How Money Can Make You Happy

Money does not equal happiness. We know that.

However, it turns out, spending money in certain ways can actually make you happier. Think money spent on a family vacation, or saving up for something really special.

Here is a great article from the New York Times about Money and Happiness, with some great insights about the kind of spending that adds to our happiness. I particularly liked the description it gives of the"buzz" we get from buying things. We feel great, and then the we get used to whatever it is, and so we buy something else.

But Will It Make You Happy?

The Easy Way Out Through Debt Settlement?

If you believe the radio advertisements, if you have huge amounts of credit card debt, you can simply make it disappear by calling a debt settlement company. These companies claim to be able to cut your credit card debt by more than half.

If it sounds too good to be true though:

In the case of two debt settlement companies sued last year by New York State, the attorney general alleged that no more than 1 percent of customers gained the services promised by marketers. A Colorado investigation came to a similar conclusion.

The industry’s own figures show that clients typically fail to secure relief. In a survey of its members, the Association of Settlement Companies found that three years after enrolling, only 34 percent of customers had either completed programs or were still saving for settlements.

The New Poor - Peddling Relief, Firms Put Debtors in a Deeper Hole (New York Times)

Debt settlement firms have a simple strategy they offer to people. Stop paying money towards credit card bills, and instead send the money to the company. They'll take a huge cut of the money in fees, and after a few years, (if you haven't been sued by the credit card company for failing to pay!) they'll attempt to settle your debts with the credit card company with some of the money you've sent them. The only problem is that it apparently almost never works out.

There are much better ways to lower your credit card debts, by working with the credit card companies directly or with some of the reputable companies that partner with them. CreditCard.com has an article about the best steps to take when overwhelmed by credit card debt (and includes yet another warning not to use debt settlement firms) at Credit card debt negotiation in 3 (not) easy steps.

Priorities in the Congo

Nicholas Kristof has written an article about his experiences talking to some incredibly poor people in the Congo Republic.

In his article Moonshine or the Kids he makes a similar point to what I wrote a while ago in Priorities, where I describe a poor Armenian man who said his top priorities were his family and his health, but spent huge sums of money on liquor and cigarettes.

Kids and Food

A while back, I wrote about food waste and how much of my kids' food ends up on the floor. It's something I'm working on, and so I appreciated finding this post from WiseBread with ten good tips on how to keep calories out of the trash.

10 Ways to Cut Waste When Feeding Kids

Thanks to Cheap, Healthy, Good for the link.

Since We're Talking About Clothes...

J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly wrote a post this week about a little clothing experiment he did over the past year. How many of his clothes did he actually wear? Take a look, and think about your own closet.

The One-Year Wardrobe Project

Thanks to Cheap, Healthy, Good for pointing this one out.

Easy Way to Patch Little Boys' Jeans

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got sick of the pile of little boys' jeans on my sewing table. I was not feeling terribly ambitious, and so I came up with a lazy way to patch them. I like the results.

Here is what I did. I took the jeans that were especially worn out and I cut out the back pockets (so I had two layers of fabric, and one layer had raw edges). Then I found jeans of a similar wash, pinned the cut-out pockets over the holes in the knees and sewed around the outside edge on my sewing machine. It takes some careful arranging to get them on the machine so you can sew through the right layers, but it's do-able.

The bottom layer of the patch frays a little around the edges, which gives it a slightly distressed look without being sloppy.

Keeping Cars Running

Car problems can wipe out any budget, not to mention put lives at risk. I'd heard once that short trips were bad for cars, so we started trying to avoid short trips around town as much as we could. Biking and walking are more fun anyway. I finally found an article explaining why short trips are so bad. It also explains a bunch of other useful car care tips:

Best Ways to Keep Your Car Running

One of the byproducts of engine combustion is water. When an engine reaches its operating temperature that water turns to vapor and is expunged, either out the tailpipe or the crankcase ventilation system. On a short trip, however, that water stays inside your car's engine and exhaust. Unfortunately, water is one of only three ingredients necessary to make rust (you've already got the other two, oxygen and metal), and rust kills ... A further complication of condensation and water is that it dilutes your oil, which then does a poorer job of lubricating the engine. If you can't avoid taking lots of short trips, we recommend you change your oil frequently, such as every 2,000-3,000 miles.