Purchase Your Happiness, Purchase Your Freedom

I recently read MP Dunleavey's book, Money Can Buy Happiness: How to Spend to Get the Life You Want. Her philosophy is spot on. Her main point is spend money on things that deeply interest you; these things will comprise your "happiness portfolio" which works much like an investment portfolio. You must decide the right allocation of each element of happiness, then use your money in ways that feed that happiness portfolio. She does NOT by any means advocate frivolous spending. Instead she urges us to make honest assessments of our lives given the way we choose to spend or refrain from spending our money. Think of things, experiences, etc you (would) find truly fulfilling or ideals you seek to aspire to, and then juxtapose them with your spending habits. Do your spending habits reflect your inner yearnings? Or do you hold yourself back from say, taking French classes to finally master the language of seduction because instead you spend on take-out every night and go to the movies every weekend? But wait, I enjoy my General Tsao chicken accompanied by shrimp fried rice and the latest box-office releases!!! You dare say?!?! Absolutely, enjoy that take-out, but maybe cut down to once a week and a movie once a month to make room for the endeavors that are more worthwhile and really conjure up that feeling of excitement within you (i.e. being healthy-spend on the gym or exercise equipment, quality time with family- spend on a trip to see the clan, daredevil stunts- spend on skydiving, cultural events- spend on the latest documentary/art exhibit/lecture).

Dunleavey also encourages readers to spend in ways that will make life less stressful. This does not mean, hire a personal chef because you hate cooking as it takes too long and staring at the stove literally boils your blood. That is, unless you TRULY have the money to do so; TRULY means that you're not paying for the chef's services with credit and hustling to deposit your next paycheck just in time to cover the bill, which after paying, there's nothing left to buy groceries or cover the utilities. I digress. I think an example would best illustrate my point:

Your in-laws are coming to town, the house is a mess, and you have a huge work project for which you've been working overtime every night to complete. The project is due the day they are set to arrive. You know your spouse won't be able to get things in order on his/her own, go figure? You can: a) decide to be a superhero and clean the house into the wee hours of the morning only to go to work smelling like Drano with matted hair and a groggy mind, b) get your spouse and or kids to do it day by day (fat chance, we've ruled this out) or c) hire a cleaning service to get the job done for you or perhaps a one time housekeeper to cook dinner, do the laundry and clean house. It looks like "c" will save you time, stress and Visine. Get some rest and spend your money WISELY! As Dunleavey says, "save time and buy yourself peace of mind."

Dunleavey doesn't just talk about spending money. She talks about curtailing spending in order to achieve happiness. For instance, one woman decided to stop working in order to pursue an education to become a massage therapist so that she could work with AIDS patients who find great pain relief through massage therapy. Her decision caused her family to incur about $10,000 of debt and certainly required them to budget more. BUT guess what?!?! Foregoing a salary in order to pursue her passion, in the end, made her HAPPY! Now, she's doing what she wants to do--living every day the way she defines it. Be willing to lower your spending to get ahead.

Decreasing spending in order to triumph over the despotic reign of debt will certainly get you ahead. Another couple mentioned in the book did just that. Their dream was to move to Australia. Their debt and neglect to prioritize debt payments over the next discounted vacation tied them down to living where they were, and in turn made them unhappy. They curbed their spending, started saving and within a year accomplished their dream of moving to the land down under. As Dunleavey puts it, "less debt equals more peace of mind." She goes through a plan to help you understand where your money goes every month, relieve debt and save for retirement. After all, "you can't invest in your own happiness, your own dreams, when your money is feeding a plastic card," that is assuming you're facing credit card debt. A safe assumption as the average credit card debt per household-- regardless of whether they have a credit card or not--was $8,329 at the end of 2008 according to the Nilson Report published in April 2009.1

Finally, I'll leave you with a couple quotes found in the book that I just loved:

"...there are a dozen ways I'd rather spend my money than on a bunch of forgettable sandwiches...That doesn't mean I renounced eating out. I just became a lot more conscious about where, when, and why I spent that money--always making sure that when I did, I took it as a delicious chance to catch up with a friend or spend time with my husband..." -MP Dunleavey

"...it's not about how much money you have, but how and where and why you spend it." -MP Dunleavey

"But when you shift your focus and invest more of your money in less conspicuous expenditures--enjoying life, exploring yourself, connecting with others, securing your future, and so on-- the returns are so much greater. You've enriched your all-around quality of life so that inner cravings for stuff abates. You may spend as much as you once did at the mall, but the satisfaction you receive is deeper. And because you're channeling your money into living, not buying--which includes easing financial stress and saving for the future--your fiscal picture improves." -MP Dunleavey

"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do." -Bob Dylan

References:

Dunleavey, M.P. Money Can Buy Happiness: How to Spend to Get the Life You Want. New York: Broadway Books, 2007.

Woolsey, Ben, Schulz, Matt. "Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics." <creditcards.com> 1