What would make you happy? Really happy? A nice holiday, lazing on a tropical beach? Maybe a blowout meal with friends at a swanky restaurant? Or possibly splashing out on a pair of the latest designer jeans? All these pleasures cost money so does that mean we need lots of cash to feel good or does the old saying 'money can't buy happiness' still ring true?
This well-worn adage has been put to the test by scientists in Canada. They found that when used in the right way, money can bring us happiness. They discovered that when you use money to free up time, by paying someone to do your chores for example, you are happier. In an experiment, individuals reported greater higher life satisfaction if they used $40 to save time rather than spend it on material goods such as a new pair of shoes. But surprisingly, the researchers found that fewer than a third of individuals spent money to buy themselves time each month.
In our hectic lives time is one thing we seem to be short of. People are reporting a 'time famine', where they get stressed over the daily demands on their time. Psychologists say stress over lack of time causes lower well-being and contributes to anxiety and insomnia. But in many countries now, as incomes are rising, there is an option to buy more time.
This can be through hiring a cleaner to clean your house or outsourcing your ironing to someone else – giving us valuable extra hours to do the things we want to do. And in many forward-thinking companies, staff are given the opportunity to buy more time off or work flexibly.
Professor Dunn, who worked with colleagues at Harvard Business School, Maastricht University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, says that "money can in fact buy time. And it buys time pretty effectively… and so my take home message is, 'think about it, is there something you hate doing that fills you with dread and could you pay somebody else to do that for you?' If so, then science says that's a pretty good use of money.''
I would agree that buying more time makes me feel happier and more relaxed. But making time a priority over making money does come at a price; you have less cash to spend on the things you now have time to do. However there's another old saying that 'life is short and time is swift' so there's no time to waste and there's more to life than doing tedious housework! 什么会让你开心？真的开心吗？一个愉快的假期，在热带海滩上懒洋洋？也许和朋友们在时髦的餐厅吃一顿大餐？或者可能是花大笔钱购买一条设计师的最新牛仔裤？所有这些快乐都要花钱，所以这是否意味着我们需要很多现金才能感觉良好，还是“金钱买不到幸福”这句老话听起来仍然正确？
这句陈腐的格言已被加拿大的科学家进行了测试。他们发现，如果以正确的方式使用，金钱可以给我们带来幸福。他们发现，当你用钱腾出时间时，例如付钱给别人做家务，你会更快乐。在一项实验中，个人报告说，如果他们使用40美元来节省时间，而不是花在一双新鞋等物质商品上，他们的生活满意度会更高。但令人惊讶的是，研究人员发现，每个月只有不到三分之一的人花钱为自己争取时间。
在我们忙碌的生活中，时间是我们似乎缺少的一件事。人们正在报告一场“时间饥荒”，他们对时间的日常需求感到压力。心理学家说，缺乏时间的压力会导致幸福感下降，并导致焦虑和失眠。但现在在许多国家，随着收入的增加，可以选择购买更多时间。
这可以通过雇用一名清洁工来清洁你的房子，或者将你的熨烫工作外包给别人——给我们宝贵的额外时间来做我们想做的事情。在许多具有前瞻性的公司中，员工有机会获得更多休息时间或灵活工作。
Dunn教授与哈佛商学院、马斯特里赫特大学和阿姆斯特丹自由大学的同事一起工作，他说：“金钱实际上可以赢得时间。它非常有效地赢得了时间......所以我带回家的信息是，“想想看，有没有你讨厌做的事情让你感到恐惧，你能付钱给别人为你做这件事吗？”如果是这样，那么科学说这是对金钱的一个很好的利用。
我同意，买更多的时间会让我感到更快乐、更放松。但让时间优先于赚钱确实是有代价的；你现在有时间做的事情上的现金更少了。然而，还有一句老话，“生命是短暂的，时间是匆匆的”，所以没有时间可以浪费，生活比做繁琐的家务更重要！
