Buying time, rather than things, is the secret key to happiness: study

So sending the laundry out, hiring a cleaning service or getting groceries delivered satisfies us more than spending our money on new clothes or a fancy bottle of wine, according to a recent study from Proceedings of the National Academy.

For two weekends, the researchers gave $40 to the same group of 60 adults, all under age 70.

One weekend, they were to spend it on a time-saving service. The next weekend, they were told to make a material purchase.

When asked about their feelings after each set of purchases, the participants reported more positive emotion after spending money on the time-saving service.

The stress of not having enough time, the study says, also leads to poor well-being, including poorer eating habits, increased anxiety, and insomnia. Spending money on services that give back time is one way to lessen the stressors of everyday life.

As part of the study, the researchers also surveyed people across the U.S., Denmark, and Canada, with a representative sample of about 6,000 respondents. They once again found that spending money on time-saving services was linked to overall satisfaction with life. These results were sampled across demographics, including working class adults and millionaires.

However, spending money on too many time-saving services can also have a negative effect on well-being. The researchers found that some people believed that if they needed to use too many time-saving services, they felt “unable to handle any daily tasks, potentially reducing well-being.”