How to buy happiness
According to Daniel Gilbert and others in the Journal of Consumer Psychology:
- Buy more experiences and fewer material goods
- Use your money to benefit others rather than yourself
- Buy many small pleasures rather than fewer large ones
- Eschew extended warranties and other forms of overpriced insurance
- Delay consumption
- Consider how peripheral features of your purchases may affect your day-to-day life
- Beware of comparison shopping
- Pay close attention to the happiness of others
The paper goes into more detail and gives good examples…interesting stuff.