05 Dec Do you want to buy happiness? Then spend on the things you do every day!
Given I get asked about the relationship between happiness and money on a regular basis I thought some (or many) of you might find the following article of interesting…
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Today is arguably the one day of the year most focused on shopping and consumerism in America (funny, too, that it immediately follows the day we’re all supposed to be thankful for what we have, but that’s a different post …). It marks the beginning of the season when everyone’s spending habits go berserk. Ostensibly, we’re all out there buying gifts for other people—but, come on, tell me you’ve never passed a holiday sale on something you’ve been wanting for yourself that was too good to pass up. A lot of us follow the ‘X gifts for other people, one for me!’ philosophy of holiday shopping. Which is why I think this spending advice from personal finance writer April Dykman is especially pertinent right now.
Dykman, a staff writer for Get Rich Slowly, thinks a lot of us are guilty of spending money on the life we want to be living, rather than the life we actually lead. Think cute going-out dresses that way outnumber the nights you actually go out; stylish office attire of the kind worn in movies and J. Crew catalogues when your own office is much more low-key; elaborate kitchen equipment when most of your nights involve ordering takeout; the perfect party-hosting gear when you entertain maybe once a year. Most of us are guilty of some level of aspirational purchasing. And it’s easy to justify this sort of spending to ourselves by pretending we would go snowboarding more often if only we had the right equipment; we would discover our inner artist if only we had all the right art supplies.
But while these might seem like harmless indulgences or even smart moves at the time—they always say dress for the job you want, not the one you have, right?—Dykman thinks they contribute to not only a diminished bank account but diminished happiness as well. She writes…
…keep reading the full and original article HERE
And as always, feel free to have your say about spending on, or buy happiness HERE on The Happiness Institute's Facebook Page