Is it possible to be happy while living on almost nothing day-to-day, or do you need extra income to spend on those frivolous items to keep yourself content? This question’s very difficult to analyse because opinion changes from person to person. Some people can live quite comfortably on nothing (think of Buddhist monks), while others wouldn’t know how to live without their Louis Vuitton handbags, their Rolex watch or their Manolo Blahnik heels.

The happiest people are generally those who give more than they receive; however, you have probably just wondered ‘how does that work? You need money to be able to afford to give!’. My immediate answer to this is ‘well, giving doesn’t have to be done with items’, it can occur in a variety of different ways – time, energy and emotions, just to name a few. Giving in this manner can be the act that sparks some of the happiest moments in your life and – as I mentioned – the cost of this charitable behaviour can sometimes be nothing, as far as the dollar value goes. In this sense then, money is not an issue to achieving happiness.

Having said that, it is very easy for me to then state that people living on the bare minimum could be happy, but this is not always the case. Happiness to you could be – and probably is – very different to my version of happiness, although, we’re likely to have something in common. Besides giving, there is one other common state of being that is likely to define happiness in most people, and that is the feeling of being content at that exact moment. For a well-off person who has no need to worry about money, contentment may come in the form of giving, helping others, achieving goals or pursuing activities that make them happy. A person who has almost nothing may find that these same actions cause contentment, but they may have financial barriers to achieving them. Removal of these financial barriers would obviously make the act of achieving contentment a whole lot easier.

Regardless of how much of a budgeting superstar you are or how little you can live on, there is one issue that affects every person – bills! For people that have the money to cover them, bills become just a part of life and – at worst – something to grumble about. For a person with financial struggles, bills can become a depressing obstacle to everyday life. For some, their mounting pile of bills is all they can think about and – in these instances – it can be very difficult to see the ’flowers’ for the trees. This is where we at EWL can really help. We can help you tackle these bills in a manner that will leave you with enough left over to pursue happiness and contentment.

So, as you can see, money doesn’t automatically cause happiness, but not having money does not automatically mean you can’t achieve happiness; however, being content tends to be the ultimate state of being and contentment generally requires being free of financial strain. Contact us to discover how to achieve this.