Does Imbalanced Spending Sabotage Our Happiness? Moderating Influence of Time vs. Money

Consumers prefer to maintain a balance in how they spend money and time among different categories because both are critical but limited resources (Wertenbroch and Dhar 2000; Sheldon, Cummins, and Kamble 2010). However, with longer working hours, imbalance lifestyles are endemic and precious minutes remain for other activities such as exercising, cleaning, and socializing with family (Kahneman, Krueger, Schkade, Schwarz, and Stone 2004). Not only do consumers spend more or less resources between different categories for self but they also allocate more or less money and time on categories for self vs. friends and family. For example, instead of buying gifts for others, 32 % of holiday shoppers said they would rather spend money on themselves (White, 2012).