Outsource tasks you dislike to buy time affluence

Paying to offload dreaded tasks raises happiness more than spending the same money on material goods.

Why it works

Time stress is driven less by total hours than by the proportion of time spent on aversive activities. Outsourcing a disliked task does two things: it removes a source of negative affect and it frees time for activities with higher well-being returns. The gain is psychological, not just logistical — people report feeling more in control of their time even when the total hours change only modestly.

How to do it

1. List tasks that reliably drain you and that someone else could do adequately.
2. Estimate the dollar cost of outsourcing one of them for a month.
3. Compare that cost to a recent material purchase; if outsourcing is competitive, trial it.
4. Track your subjective sense of time control the following week, not just the calendar.

Evidence

A field experiment across four countries found that spending money on time-saving services increased daily positive affect and reduced time stress, with effects larger than equivalent spending on material goods. (rct)

Effects were strongest for people who reported genuine time stress and actually disliked the outsourced task; outsourcing tasks you enjoy may not produce the same gain.

Sources

• Whillans et al. (2017), "Buying time promotes happiness", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Common mistake

Outsourcing tasks you do not actually dislike, or immediately refilling the freed time with more work — neither restores time affluence.