Want to Be Happy With the Money You Have? 5 Ways to Get More Enjoyment Out of Your Money

Rather than wishing you had more money, wouldn’t it be cool if you could get more enjoyment out of the money you do have in your bank account?

While having more money is not a bad thing (most of the time), if you’re able to enjoy what you’re bringing in, you’re not going to be sad that you’re not making a million dollars.

As long as you have a roof over your head and food on your plate, you’re doing better than a lot of other people in the world.

Just remember what one famous rapper once said – Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems! This may be hard to understand for some people, but if you think about it the statement makes sense. When you have more money, you usually have more responsibilities and pressures on you in your life. This is why it’s a better idea to learn to enjoy the money you do have rather than trying to make more money all the time.

How to Enjoy Your Money More

Here’s a list of a few ways that you can make sure you get more enjoyment out of the money that you do have in your life.

●    Buy Experiences Not Things – Rather than buying material possessions, try to spend your money on experiences. Take a trip with the family or friends instead of buying that large screen TV. The memories you make are going to be worth more to you in the long run than any material item. This is also a lot of fun and can result in you getting more enjoyment out of your money.
●    Learn to Help Others – This may seem counterintuitive if you don’t have a lot of money, but when you learn to help others with what you do have, you’re going to be able to feel good about yourself knowing you’ve helped someone. Just make sure you don’t go too far with this. Make sure you take care of your own needs first.
●    Wait Then Buy – Impulse buys are a problem for many people. This can cause you to spend money that you should be spending on the essentials. When this happens, it can feel like you’re poor even when you’re not. When you feel the urge to buy something, wait a little while. Most of the time you’ll find that you don’t really  need the item.
●    Buy Quantity – Rather than getting one big thing with your hard earned money when you are treating yourself, get a few things that are smaller. This can make it feel like your money is going further. You still want to make sure you stick to your budget, of course, but this can make it seem like you’re getting more for every dollar spent. This works best with non-perishables – things you can stock up on and store for years if needed.
●    Learn to Be Happy – While a lot of people think more money will bring them more happiness, this is not usually the case. In fact, having more money means more stress and problems. Learning to be happy with what you have in your life can go a long way in making life more pleasant for you and everyone around you as well. This is not an easy lesson to learn, but if you can learn to be happy with what you have you’re going to have a much more enjoyable life no matter how much money you make.

You still want to make sure you have enough money to survive and get by, and this is why college can be so important. If a degree means that you’re going to make more money, it can mean an easier life for you – no matter what you major in. Having said that, depending on how many courses you take, you may be able to make even more money when you first get out of college.

Just remember that money doesn’t bring happiness. In fact, some of the happiest people in the world are those who don’t have a lot of money because they’ve learned how to be happy without money and enjoy the money they do have in their life. If you or someone you know is able to be happy with the money they have, leave a comment and let us hear your story. When you begin to talk to people, you’re going to find out that money isn’t everything in life.

Written on 12/13/2013 by Joy Mali. Joy Mali is a staff writer on The Washington Times and Examiner. Her work is also published on Lifehack, Yahoo and other mainstream sites. She likes to share interesting tips to help people manage their personal finances & credit.

Photo Credit: Barta IV