What Makes You Happy?

I saw in the news that there was one winner of the huge lottery this weekend. They won something like $140,000,000. That is a lot of zeros!

Would you be happy with lots of money? If everything went just as you planned and all your proverbial ducks were in a row, would you be more satisfied with life? I don't think it will conjure any winning lottery tickets for us but according to this article on the CNN money site by Jeanne Sahadi we may be more inclined to have things go well for us if we are happy people to begin with.

Well, that isn't good news for all us gloom and doomers is it now? Actually, according to the article pessimist, or realist, actually perform better in some jobs. But all isn't lost! We can learn to be happier.

We can develop the skills that one needs to think positive and ultimately live a happier more satisfied life. So there is hope yet! I read an article somewhere that said that lottery winners, and others with large expendable incomes, are found not to be any happier after spending their money on the material items they wanted to purchase. The boats, houses, cars and diamonds give a high that only last so long. If there isn't a core of happiness, a foundation of positive outlook there in the beginning, they soon return to their former level of satisfaction with life. One article I read matched census data on earnings with data on self-reported happiness from a national survey. When comparing people with the same income, with ones living in a richer area data showed that the people in the richer area reported being less happy.

The thing that consistently helped to raise the level of overall happiness in life was to use money to create memories. Yep, after taking care of the basic needs and paying our base expenses, spending time creating memorable moments in life went further toward making for a happy life than anything they could buy.

Ok, I know that you can create some really big memories with $140,000,000! Granted. But since the Powerball people aren't passing out checks this year, especially to people who don't buy tickets, I think we had better find some more realistic ways to create some fun memories.

One of the things our family found that created some of the most memorable times and cost the least was camping. We collected sleeping bags and camping equipment from yard sales and thrift stores. We bought our first tent on clearance. Our investment was very small.

We had some relaxing trips, some wild and wooly nights ( never did figure what that animal outside clawing around was) and some downright disastrous experiences (how much water could a sleeping bag hold if a sleeping bag could hold water?). But we bonded during those times and we still love talking about them.

Getting control of our money gives us the time and opportunity to find productive, satisfying ways to spend our days, and to spend time with family and friends. After all, that is why we practice all this frugal stuff in the first place isn't it?.

Pic: Lillies and Purple Coneflower. Townsend, Tn.