Finance Gets Personal

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financegirl on Feb 29th 2008 at 6:29 pm Spending

Spending Money in Ways that Make You Happy

I’m a fan of MSN Money columnist MP Dunleavey (although I don’t necessarily agree with her decision to purchase a more expensive house while trying to get out of debt).

Back in July, she wrote an article about 7 Ways to Buy Happiness, in which she discusses spending money in a way that brings long-term happiness. She says that spending more on quality of life, as opposed to “stuff,” is usually a better investment.

This seems to be mostly true for me. Here’s a short list of things I’ve spent money that have brought happiness:

A month-long trip to France to live with a host family while in high school
Our dog that we adopted from a local shelter
My iPod
Photography classes at an art school
Family vacations
Baby grand piano I purchased from my mom’s friend

Generally, the “stuff” I’ve purchased that has made me happy are things that have improved my quality of life. For example, my iPod keeps me entertained while in traffic, helps the time go faster while doing a boring task at work and lets me learn new things through podcasts.

My latest possible addition to this list is the video game Rock Band. I love this game! While it is somewhat expensive ($180 - we bought it off craigslist for $120), we play it a lot. It’s led to “quality time” with my husband and stepson, entertained our friends at the Rock Band parties we throw and is something you can even do by yourself if you’re bored.