Elevate the everyday

Little splurges can boost happiness more than big ones

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to try building little splurges into your life.
Not only is elevating the everyday fun, it tends to
be a more economical way of boosting happiness than buying

(00:25):
big stuff. I was reminded of this tip while listening
to one of my favorite podcasts, how to Money. A
few months ago. Hosts Joel and Matt interviewed personal finance
bloggers Kirston and Julian Saunders. The couple had paid off
two thousand dollars in debt in a few years, which
involved a reasonable amount of frugality. However, Kirsten noted that

(00:46):
they made a point of elevating the every day in
order to feel like life was good and rich, even
as they were socking away cash. The idea is that
if you get a promotion or a raise, you might
choose to spend some amount upgrading a relatively low cost
but frequent purchase. So, for instance, if you and your
spouse share a bottle of wine once a week, and

(01:09):
this opportunity for connection is a major highlight for the
two of you, going from a fifteen dollar bottle to
a thirty dollar bottle could feel quite luxurious, again and
again and again. But as long as that wasn't the
whole raise, you come out ahead without having taken on
the big expenses like a new house or new car

(01:29):
that truly raised your cost of living. I love this
idea of elevating the every day. We interact with certain
objects more often than others, and being happy with them
can make a big difference in your life. Start with sleep.
Do your sheets feel comfortable? Do you love your pillow?
If not, why not? Changing this can make going to

(01:50):
bed feel more indulgent, and going to bed earlier is
how grown up sleep in now? How about your shower?
Is the water pressure stimulating? We had an issue not
long ago with some plumbing problems in my house, and
these made the shower water feel more like a trickle
than anything appealing. Getting this fixed meant a big boost
in happiness. So can Really good towels are really nice shampoo.

(02:15):
If you buy four bottles of shampooper year, spending twelve
dollars on each instead of three dollars, is only thirty
six dollars more out the door for something you can
celebrate every single morning. That's ten cents in morning to
elevate the every day. What could be a better bargain
than that. You can drink your coffee out of a
pleasingly contoured mug. You can drink good coffee. I like

(02:38):
real cream. I'd rather skip dessert than start my day
with skim milk. If you exercise frequently, stop making do
with ratty jim clothes. High quality socks are still relatively
cheap in the grand scheme of treats, and they can
make you feel like you're running on air. I also
like really nice pens. Someone recently gave me a cross pen,

(02:59):
and while a little detective work finds that some of
the company's offerings run into the hundreds of dollars, a
standard really nice pen costs about twenty five scheduling my day,
and my planner feels downright decadent writing with such a
pen now versus the free ones I grabbed from hotels. Now,
on some level, a nice pen is indulgent. It's not

(03:19):
really necessary, and if money is incredibly tight, life might
call for making do. But if you choose to spend say,
of your salary on housing versus the thirty percent or more.
Some calculators say you could theoretically afford you can buy
a lot of nice pens and still build up savings.
And interestingly, there's some evidence that the little stuff adds

(03:41):
more pleasure to life than the big stuff. Thanks to
the hedonic treadmill effect. We get used to most things
in life, good or bad. A new car can make
you happy at first, but you're not going to get
new cars too frequently and you'll stop noticing them eventually.
Whereas you can buy a fancy coffee every more morning
and experience the pleasure again and again. By elevating the

(04:04):
every day, you can buy happiness, and you can get
it pretty cheap. So how will you elevate the every day?
What little treat will use for John? In the meantime?
This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
the most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to

(04:28):
hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number
four then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot
me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart Media

(04:48):
dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out with all
the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

(05:09):
your favorite shows. H