Need A Happiness Boost? Spend Your Money To Buy Time, Not More Stuff

NPR:

Money can’t buy happiness, right? Well, some researchers beg to differ. They say it depends on how you spend it.

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencessuggests that when people spend money on time-saving services such as a house cleaner, lawn care or grocery delivery, it can make them feel a little happier. By comparison, money spent on material purchases — aka things — does not boost positive emotions the way we might expect.

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“Contemplating paying somebody else to do something you’re perfectly capable of doing yourself may provoke feelings of guilt,” says Elizabeth Dunn, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and an author of the study.

Read the whole story: NPR