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Happiness & Money

Want vs. Need

by Lori Daly | 550 views | 2 comments | Rate this now!

I don't think I am alone in my desire to move away from the burden of debt and onto a more free life. According to an article by Martin H. Bosworth at Consumer Affairs.com dated June 11, 2007; "Of the total U.S. debt of $2.6 trillion, revolving credit card debt fell $403 million in April after rising $6.7 billion a month earlier, according to the Fed. The decrease means that more consumers were paying off their debt than were incurring new charges, the first decline in 13 months." This is a sign that people are starting to realize that buying now and paying later is not going to make them happy.

Thank you, Gretchen, for reminding me of how important it is to pay attention to how I spend my money, so that I can live smarter and ultimately happier which is really what I "need" and 'want" most.

2 comments so far...

The funny thing about money and happiness, is that if you have no money (true poverty), you end up under an extraordinary amount of stress and having money relieves that stress, thus bringing you some happiness.

Beyond that, you're right. Being in control of how we choose to spend and not playing the "keeping up with the joneses" game can be a very empowered way to live.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Trudi Evans on 31st July 2007
Lori, I am so glad you wrote about this topic. I was reading Gretchen's blog post at the Huffington Post yesterday and made a note for myself to address this issue on Work It, Mom! - which you did in a great way. As I've written about before on the Work It, Mom! Blog my husband and I "downgraded" our spending significantly in order for me to be able to start this company. We even moved to a different city that was more affordable and had good public schools, which reduced our cost of living. Because I was the breadwinner who gave up a high paying job, we live on a a LOT less now and you know what? We're no less happier. And because I am doing something I love for work (vs what I was doing before, which was just for money), my life satisfaction is higher. So all the research is proving out itself in my day-to-day life, it seems.

Thanks for raising this issue - and I am sure we'll keep talking about it here!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Nataly on 31st July 2007