Have you heard the saying, “money can’t buy happiness”? Well, new research is now saying otherwise. According to a study from University of British Columbia and Harvard Business School, that was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found buying time makes people happier than buying material things.
Global News reports, there are many people who wish that there was more time in the day and the theory that spending money to get some of those everyday tasks done is something that could make someone much happier. Unfortunately, according to researchers, very few people make this kind of investment.
UBC psychology professor and senior author of the study Elizabeth Dunn said, “although the idea of being happier by having someone clean your home or do other unwanted chores seems obvious, the study found even small investments like shopping at a more expensive, but closer-to-home, the grocery store makes a difference. Theoretically what we think is that buying time protects people from the negative effects of time stress in daily life,” she said. “When you’re rushing around, feeling pressed for time, that seems to take a bit of a toll on people’s day-to-day happiness.”
In this study, researchers surveyed 60 people in Vancouver and gave them each $40 to spend on two separate weekends. The first weekend they were instructed to use the money on any material item they wanted.
People purchased many different items, from bottles of wine to board games. They were then surveyed by researchers to determine their level of happiness following the purchase of the item.
The second weekend the research participants were asked to use the money for something more specific. It needed to be something that saved them time. Things such as taking a cab instead of public transit or paying for someone to do household chores were chosen.
When researchers compared the group’s levels of happiness from one weekend to the other, the results showed that people were much happier with their purchases on the second weekend, when they purchased things that helped save them time.
A lot of people may think that they don’t have the financial freedom to pay for these types of things and that these time-saving services may be seen as luxury items, but there are many ways to readjust your budget and in the end could up saving you money based on the service and the normal time you put into these things. At the end of the day, it comes down to what are you willing to pay for more time?
Would you invest in more free time? Let us know in the comment section below.
