Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to budget for happiness. While it might
Speaker 1: be considered normal to spend certain proportions of your income
Speaker 1: on certain categories, there is no law that says you
Speaker 1: have to do that. Consciously, choosing to spend less on
Speaker 1: certain big categories can open up space for all kinds
Speaker 1: of happiness if you are smart about it. Lots of
Speaker 1: folks resolved to take control of their finances in the
Speaker 1: new year. When the holiday spending bills hit in January,
Speaker 1: it can definitely be a sobering moment. People who are
Speaker 1: new to budget tend to go online to search for
Speaker 1: sample budgets, and these tend to suggest spending somewhere around
Speaker 1: of your income on housing and ten pc on transportation. Now,
Speaker 1: there is nothing wrong with these particular numbers, but it
Speaker 1: is a little funny if you think about it. People
Speaker 1: make wildly varying amounts of money. Why should someone who
Speaker 1: makes dollars a year and someone who makes five thousand
Speaker 1: dollars a year both spend on housing. A person with
Speaker 1: a more modest household income might need to spend a
Speaker 1: fairly large percentage to find someplace safe and comfortable, but
Speaker 1: someone with a higher income could find someplace safe, comfortable,
Speaker 1: and quite nice for a lower percentage. Choosing to do
Speaker 1: so would open up space for all sorts of other priorities.
Speaker 1: In a recent episode of Best of Both Worlds, my
Speaker 1: other podcast, my co host Sarah hart Unger mentioned that
Speaker 1: her family is budgeting more money for travel this year
Speaker 1: then for housing. Now. It would be pretty tough to
Speaker 1: do that if they were spending their income on housing,
Speaker 1: but they aren't. She and her husband elected to purchase
Speaker 1: a home that was considerably less expensive than they could
Speaker 1: have afforded. As a result, they can go to some
Speaker 1: fabulous destinations while still staying on track with savings goals.
Speaker 1: The conversation doesn't go towards should we take this cruise
Speaker 1: or should we save for retirement? They can do both.
Speaker 1: In general, spending money to buy experiences, to buy connection,
Speaker 1: and to buy time tends to make people happiest, and
Speaker 1: most normal budgets these all tend to be smaller categories
Speaker 1: money for activities and travel, or to get together with
Speaker 1: family and friends, or to pay for date night, babysitting
Speaker 1: or housekeeping services if we budget for happiness, though, maybe
Speaker 1: they should be larger categories. People with more modest incomes
Speaker 1: don't have much flexibility, of course, but as people earn more,
Speaker 1: keeping basic expenses low allows for indulging in quite a
Speaker 1: few adventures and pleasures, the sorts of things that can
Speaker 1: make life feel pretty blissful while still living within your
Speaker 1: means and saving for the future. Now, to be sure,
Speaker 1: most people can't immediately change how much they spend on
Speaker 1: housing or transportation for that matter, but if the goal
Speaker 1: is budgeting for happiness over the long term, it might
Speaker 1: be possible. One straightforward way to do this is that
Speaker 1: if your income rises, you don't automatically keep the same percentages.
Speaker 1: A better job might mean you could buy a nicer car,
Speaker 1: or you could keep the same car and throw fabulous
Speaker 1: parties for family and friends every month in lieu of
Speaker 1: a car payment. There's a reasonable chance that the latter
Speaker 1: would lead to a lot more joy and connection, and
Speaker 1: the old car it will most likely still get you
Speaker 1: where you need to go. In the meantime. This is Laura,
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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