Does money make us happy?

This NYT article suggests, as most of us have heard, that no, money itself does not make us happy.  And neither does buying things. However, the ways in which we choose to spend our money does have an impact on our happiness level.

The long and short of it is that spending on possessions does not increase happiness, but spending on experiences does!  As one researcher put it, “If money doesn’t make you happy then you probably aren’t spending it right.”  This, they say, is because experiences help build bonds, and having stronger relationships does build happiness in the long run.

So here’s the takeaway:  spending money to go away for a weekend with your honey or to throw a dinner party with friends will make you happier than a new tv or pair of shoes.  That’s a life lesson worth remembering!  And it’s proven by research!

Here’s another interesting takeaway, about the idea that more is never enough: ”Scholars have discovered that one way consumers combat hedonic adaptation is to buy many small pleasures instead of one big one. Instead of a new Jaguar, Professor Lyubomirsky advises, buy a massage once a week, have lots of fresh flowers delivered and make phone calls to friends in Europe. Instead of a two-week long vacation, take a few three-day weekends.”

Read the rest here.

[via ECAB, images via Ginny Branch]

NYT Wednesday Dining >> Dinner Co-ops

Similar to the community-helping/sharing themes of the NYT crop-mobs I posted back here, today’s dining section has a great article on the growing trend of homemade dinner co-ops…  Check it out!

We need more of this kind of stuff in the world >> Crop Mobs

Loved this article in the NYT about “crop mobs.”  Essentially, a small-scale sustainable farmer who has more work than he can handle gets a one-day boost from a “mob” of volunteers who subscribe to a listserv.  It’s like a modern-day barn-raising!

The idea of a group of ordinary people pulling together to help someone out with their burder for a day is pretty inspiring, and the tie-in to what this says about the generation that started it– and their ideas about fulfillment and community– is really interesting.

Also check out design*sponge’s post about “work parties”– getting friends together to help out with your house (or yard) work in exchange for a great dinner and the promise of help in exchange should they need it at some point at their house.  It all seems very timely given what’s been going on in the world.

Field Report: Plow Shares

Published: February 24, 2010

“Who brought their own wheelbarrow?” Rob Jones asked the group of 20-somethings gathered on a muddy North Carolina farm on a chilly January Sunday. Hands shot up and wheelbarrows were pulled from pickups sporting Led Zeppelin and biodiesel bumper stickers, then parked next to a mountain of soil. “We need to get that dirt into those beds over there in the greenhouse,” he said, nodding toward a plastic-roofed structure a few hundred feet away. “The rest of you can come with me to move trees and clear brush to make room for more pasture. Watch out for poison ivy.”

Bobby Tucker, the 28-year-old co-owner of Okfuskee Farm in rural Silk Hope, looked eagerly at the 50-plus volunteers bundled in all manner of flannel and hand-knits. In five hours, these pop-up farmers would do more on his fledgling farm than he and his three interns could accomplish in months. “It’s immeasurable,” he said of the gift of same-day infrastructure.

It’s the beauty of being Crop Mobbed.

The Crop Mob, a monthly word-of-mouth (and -Web) event in which landless farmers and the agricurious descend on a farm for an afternoon, has taken its traveling work party to 15 small, sustainable farms. Together, volunteers have contributed more than 2,000 person-hours, doing tasks like mulching, building greenhouses and pulling rocks out of fields.

Click the jump for the rest of the article…

(more…)

Jidori Chicken: The New Kobe Beef

Have you heard about Jidori chicken?  It’s like the kobe of beef, but for chicken, and the craze is sweeping LA and catching the eye of eating-local junkies.  
Check out this great article about a Jidori company in LA that is truly free-range, gets its birds from slaughter to table within 24 hours, and feeds them only vegetarian diets.  
They even manage to do the processing in a way that really doesn’t have a gross-out factor.  Did you know that the “chilling systems used by many larger purveyors tend to fill the birds with so much water that they often become poultry-scented popsicles”???  Pretty gross, right?  Makes me only want to eat Jidori chickens, which don’t get processed that way.

How You Can Live to 100

My mom is up there as one of my top blog-supporters, and I had to post this for her. 

I started reading and saw the tip about eating nuts, and my mom eats more almonds than anyone I’ve ever met, (at any given time there are about eight bags of almonds in their freezer just to ensure she’ll never run a shortage), and then I saw the part about having a baby after 40, and now I’m convinced she’s going to live to 100.  She had me at 42!  Not that I had any doubts before, but Mom, I’m pretty sure this gaurantees it.

Click for legible size.

From The Future Well, via The Essential Man.

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