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: This week we're talking about money related topics. Time and
Speaker 1: money are both scarce resources, and it's good to be
Speaker 1: careful with both. Today's tip is about ways to use
Speaker 1: money as a tool to build a better life, or
Speaker 1: in other words, how to buy happiness. Now, while we
Speaker 1: all have the same amount of time, people have wildly
Speaker 1: varying amounts of money. If your idea of a good
Speaker 1: time is flying by private jet to a resort on
Speaker 1: the Mediterranean, it's obviously going to require quite a bit
Speaker 1: of cash to pull that off. But most of life
Speaker 1: isn't about that resort. A life has lived in hours,
Speaker 1: and a lot of happiness is influenced by how we
Speaker 1: spend our normal, everyday hours. The good news is that
Speaker 1: even small amounts of money can boost happiness if we
Speaker 1: spend this money wise lee with an eye on those
Speaker 1: everyday hours. In other words, money can buy happiness if
Speaker 1: you spend it right. The first category for buying happiness
Speaker 1: spend on experiences. Experiences, because they tend to be varied
Speaker 1: and novel, create memories. As we've talked about on this
Speaker 1: podcast before. Having more memories makes us feel like we
Speaker 1: have more time. The dining room table that you use
Speaker 1: once a year doesn't really do that. You might be
Speaker 1: better off taking that trip to Rome that you'll remember
Speaker 1: forever and getting a much cheaper table. In my family,
Speaker 1: we try to operate under this philosophy. We buy the
Speaker 1: kid's clothes at discount stores and hand down whatever lasts
Speaker 1: from kid to kid, but we've brought memberships that most
Speaker 1: of the major family friendly institutions in the area, the zoo,
Speaker 1: the children's museum, the science museum, the aquarium. This way
Speaker 1: we always have fun activities we can do together on
Speaker 1: the weekend. The second category is to spend money to
Speaker 1: buy time. As we've talked about this week time is
Speaker 1: in some sense is more limited than money. You can
Speaker 1: make more money, but you cannot make more time. So
Speaker 1: if there's a place where you can spend a modest
Speaker 1: amount of cash to move time from the unhappy category
Speaker 1: to the happy category, this could be a big win.
Speaker 1: If you dislike mowing the lawn, pay a service and
Speaker 1: free up your Saturday. In my family, if two of
Speaker 1: the big kids have simultaneous sports events on a weekend,
Speaker 1: my husband and I will each go to one and
Speaker 1: then sometimes will hire a sitter to come play with
Speaker 1: the littler kids. This way we can actually watch our
Speaker 1: kids games instead of missing a kid's goal because we're
Speaker 1: trying to keep the preschooler from running into the parking lot.
Speaker 1: This is definitely a way to buy happiness. And finally,
Speaker 1: you can buy happiness by spending money on relationships. Time
Speaker 1: spent with close family and friends is often the most
Speaker 1: pleasant time we have. When I did a time diary
Speaker 1: study of nine days in the lives of busy people
Speaker 1: for my book Off the Clock, I found that people's
Speaker 1: sense of time abundance rose in direct correlation to how
Speaker 1: much of their leisure time they spent with friends and family.
Speaker 1: People who felt starved for time watch TV or peruse
Speaker 1: social media. People who felt time was abundant made plans
Speaker 1: with friends, and they were happier for it. One great
Speaker 1: idea take her friend out to lunch. Spending money on
Speaker 1: her will make you happy, and you'll also get time
Speaker 1: with her. And then even better, she'll probably reciprocate, so
Speaker 1: you'll get too happy lunches instead of just one. What
Speaker 1: could be better than that? 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: be for Breakfast pod that's B the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For
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