Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit!

The things that actually content you tend to cost very little: a decent night’s sleep, work you respect, an unhurried hour with someone you like. The substitutes are what get expensive, because a substitute never satisfies and so has to be bought again. Most of what people overspend on is not pleasure but the promise of a feeling they could have had for nothing.

Look at your last month of spending and mark which purchases you would make again knowing how they felt. For the ones you would not, work out what you were actually after, and see whether the real version is within reach this week.