NPR

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

A recent study suggests that when people spend their extra cash to get help with time-consuming chores, they're likelier to feel better than if they use the money to buy more things.
Mowing the lawn can be good exercise, and is fun for some people. But others who find themselves squeezed for time might find the luxury of paying someone else to do it to be of much more value than buying more stuff.

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 suggests 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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