Where the word comes from and what it means today
A wishlist is a list of things you'd like to have. In Spanish it's called a lista de deseos and means exactly the same, although the English term has stuck because it's what almost every store puts on its buttons.
The name isn't what matters. What matters is that a wishlist isn't a shopping list. You're not deciding to buy, you're deciding that something interests you. They're two different decisions, and mixing them up gets expensive.
A wishlist is not a cart
Lots of people use the cart as a storeroom for things they mean to buy. It's understandable, it's quick, and it works badly for two reasons.
The practical one: carts expire, empty themselves and change price without warning. They're built to close a purchase in minutes, not to hold things for weeks.
The other one weighs more. A product sitting in your cart is already half bought, and that changes how you look at it: it stops being a candidate that has to win you over and becomes a purchase you have to cancel. Every doubt turns into giving something up, and that pushes you towards yes.
What to put on it and what to leave off
On it goes whatever interests you, even if you don't know whether you'll buy it. What you'd love to have, what you'll need to replace, what you want to give to others, what you're weighing up between several options.
Off it goes anything urgent. If you need it this week, it's not a wishlist item, it's an errand.
And it really helps to jot down next to it why you saved it. Three weeks later that note is worth more than the product, because it's the only thing that reminds you what caught your eye.
Wishlist ideas so yours doesn't stop at four things
Start with what you've been putting off: what's broken, what's got old, what you use every day and no longer does the job.
Move on to your hobbies, which is where the things you'd never buy yourself live. For anything you do often, there's a better version you can't bring yourself to pay for.
And add what you spot in passing during the year in small shops. Those are the best wishlist ideas you'll ever have, and the quickest to be forgotten if you don't write them down there and then.
The Christmas list
In December a wishlist has an extra use: no more presents you never use. A Christmas wishlist shared with the family settles the awkward questions and the duplicates in one go.
There's no need to rank things or add prices. With eight or ten things on it there's plenty of room for whoever is giving to choose, and for you to still be surprised, because you don't know which one they'll pick.
It works exactly the same for a Secret Santa, a birthday or a wedding list.
Why most wishlists die
Not for lack of interest. Because they're broken from the start: every store has its own, none of them talk to each other, and saving something means creating yet another account.
Three weeks later your plans are spread across four lists, two screenshots and a link you sent yourself in a message. That isn't a list, it's scraps.
Spaidoo brings products from different stores together in a single list. Just one, yours, that doesn't depend on you still shopping anywhere and that's still there three months from now, which is when you'll really decide.
How to share it without feeling awkward
Lots of people feel awkward showing their list, because it looks like they're asking for things. The way to avoid that is not to share it for no reason.
When someone asks what you'd like, sending the list is the easiest answer for both of you. And for a Secret Santa or a wedding, sharing it is exactly what's expected.
There's no need to rank things. Eight or ten items at different prices already lets the giver choose.
