The happy way to spend money
Today’s post on Tiny Titbit column is a short one.
Recently I read an interesting article on spending money and its relation to happiness.
According to a psychological study, we are happier when we spend money to gain experience, such as vacation, going to the theatre, or renting a sailboat, than buying material goods like TV.
It’s not that buying material stuffs don’t bring any happiness, it’s just that they don’t bring as much. You’re happy with a new TV set, but thrilled with a vacation.
Also, it doesn’t really matter how much money you spend – you still have the same level of happiness, whether you spent a little or a lot on the life experience.
My thought: Since experience brings more happiness than material things, and the cost of experience is irrelevant, don’t you think that having free experience is the key to everyday happiness? We can become happy without burning money, since many experiences are free – a walk in the woods, saying nice things to people, thank your parents, and many more. Being happy is not so difficult after all, right?
Study credit goes to Ryan Howell of San Francisco State University.
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Readers’ contribution:
foongpc says:
To me, happiness is really a state of the mind. We can choose to be happy no matter what the circumstances are. A lot of people think that if they earn lots of money, they will be happy. When they get to buy their favourite car, home or whatever, they feel happy. They work so hard just to experience those “happy” feelings.They are in fact, just chasing after happiness.
Now if happiness is just a state of mind or a feeling, then isn’t it possible for us to just be “happy”? Why bother to go through all those hard work and long journey to reach the state of happiness when we can go into that state right now? So let’s be happy everyday because we can choose to be happy or otherwise. Happiness is already inside us. It’s not something that is outside of us.
Lindsay says:
Definitely true! We remember out-of-the-ordinary experiences too, creating memories that last a lifetime. When we buy things, half the time we don’t use them and even if they do, they rarely keep our interest for long.
You can, of course, buy some material things that become experiences. I just ordered some new inline skates for the spring, and I’m sure I’ll cover a lot of trails with them. 
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To me, happiness is really a state of the mind. We can choose to be happy no matter what the circumstances are. A lot of people think that if they earn lots of money, they will be happy. When they get to buy their favourite car, home or whatever, they feel happy. They work so hard just to experience those “happy” feelings.They are in fact, just chasing after happiness. Now if happiness is just a state of mind or a feeling, then isn’t it possible for us to just be “happy”? Why bother to go through all those hard work and long journey to reach the state of happiness when we can go into that state right now? So let’s be happy everyday because we can choose to be happy or otherwise. Happiness is already inside us. It’s not something that is outside of us.
foongpc’s last blog post..You Are Tagged!
Yes, I agree with you that happiness is a choice. Some people insist that happiness is a passive response to the environment and other people, but being happy for no reason is quite possible. I’m glad that you understand that happiness doesn’t need to come from doing or having a lot off things.
This article is just to show the relation between happiness and money according to a study, and I think there is no need to spend money to feel happy.
Definitely true! We remember out-of-the-ordinary experiences too, creating memories that last a lifetime. When we buy things, half the time we don’t use them and even if they do, they rarely keep our interest for long.
You can, of course, buy some material things that become experiences. I just ordered some new inline skates for the spring, and I’m sure I’ll cover a lot of trails with them.
Lindsay’s last blog post..How to Drive Traffic to Your Site by Posting in Forums
@ Lindsay
hey, thanks for sharing your wonderful opinion. I merged your comment with the main article already.
I hope you have fun with your skating