Money does not make people happy, and for many money is seen as a form of compensation for being unhappy or doing a job that has no real purpose or benefit. In those professions where very high fees are received it is used as a measure of success. Where people have more money they will tend to waste it on items that they do not need, but it does not make them happier as they can always see other areas that they could waste more.
What makes people unhappy is not having sufficient money to meet what they see as their needs. Most expenditure in any family or by an individual involves a matter of choice, so when a person says they cannot afford something, they are usually saying they have chosen instead to spend their income in another way. A smoker for example could give up smoking and use the proceeds to fund a foreign holiday or a person in a town who does not require a car to get to work could get rid of it and hire a car only when required.
The secret in happiness in relation to money involves a simple skill of managing it with a 'cash flow' so that you know what is coming in and going out each week several weeks or months ahead, and making decisions as to expenditure from a position of knowledge as opposed to hoping that the funds will stretch. The cash flow has dates across the top and income followed by expenditure items down the side so as to form a grid. with totals weekly for income and expenditure and a running total at the bottom of the overall position.
If illness, unemployment or separation presents a problem then state help is available with rent, rates, school meals, prescriptions ....... and other benefits, and these are a right you should take up fully, and will have paid for many times in taxation, its not charity.
Longer term if you spend a pound less than your income you will be far happier than if you spend a pound more.
