Happy with Your Money?  Spend Money Differently to Increase Happiness!!

There is so much pressure, in our society, to always go after MORE, more, more money. Addictive, anyone?  

But, research shows that after someone’s earning $75,000 a year, more money, only makes them a little bit happier – 9% happier in fact.

So, if it’s not true that MORE money will make you happier, what is the truth? According to Happy Money authors Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, (two Harvard professors), there are 3 big happiness change points:  

 

  1. Buy experiences vs. stuff. When students were asked to think about 4 material purchases and 4 experiential purchases and to draw circles and place those circles around a larger circle called SELF - depending on how closely linked each purchase was to their sense of self, the experiential purchases won hands down as being more important.
  2. Make it a treat & SAVE money. If you go to Starbucks every day and spend $5.00 it’s expensive and it’s less of a treat. Try this:  If you go to Starbucks every day – try limiting your visits to 3x a week or 1x a week for a special latte. I tell my 5 year old granddaughter Shelby that she can have 2 Hershey kisses after nap – she looks forward to those and enjoys them thoroughly and rarely asks for more.  Treats have Value. And, how much can you SAVE a week with just that simple adjustment?
  3. Buy Time:  One stressed, over-working mother of two children, hamsters and hubby bought a Roomba to help with housework. The $300.00 purchase saved this household time in cleaning and stress. 

 

Time Affluence: Everyone feels overly busy and you may be shocked, as I was, to hear this bit of research, but the time crunch is due in good part to financial prosperity. “Wealthier individuals spend more of their time on higher stress activities shopping, working and commuting.

TIME SCARCITY”: increases the value of what’s perceived as scarce: TIME - as incomes rise time seem more valuable!!

The authors recommend not using money to get more time, but valuing happier time as an end in itself. Switch the focus from making more money to having more time. 

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My mission is to change the world one financially healthy and happy woman at a time and I need your help.

Please let me know what money articles you’d like to see covered, which articles you enjoy each month and make recommendations about the woman in business that is spotlighted each month. This month The Spotlight is on: Kirsten Lecher, Marketer extraordinaire, from Lodi, CA  (hyperlink to below article)

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 So, if it’s not true that MORE money will make you happier, what is the truth? According to Happy Money authors Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton, (two Harvard professors), there are 3 big happiness change points: