Friday 6 April 2012

How to be a happy shopper – part 3

Following on from our previous blogs on the topic of spending, here are some final hints on how to be a happier shopper.

Get more pleasure for your money It's good to have things to look forward to in life and the same applies to spending. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we can 'buy now pay later' and so the pleasure we gain from the anticipation and uncertainty of delaying purchases is lost. You'd think that getting what we want, when we want would more than make up for this loss of anticipation but the ability to wait actually increases the pleasure we derive from our money and improves our ability to make informed decisions for the future, rather than impulsive ones in the present.

Ask others for advice We like to think we know best and spending money is no exception but we can learn to spend money more wisely by heeding the advice of others. Research has shown other people can work out what we'll enjoy simply by watching our faces and when making predictions we should not think about it consciously as we tend to overestimate the length or intensity of future feelings when we do so. Obviously, putting all our financial decisions in the hands of others would be unwise. However, it seems that other people, who are similar to us and have experience of these things, may have more of an insight and may be better at making judgements about what we'll enjoy than we have ourselves.

If you would like to book an initial session with one of our experienced practitioners, please contact your local First Psychology centre on:
Edinburgh: 0131-668-1440, www.edinburghtherapy.co.uk
Glasgow: 0141-404-5411, www.glasgowpsychology.co.uk
Borders: 01896-800-400, www.borderspsychology.co.uk

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