“Most people would benefit from using their money to change the amount of time they spend on three key activities: commuting, watching television, and hanging out with friends and family.”

I have been summarizing key principles from Happy Money by Elizabeth Dunn & Michael Norton. This post is focused on the third concept – Buy Time. If you missed the first two themes, click the links below.

1. Buy Experiences
2. Make It a Treat
3. Buy Time
4. Pay Now, Consume Later
5. Invest in Others

Buy Time

By now, you’ve probably heard that you should use your money to buy experiences rather than stuff to improve the joy you get from spending. But experiences take time. If your days are full of commuting and working then there’s not much time left for anything else. No wonder so many of us default to spending our money on stuff and trying to relax by watching TV. The internet has made it easy to buy practically anything we want in a few clicks and to watch limitless amounts of TV series, movies, and Fail videos. Yet these activities are likely counterproductive to improving our happiness and sense of well-being.

Once our basic needs are met, time is our most valuable asset. Time to do the activities we enjoy. Time to exercise. Time to be with friends and family. The authors reviewed happiness research and listed some of the most and least pleasant ways we spend our time as shown in the chart below:

Consider Ben, who drives 45 minutes to work, plugs away at his desk all day, and then drives 45 minutes back home (an hour if he hits traffic). By the time he and his spouse  (who also works full-time) make and clean up dinner and get the kids in bed, he is exhausted and plops down on the couch to watch TV. An hour or two later, he goes to bed without having been active all day. Rinse and repeat the rest of the week.

Now look back at the Rarely Pleasant list above. Ben spends most of his days doing unpleasant things. But he has a big house, nice car, and family to help support. What’s a guy to do?

For starters, he could find a new job or move closer to work. Commuting is one of the least pleasant ways to spend time. If you commute, you not only spend that time in a bad mood but also cannot use it on something more fulfilling like going biking with your kids or meeting a friend for coffee or hitting the gym. Commuters report less job and free-time satisfaction than non-commuters. Ben may have to take a pay cut to move closer to home, but he could use that additional time in ways that generally improve happiness such as exercise, volunteering, and socializing. The authors of Happy Money point out that the average American worker works two hours of every day just to pay for their cars. Yikes!

Next, Ben could turn off his TV. The average American watches two months of television per year according to Happy Money. Wow! While an occasional show can be beneficial, too much TV leads to decreased happiness. By limiting his TV viewing, Ben will get back 5-10 hours per week to spend on activities that will have a positive effect on his satisfaction with life.

Now that we have Ben all squared away and happy, what else can we do to benefit from the “buy time” principle? Learn to ask ourselves how our spending choices will affect our time. Here are some examples:

• How will this new pair of shoes affect my time next Tuesday?
• Will buying a Ultra HD 4K TV compel me to watch more TV?
• Will accepting this new job offer give me more or less spare time?

The authors state, “By consistently asking yourself how a purchase will affect your time, your dominant mind-set should shift, pushing you toward happier choices.”

What are some of the ways you have bought time for yourself? How did you use it?