We’ve all imagined a lifestyle of luxury, right? Having a private Chef and cleaners so you don’t have to lift a finger. Always acquiring the latest on trend clothes, cars and gadgets and never wanting for anything.

Lets say you didn’t have to worry about the money and it is was free, all the time.

That sounds great, right?

NOOOOO!

We so quickly jump to the conclusion that being frugal is automatically less desirable to spending lots of money, having lots of luxury and tonnes of convenience. That being frugal will include sacrifice, deprivation, and it will be tough.

But I am going to to say something that people may find shocking.

This basic assumption is dead wrong.

Us humans are f%$#ing terrible at predicting what will make us happy.

As Pat the Shuffler I am far happier now while spending less than I ever was before as boring old Pat. That’s because I am doing more of the things that it turns out make people happy, instead of trying to pay my way to an easier life.

You see there exists this thing called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Once all the basics needs at the bottom of the pyramid are covered, it turns out acquiring more materialistic items doesn’t actually make us any more satisfied with our lives.

This is by no means definitive, but I feel like the work of a Psychologist on happiness and fulfillment is a good place to start.

Once we have covered the first few basic tiers of the Hierarchy of Needs, we must look to the top tiers of Esteem and finally Self-Actualisation to truly feel fulfilled in life.

Here is where things really start to get interesting…

Most of the crap we spend our money on doesn’t increase our overall happiness levels. We actually overwhelmingly spend our money on crap that has nothing to do with our needs and happiness.

Some of it actually replaces stuff that will bring us happiness!

Furthermore, we will try and give the impression of prestige and accomplishment by spending money overtly while trying to impress people. This gives you some short term happiness, but it is all a façade. We are trying to associate the prestige of expensive items with ourselves. As real as that short term happiness is, it is only short term.

How insane have we become?

The greatest feelings of prestige and accomplishment come from conquering your own goals, and they are the only way to make these feelings last long term.

Let’s use some examples to show how we can be better Shufflers, increasing happiness while decreasing spending.

Coffee

I love coffee as much as the next person, you could even call me addicted. But I drink my coffee almost always as instant coffee. Hedonic adaptation means that I feel no worse doing this than someone who goes to a café daily.

Despite satisfying my caffeine urges and making me more alert to get work done, this doesn’t directly achieve my happiness goals. Furthermore, buying more expensive coffee doesn’t make me correspondingly happier.

But instant is not for everyone, so how about a coffee machine, so you can learn to make your own fancy coffees? You can drink some of the truly fabulous instant coffees while you’re at work and make your own super fancy coffees at home. Not only will you spend less in the long run, you will also learn a new skill and feel accomplished, thereby making you happier. You can even make coffees for people you love, increasing your friendship and bonding. Win win I say.

Ditching the car

So you drive around almost everywhere, every time you need something. Have you ever considered walking or riding a bike? There is a very good chance this is possible for at least some of your trips. With long term life planning, it is even possible for most trips.

Exercising makes you healthier and actually helps to fulfil the Safety need in the Hierarchy of Needs above.

By replacing all our walking or biking trips with a car trip, we actually reduce our happiness.

The Ultimate trade off

I take this one step further and say that when buying anything you don’t need or won’t bring you happiness, you reduce your financial security and hence make yourself even less happy than if you hadn’t made the purchase.

Most people are spending their way to misery. They have lovely cars and houses, but zero financial security. They are spending their way into the slavery forever.

So don’t be one of those people who say things like:

‘Don’t deprive yourself too much, or you’ll never make it’

or

‘I could never stop buying my XYZ’

Because nothing I am talking about today involves genuine deprivation, absolutely nothing. We live in one of the luckiest countries in the world, only 0.3% of the world’s population get to live here. Even those living on an absolute rock bottom Australian budget have luxury beyond the wildest dreams of other world citizens.

What I am talking about is directing your time and money toward stuff that will make you happy, such as:

Family and friend bonding time like a picnic at a park, or a BBQ at your place.

Creative endeavours like cooking or blogging for me. Others may find gardening, art, woodwork, tinkering with electronics more satisfying.

Exercising.

As I type the above, I realise again that the best things in life don’t cost much at all…

So you can be a consumerist slave or drop the insanity and join the ranks of the Shufflers instead. Look up the science and the enormous amount of research into happiness. Recognise you have a limited amount of time to attain real happiness, so you can either make decisions that will get you there or you can continue on the rat wheel forever.

Shuffling happily to early retirement.

Pat the Shuffler

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