Along these lines, I’ve come across a few studies that show that happiness has more to do with DOING things than with owning things. A lot of the things that we do that are enjoyable don’t cost any money, by the way.
Another thing I read somewhere that I think is very pertinent is that the cost of anything is the amount of TIME you give up in exchange for it. If more people thought about that, I don’t think they’d be blowing so much money on frivolous “luxuries” when they could work less and have TIME instead.