Did you know that buying experiences not things could be the first step to achieving more happiness in your life?
While things can be helpful and enjoyable, I rarely light up again after the initial opening of the thing I bought. On the other hand, when I go experience something amazing, I light up every time I think about it and retell the adventure.
Continue reading this article to learn more about why you should spend money on experiences instead of things to experience more happiness.
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The Trend of Less is More
I read this article about Millenials choosing experiences over things and I started feeling a little less like a freak of nature.
When my family and I decided to hit the road and live the full-time RV life, some of my friends were not super supportive because they didn’t understand how or why I would do this.
How dare you uproot your family and travel around the country.
After we started this lifestyle, I started realizing there were a lot of people out there like me that were ready to live with less. Around a million people actually live in their RVs full time.
Here is a video of our RV tour and this is after we upgraded a little bit from our previous space. And btw, we are going to upgrade a little bit more. We are glad to live with less but sometimes you find out your current less is a little too little. hahah
When we lived in our house with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, we barely used the thing and I was always working so hard to pay for it.
Now that we live a life of less, I feel much happier and healthier and I am able to enjoy my kids.
Nothing Can Replace an Experience
I have to say that one of the biggest reasons to spend money on experiences instead of collecting things is because experiences can’t be replaced.
It makes sense to me to rent things that you don’t use regularly and only buy things that we are going to use on a daily or at least weekly basis.
Since we can work anywhere that we want to and more people are able to do this, why would we want to buy a house when we hardly ever stay there? All of the repairs and upkeep and — bleh!
I would rather spend all of that money on doing things like going to the Grand Canyon or going up Skybridge in Gatlinburg, TN!
Less Stress When Things Are Simple
When you keep your life simple and don’t own a lot of things, it’s much less stressful.
I watched these guys below and while I’m not planning on going that far, it was very eye-opening.
When something I own breaks or there is some problem with someone, it’s super stressful.
I have to pay someone to fix it or figure it out myself.
If I don’t own it, I let the person that owns it take care of it because that’s the deal.
Easy.
Focus on What You Value Instead of Buying Things
If you’re like me, you value family — a lot.
I would rather do things that are simple and enjoy everyday life than spend years of my life traveling for business and never seeing my family.
While I don’t judge people that do that, it’s not the route for me.
I’d rather homeschool my kids and work as a writer and internet marketer doing what I love.
When you own a lot of things that you have to pay for, you don’t get a choice. You have to work work work to pay for all of the things you owe on.
Debt can be a very harsh master.
Check Off Items On Your Live List
While most people call it their bucket list, I really don’t like that. I call it my live list.
Creating a list of things you want to do and looking at the list stay the same year after year can be very depressing.
You’re saddled down to all of your things. You can’t possibly do anything because you have to work weekdays and weekends just to pay for everything.
When you focus on buying experiences not things, you’re going to be able to check more items off your live list and that gives you an amazing feeling of accomplishment and excitement.
And don’t worry — you won’t run out of things to do when you’re buying experiences not things. The world is so big and you are going to continually find new things to do.
Expand your live list, go out there and experience the things that matter to you most and watch your level of happiness soar.
Buying Experiences Not Things – For the Win!
Now that you know more about why you should be buying experiences not things to live a happier life, what can you do about it?
You are likely tired of the lack of money ruining your life and don’t even notice all of the things you have that are draining your finances.
Think about how many times you’ve had to have something fixed or spend money on maintenance.
Do you want to learn more about living a happier and more fulfilled life? Read through the rest of my blog and you might want to check out this article specifically – How to Live on a Budget Without Being Miserable if you want to start budgeting but don’t want to hate it.
