had that!"
and you research and you yearn
and you want to have it
consider in your mind what is happening
what is moment in your mind that you are experiencing?
a good way to prompt that is to ask, 'who are you with?'
let's say you start playing a car racing game, that is fun, but then you get this urge, this pang, to like upgrade, upgrade, upgrade the gear or the experience. either buying an even more expensive game, or like getting a full VR sim racing set. what is in your mind?
what is resonating with you about that purchase?
it is possible that you, of course, like to research, but i am talking about a pang. something that resonates with you about it. something that impels you.
maybe you imagine that you are really good at it and on a leaderboard. maybe you imagine that you can share it with friends. maybe you imagine that you are loving and happy while doing it.
consider that those things (accomplishment, friendship/cameraderie, and love/joy/happiness) none of them strictly require any of the gear you are currently interested in. there are people without this gear that have experienced all of those emotions, regularly, even in abundance. in fact, you likely have experienced those emotions in the past, maybe in abundance, but maybe a smattering, maybe fleeting, but you have experienced them. without the gear.
so the question is, are you purchasing the idea that you may have those emotions?
that is really the pre-quel to mari kondo's 'spark joy' concept. she is looking at whether you are tied up emotionally in an idea of a thing or what a thing represents instead of the actual, physical thing in front of you.
how do you do it?
in keeping with the racing theme. you want an expensive car racing game? i'm sure there are free ones online. you want accomplishment? i'm sure there is a leaderboard or some sort of scoring system. do that. see if that does it for you. if it does not, it is likely (and when i say likely, i mean i really fucking is probably 100% going to be true) that had you gone down the purchasing route, you would have found the same outcome.
but sometimes you do it.
let's say it lights up your life, and adds to your life.
well.
do it. do it for months, and months, and months. with the enthusiasm of an imagined child saving up for a christmas toy. likely they end with regret. but like if it is something that you actually use, you woud aready know.
if you want workout gear (a barbell and weights), workout for a year with body weight exericses in your house. if you do that, then you can figure out how to actually stick with it and whether you actually want or need or if it would improve your life. or like, you find out body weight workouts are not your thing. you like in person sports. i mean...likely you avoided buying a bunch of gym gear and coming to the same conclusion.
let's say all your friends play a game and you do not have a system so you cannot play? i bet you could go over there. or play another game. or find other friends. or another activity.
if you want an expensive art tool piece of technology thinking it will 'unlock' your creative side. similar to the body weight exericse. draw on pencil and paper for a year. that is a low cost way to pretty much be doing the same thing. the same thing people have been doing for millenia.
there have been ways to play the game for thousands of years.
draw in the dirt. draw using sand. if you really must draw, then you will draw.
if not, do it, thank it for what it taught you in your life, and let it go and move on.
you want to find things that are 'absolutely yes!'