Stop buying stuff and start buying experiences!

The Secret to Happiness? Spend Money on Experiences, Not Things

"Everywhere we look we are inundated with the same message: "BUY, BUY, BUY your way to happiness!" While buying a new gadget or the first drive in a new car may be satisfying or thrilling for a short while, the thrill always fades and we find ourselves back in the same place seeking the nextpurchase to keep the feeling going. If this sounds anything like your life then rest assured there is a better way to spend your money and keep that feeling alive: Stop buying stuff and start buying experiences!

Recent research from San Francisco State University found that people who spent money on experiences rather than material items were happier and felt the money was better spent. The thrill of purchasing things fades quickly but the joy and memories of experiences, from epic adventures to minute encounters, can last a lifetime. Next time you're feeling a bit down or lacking in some way, before you go out and buy things remember these five tips for evaluating your spending and decide to have experiences instead of just accumulating stuff."

Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things

The Paradox Of Possessions

"A 20-year study conducted by Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University, reached a powerful and straightforward conclusion: Don’t spend your money on things. The trouble with things is that the happiness they provide fades quickly. There are three critical reasons for this:

• We get used to new possessions. What once seemed novel and exciting quickly becomes the norm.

• We keep raising the bar. New purchases lead to new expectations. As soon as we get used to a new possession, we look for an even better one.

• The Joneses are always lurking nearby.Possessions, by their nature, foster comparisons. We buy a new car and are thrilled with it until a friend buys a better one—and there’s always someone with a better one.

“One of the enemies of happiness is adaptation,” Gilovich said. “We buy things to make us happy, and we succeed. But only for a while. New things are exciting to us at first, but then we adapt to them.”

The paradox of possessions is that we assume that the happiness we get from buying something will last as long as the thing itself. It seems intuitive that investing in something we can see, hear, and touch on a permanent basis delivers the best value. But it’s wrong."