Buy happiness?

Interesting study out of the University of British Columbia.

Buying time promotes happiness

Looks like many of us might be happier with a smaller boat that we can pay someone to wash and wax, than a larger boat that takes up more of our time to maintain.

Abstract
Around the world, increases in wealth have produced an unintended consequence: a rising sense of time scarcity. We provide evidence that using money to buy time can provide a buffer against this time famine, thereby promoting happiness. Using large, diverse samples from the United States, Canada, Denmark, and The Netherlands (n = 6,271), we show that individuals who spend money on time-saving services report greater life satisfaction. A field experiment provides causal evidence that working adults report greater happiness after spending money on a time-saving purchase than on a material purchase. Together, these results suggest that using money to buy time can protect people from the detrimental effects of time pressure on life satisfaction.

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Well, I can't comment on the general issue of buying time, but I do know that I generally enjoy doing work on my boat. There is great satisfaction in diagnosing a problem and fixing it, correctly. If I had to pay someone to do the same things, I would probably go nuts thinking about how he did some of it wrong and then I would have to fix it again. Cynical I know .

But I do draw the line at pure dog work, like prepping the bottom before painting. I will gladly buy that kind of time.

David

The ultimate luxury is the freedom to choose

how you spend your time
who you spend it with
and where

Money once acquired can help give this freedom.

Striving to acquire it often becomes an end in itself, leading many to sacrifice that freedom.

The most fortunate are those who make their money as a side-effect of

doing the activities

with the people

in the places

that they would choose anyway.

djmarchand said:

Well, I can't comment on the general issue of buying time, but I do know that I generally enjoy doing work on my boat. There is great satisfaction in diagnosing a problem and fixing it, correctly. If I had to pay someone to do the same things, I would probably go nuts thinking about how he did some of it wrong and then I would have to fix it again. Cynical I know .

But I do draw the line at pure dog work, like prepping the bottom before painting. I will gladly buy that kind of time.

David

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I agree Dave. Very odd what I enjoy don't myself and what I don't. I am very happy to change oil or lug batteries for example, but I absolutely hate washing and waxing.

Maybe that is why my oil tends to be clean and my boat dirty?

dhays said:

I agree Dave. Very odd what I enjoy don't myself and what I don't. I am very happy to change oil or lug batteries for example, but I absolutely hate washing and waxing.

Maybe that is why my oil tends to be clean and my boat dirty?

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I understand your line of reasoning perfectly.

djmarchand said:

Well, I can't comment on the general issue of buying time, but I do know that I generally enjoy doing work on my boat. There is great satisfaction in diagnosing a problem and fixing it, correctly. If I had to pay someone to do the same things, I would probably go nuts thinking about how he did some of it wrong and then I would have to fix it again. Cynical I know .

But I do draw the line at pure dog work, like prepping the bottom before painting. I will gladly buy that kind of time.

David

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I also agree with this statement.

I also like knowing the work done was done right. No one takes care of your stuff better then you.

Cheers

H.

john61ct said:

The most fortunate are those who make their money as a side-effect of

doing the activities

with the people

in the places

that they would choose anyway.

Click to expand...

Robert Frost would agree with you. ( From Two Tramps in Mud Time )

But yield who will to their separation,
My object in living is to unite
My avocation and my vocation
As my two eyes make one in sight.
Only where love and need are one,
And the work is play for mortal stakes,
Is the deed ever really done
For Heaven and the future's sakes.

I can see how buying time could promote happiness, but I REALLY enjoy doing many different chores on my boat. IMHO it's not a chore to wash and wax the boat. Or paint the bottom. Or change oil.


Yes, those are all time consuming and sometimes dirty and often sweaty, but it's a labor of love.


We did a special cruise for a group of special people last Thursday evening. I spent about 2.5 hours washing the boat before hand and I love doing it because I wanted the boat to be especially clean.


BTW, the cruise went exceptionally well, a good time was had by all, and nobody could believe the boat is 22 years old.

"we show that individuals who spend money on time-saving services report greater life satisfaction."

Most folks are not used to the loss of privacy of having Staff.

Dollars just allow us to look to a more capable person to restore the objects we depend on and/or enjoy.

Tools, common sense, and a willingness to learn not only support our devices — they support us.

There are definitely two groups of boaters. Those who just want to get in the thing and go, and who will write as many checks as it takes to make that happen. And, the other group, who enjoys fixing and tinkering on their boats as much as they enjoy running them.

Neither is wrong. Each man has to find his own path to happiness.

I do so much work on my own boat I am often mistaken for service personnel by boaters who don't know me! I've had more than one person ask me what I charge, and when they hear $300 an hour (I'm a retired attorney) they usually look a little shocked. One guy still wanted to hire me.

Group9,

I love tinkering on the boat, but for some reason certain jobs just don't appeal to me. I blame a lot of it on a bad back and poor knees. However, that doesn't hold water as I'm perfectly happy crawling around my ER.

I pretty much enjoy most things other than the washing and waxing. I admit though that I have also resigned myself to allowing others to do some repair items that I just don't have enough convenient time to do myself. I have a Hurricane II heater that has decided to not light. I spent several days trying to troubleshoot and fix it. I failed. I don't have the additional time to devote to trying to fix it, so it is something that I'll pay to have someone else do.

If I was retired, I'd just keep working on it until I figured it out. This working for a living thing is beginning to get old.