How to Spend Your Money to Make You Happier

How to Spend Your Money to Make You Happier

If you’re among the privileged lot of society that has money to spare, you may have had this thought at some point in your life: ‘how can you spend your money in a way that it makes you happier?’.

It goes without saying that how we spend money has a tremendous impact on our well being. It is also true that you are the best judge of what makes you happy, but if you are out of ideas or your spending hasn’t given you much happiness lately – and you’re looking to completely overhaul your spending habits, following are certain suggestions regarding how you can spend your money in a way that it makes you happier:

Experience Life, Ditch Material Happiness

Few people have the mindset that spending on experiences is not such a good way to spend money as the experience lasts only an afternoon or an evening. A material thing on the other hand such as a shoe can be used for a longer period of time and so spending money on it is considered far more worth it than paying for an experience.

Another way of looking at it is that the shoe only becomes less shiny with the passage of time but we hold on to experiences in our memory. University of Texas conducted a research wherein a group of individuals were asked to spend on experience whereas the other group was asked to spend money on material goods. The first group was found to be happier than the second group.

Buying Things Leads to Happiness As Well…

There are certain possessions which may not be of much significance to others but for us it holds a tremendous value. If you are a biking enthusiast and have always wanted to explore country lanes then buying a bike will easily rank high in your list of best purchases.

Spending On Others

Your opinion on this point depends on how much of an altruist you believe yourself to be. If you’re among those who believe that contributing money for charitable causes can give you a lot of happiness then you should definitely give it a try.

Make Advance Payments

There’s a certain amount of pain that most of us experience when we are asked to part ways with our hard earned income. By putting in the buffer of time between the act of spending money and living the experience, it may be possible for us to enjoy the experience even more.

Paying for the experience in advance gives us an illusion that it didn’t cost us money at all. This can be best explained when you buy a product on credit. After the initial few months when the excitement of using a new product wears off, paying those installments can really get on our nerves.

Buying Small Treats

People are more likely to buy gifts for themselves when they are feeling miserable. We don’t need a research to tell us that spending money on shopping works as a brilliant strategy to lift our dampened spirits.

When we are in the act of spending the money on small treats, we are perfectly aware that the exultation will not last very long but we do it anyways because we know that it will surely cheer us up temporarily.

Don’t Choose the Same Numbers Every Week if you Play Lottery

Most people who play the lottery tend to choose the same numbers week after week and god forbid if for some reason they are unable to buy a lottery ticket, they regret it with such intensity as if they were sure to become a millionaire that week. As long as you are testing your fate, why not change your numbers every week?

Rent Happiness

Don’t beat yourself up about it as there is still a way for you to have that experience. These days almost everything can be bought on rent whether it is a car, bike or furniture.

Different people have different choices when it comes to deriving happiness out of spending money. For some it comes from securing their financial future by taking out an insurance policy or by resolving to write a Will today .

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