Money and happiness are two things that seem to go hand in hand; we often can’t discuss one without discussing the other. While we’ve all heard the saying, money can’t buy you happiness, more often than not when we’re feeling down or stressed out we feel that having more money would make life easier.
Here’s the thing, having more and more money probably won’t make you happier or feel more fulfilled, but learning how to better manage your finances and having a better relationship with your money will make your happier and more fulfilled.
It’s all about how you manage your current cash flow. Even people with the highest paycheques can be unhappy and too stressed out to actually enjoy their lives. If you believe that more money will allow you to simply buy more things, you may find that your ineffective spending practices will only lead to an unhappy life.
Studies have shown that people who understand how to manage their personal finances properly and responsibly will lead happier lives, no matter what their weekly paycheques look like. This is because once you can manage your personal finances effectively you will no longer spend on things that are not important. As a result, you will not have debts that are associated with money mismanagement. Not having to worry about debt will more than likely increase your level of happiness.
Below are a few ways you can use your money responsibly to improve your life and hopefully increase your happiness.
Focus More on Experiences
You should use your money and invest in experiences rather than spend it solely on material things for yourself. Typically people become bored with their material things, after a few weeks or months your really expensive television might start to lose its original appeal as watching it alone may become boring. Instead, you should spend your money on experiences with your friends or family members.
The memories you get from such activities are invaluable as they remind you of the connections and friendships you have with the people in your life, this is of course more important than anything that can be bought.
Invest in Time
Making money shouldn’t be the only thing going through your mind. You should also make time to do other activities that bring you joy and fulfillment.
Spend your free time working on projects or participating in activities that have nothing to do with money. These things should be enjoyable and fun and could be whatever you want, including but not limited to spending time with your family, playing games with your children or even hanging out with your friends.
Make your Experiences Enjoyable
After a while our daily routines can become just that, a routine. This can make live boring and could increase your want to spend money on unnecessary and expensive things. Try to make your daily experiences as lively and enjoyable as you can. Do not let them become part of a routine that you try to avoid all day.
Avoid Unnecessary Debt
Trying to avoid racking up too much debt should be a goal for everyone. Sticking to a budget and trying not to overspend will allow you to live a less stressful life. Debt causes all kinds of issues and not just financial issues. Relationships fail because of debt and people get sick from the stress associated with debt. While we understand that some debt is unavoidable, the debt that comes from shopping too much or charging too many night outs to your credit card is completely avoidable.
Avoiding debt will increase your feeling of security which will in return contribute positively to your happiness.
Pay First
Credit cards have made it extremely easy to simply get whatever you want without having to pay for it right away. This of course contributes greatly to the amount of personal debt the average person has. While credit cards can be a great financial tool they can also create serious debt issues. This is why it’s extremely important that you try to change the way you use your credit cards (if you’re currently having issues with credit card debt).
Pay for the items you want right away with the cash you have, this will force you to only purchase things you can actually afford and therefore prevent you from racking up too much credit card debt.
Consider Investing in Others
Investing your money in someone else will more than likely bring you considerably more happiness than if you were to spend that money on material items that you don’t need.
This could be donating more to charity or it could mean actually investing in a friend’s or family member’s new business. Whatever you choose, make sure you’re investing in someone who will greatly benefit from your money. Helping someone accomplish their goals will bring more happiness to your life than you expect.
Start Today!
When you learn how to manage your personal finances well, you’ll experience a feeling of comfort and satisfaction. Happiness won’t come from the amount of money you have in your bank account but from knowing that you’re financial secure, able to spend time with friends and family and responsibly enough to deal with your debts before they get out of hand.
