What Can You Buy That Will Actually Make You Happy
When you spend money, are you buying something that actually makes you happy? We spend money in a variety of ways. We also seem to do it with the hopes that what we buy will make us happy. Well, there’s research to now show that there are some ways spending money and buying something that CAN actually make us happy.
Elizabeth Dunn PhD, chief science officer for the technology firm Happy Money and author of “Happy Money: The Science for Happier Spending” has drawn some conclusions from her work.
Experiences that actually make you happy
Let’s start with this. She suggests identifying which purchases make you happy, and which ones don’t. Now she goes on to say that much of our spending is a habit. We always stop at McDonald’s in the morning for an Egg McMuffin. It’s what we did yesterday, it’s what we’ll do today. But does that purchase actually make us happy?
She has determined that there are five ways we can spend money that will actually make us happy.
First, and I bet you could guess this one, experiences. She says, “people feel that their experiential purchases contribute more to their life stories”. Think about the PLACES you’ve gone. The things you’ve SEEN. Aren’t they more important than that breakfast sandwich?
Special Treats
Another way it helps is, she says, to make it a treat. If you have dessert every day, it becomes less special. If you have it every once in a while, that makes it more special.
I thought her third way was interesting, buying time. Wasn’t sure at first what she meant. She’s talking about spending money on something that saves you from having to do it. Think cleaning service. That’s a way of spending money that really matters.
Paying Now Using Later
Also, paying for something now and consuming it later. I brought up on the air this morning that because we had to cancel our vacation last year, the plane tickets we bought went unused. Now, we’re planning on flying to Denver in May and we’re going to use the credit we have with the airline. It’s kind of like we’re going for free.
Spending On Others
Lastly, and maybe the most important one. Invest in others. If you can spend money and it actually benefits OTHER PEOPLE, then you get a ton of happiness out of that.
Think about if the material thing you’re spending money on ACTUALLY makes you happy. If it does, that’s great. But if it doesn’t you might want to rethink some of your spending habits.