It’s a fact: You actually can buy happiness.
A new study released in June revealed that paying for time-saving services can actually increase happiness and overall life satisfaction.
The study is based on the idea that time famine (a lack of time) is draining and even unhealthy for people who are busy. According to these new findings “feelings of time stress are in turn linked to lower well-being, including reduced happiness, increased anxiety, and insomnia.”
I don’t know a mom who doesn’t deal with time stress. Since women still carry the brunt of the load when it comes to domestic duties and childcare, the thing we lack the most is time.
But when you pay for time-saving services such as lawn care, a housekeeper, and food delivery, you are preventing the stress of time famine.
And all the mothers in the world rejoiced.
Because we have known this all along. It’s about time science caught up with us.
The mental load we carry is what weighs us down creating stress, anxiety and sleepless nights. Personally, there’s nothing more satisfying than taking something off my plate.
For years I have felt guilty about having an on-again-off-again relationship with my housekeeper. I will hire her for a few months, then decide that the guilt is too much and I can do it all on my own. But as a work-at-home-mom, my time is scarce. I go through seasons where I find I have to make a choice: feel stressed out and tired or hire help.
I’m so over feeling guilty about this because now we have research that proves it—hiring help is so worth it.
If you are curious, the study showed that the amount of money spent on time-paying services did not correlate to the amount of happiness. So that extra $5 you spend to order your groceries online can give you a great deal of happiness.
Ashley Whillans, one of the researchers behind the study said it doesn’t even matter how much money you make. “What we actually find in our data is that the role of time-saving purchases is independent from the role of income in predicting happiness.”
I know what you’re thinking: What about people who just can’t afford time-saving services? Finding other ways to prevent time famine, such as living closer to work, or just saying no to activities can also decrease time stress and increase overall life satisfaction. #boom
SOURCE: Baby Center
