If You Can Save Time by Buying Something, Buy It

Photo credit: Hajime NAKANO, CC BY 2.0.

Today in “most of us are probably going to spend more money in 2018 whether or not we want to,” we go to Forbes:

If you’re coming to the end of 2017 bemoaning the fact that you weren’t able to accomplish a fraction of what you had intended to over the past year, there’s a way to make sure that doesn’t happen in 2018. Spend more money. Yes, I’m seriously suggesting you buy your way to a more productive and happier future.

This article promotes a variation of the “increase your happiness by outsourcing household tasks” theory that we looked at earlier this summer; the idea is that if you can save time by buying something, buy it.

Ordering pizza over making dinner gives you another hour to work on perfecting your startup’s funding pitch deck and spares you the kitchen clean-up. Going through the car wash instead of hand-washing your SUV in the driveway offers a cache of free minutes you could use to get a jump on decluttering the basement instead.

Wow. I don’t think I’m the target audience for this piece. (Also, the NYT gave that same advice about ordering more takeout in 2018. Is the restaurant industry in trouble or something?)

The joke, of course, is that most of us are going to spend more money next year. On rent, education, healthcare… the whole reason we have cost of living adjustments is because it costs more to maintain the same standard of living over time. These cost increases are often why we can’t spend more on the stuff that might make us happier, whether that’s a housecleaning service or a meal at a favorite restaurant.

But you still need to clean the kitchen after you order pizza. Those crust crumbs get everywhere.

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