Since I know at least one other person (other than me) is reading, I will post just for you.

I read a great article on the NY Times Website yesterday called "But Will It Make You Happy?" The article started off with an anecdote illustrating the recent trend of extreme personal down-sizing, and how in this economy, so many people are discovering in a very tangible way that things don't bring happiness. It then moved on to discuss recent research on what types of purchases actually DO bring happiness. Generally, if an item has the ability to let us participate in an enjoyable activity (golf clubs or a pair of running shoes) then that purchase actually does have the power to provide longer term happiness. And purchases that provide us with an experience (plane tickets to an fun destination) which allow us to enjoy and experience AND give us something to look back on fondly can also bring more happiness than an impulse purchase of shoes. The article was really great and gave me some more perspective on something I'd been thinking about for awhile. I've recently been trying to do two things (and have had some success): 1) NOT buy starbucks/coffeee out and 2) not buy lunch out. Neither of these things make me happy. At all. Maybe for like 2 seconds, but basically, no. But when I'm not blowing $50 a week on lunch and coffee, and I see that I actually can afford to go out and do X or pay to do C, I am pretty happy about that experience. When I was wedding planning I saw a number of articles and websites that advised picking the three aspects of the wedding that meant the most to you and spend your time and money on that and let the rest of it go. I think that's somewhat applicable in life too. Find out what you really want to spend your time and money doing and focus on that. Oh, the article also said, you get far more enjoyment out of planning and saving for something because you get to anticipate it that just purchasing something immediately. The example they gave was planning a trip in advance versus purchasing last minute deal vacations. I'm going to try REALLY hard to remember this every time I want to spend money on something ridiculous, impulsive or unplanned. Check out the article here.