The least amount of money it takes to make you happy

[mint]

This amount is surprisingly small, ALLEDGEDLY!

I read of a study that, for the average Brit, the least amount is 10 pounds.  So, for example, you found 10 quid in the pocket of a pair of trousers whilst you are checking through before putting the trousers in the wash, that would be enough to make many happy.

Or, you found a tenner in a car park or on the side of a road, you are happy.

Me, I'm cheap, the amount is 3 euros 99 cents!

How do I know so precisely?

Therein hangs a tale:

I was in Aldi recently where I buy a bread they make that is full of seeds and is like the organic bread from the Duchy of Cornwall brand.

I bought a few loaves of the bread and a few other things, paying cash as it was a very small shop.  Now I am guilty of not checking the receipt (as recommended on the forum) but I do, sometimes, have a quick look through after I get home.  I remember Dave (all the numbers which I can't remember) telling us about a cashier at the till of some DIY store putting items through and pocketing the money.

This particular time, I did look through as I thought the total was a bit more than I'd expect.  There it was, the offending item, a belt for trousers or skirt in a size that would be too small for either of us.  It was such a small sum that I was about to screw it up and throw it in the bin.

Then I showed it to OH and he said I should keep the receipt and show it to the shop the next time we went there and tell them that we didn't expect the money back but that obviously there had been an error.

So, we were in Aldi today again, shopping for this pain aux ceréals and I showed the receipt to the 2 regular staff who were filling the shelves.  I said it was a new face to me and wasn't someone I recognised and that I certainly didn't have the belt.  They looked at each other, some quick word was exchanged (not anything I understood) and both insisted that I went to the caisse and be repaid!

So there it is, it only takes less than 4 euros to make me happy[:D]

Let us have some sums now to see the variation of how much we individually need for happiness?[:P]

[NormanH]

If I am short of 5 centimes for a café I would be happy if I had it.

As it is the amount is always about 10k  a  more than I have whatever that might be...

[Gluestick]

Dear Mint.

You ought to read Eric Arthur Blair's (George Orwell) Down and Out in Paris and London.

A singular and sobering objective lesson on poverty and survival.

[mint]

Thanks, Gluey.  I have bookmarked Orwell's book from the Gutenberg site and look forward to reading it.

Do you mean that EA Blair is Orwell's biographer?

Please tell me which book I should be reading?

Edit:  oops, Gluey, don't bother to answer (slaps forehead), you must mean that this Eric Blair is the principal character, right?

[NormanH]

Eric Blair is Orwell's real name.

A few quotations to whet your appetite:

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2374970-down-and-out-in-paris-and-london

For example

"“The Paris slums are a gathering-place for eccentric people - people who

have fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying

to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of

behavior, just as money frees people from work.”

“The mass of the rich and the poor are differentiated by their incomes

and nothing else,and the average millionaire is only the average

dishwasher dressed in a new suit.”

[mint]

Oh thanks, Norman, I now have a vague memory that Eric Blair was Orwell's real name...duh!

I have enjoyed your link and the quotation, nice and pithy, that I like best is "money has become the grandest of virtue".  That makes me smile and feel sad at the same time.

But, come on, folks, this thread is in "the lighter side".  Can someone please quote what Mr Micawber said about income in relation to expenditure or some such.  Better still, can someone, please say something personal or tell a funny story or at least take this topic in the spirit in which it is meant?

Doesn't anyone feel the need for a bit of light refreshment?

[idun]

Doesn't take much to make me happy either.

I have a LOT less than most people I know in the UK, but frankly it doesn't make anyone I know any happier having money as far as I can see.

[Gluestick]

[quote user="mint"]Thanks, Gluey.  I have bookmarked Orwell's book from the Gutenberg site and look forward to reading it.

Do you mean that EA Blair is Orwell's biographer?

Please tell me which book I should be reading?

Edit:  oops, Gluey, don't bother to answer (slaps forehead), you must mean that this Eric Blair is the principal character, right?

[/quote]

Glad you have sorted this out now, mint. Orwell, as you now know was his nom de plume.

One of the most staggering facts I discovered from from Paris and London was that Victorian workhouses still existed in 1930s England for indigents![:@]

Apparently he selected the name on the recommendation of his publisher.

A very interesting man. Another of his books well worth reading is Homage to Catalonia, reference Orwell's time as a volunteer during the Spanish Civil War.

As with so many of his type and most sadly, he died far too young: the very best was no doubt to come...

[mint]

Started the book, Gluey.  At the mo, he has pawned all his stuff other than the clothes he stood up in and has met up with Boris, a friend he knew from better days!

In his case, a few hundred francs (not sure how much in today's money), would definitely have made him happy!

[Rabbie]

While it is true that "money can't buy you happiness" lack of money can certainly bring you misery. For me, as I am fortunate enough to have sufficient money to pay the basic essential bills and leave a little over, happiness comes from things other than finding a little money in a forgotten pocket. Happiness for me comes from seeing my dogs playing happily, a mare becoming pregnant, an unexpected visit from an old friend, just seeing a nice flower in the garden or even a pleasant comment from someone on a forum.Happiness is so often related to the small things in life when you suddenly realise that you are happy.

Mr Micawber in his famous definition got it right. Provided expenditure is less than income then misery is avoided.

The other relevant quote is "the love of money is the root of all evil"

[mint]

Well, for the new Duke of Westminster, I suspect that even a 9 billion pound estate and a title to go with it would be insufficient to make him happy.

I'll bet he'd rather have his father back, don't you?

[woolybanana]

Surely, the amount of money you need to be happy is usually just a bit more than you have available

[Patf]

Mint - I've sent you a pm. It's about something else and a bit garbled so I hope you can follow it.

Pat.

[mint]

Merci, Pat

[Rabbie]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Surely, the amount of money you need to be happy is usually just a bit more than you have available[/quote] If that were true then nobody would be happy

[mint]

I love your logic, Rabbie[:D]

[vivienz]

The price of a modest brunch for two at tea rooms just outside Christchurch.  Last weekend OH and I went for a little 6 mile round trip on our bikes for just such a thing.  It made me very happy indeed as it was the first bike ride OH has been able to manage since smashing his foot to bits in January.  It was a sunny day, a lovely ride and it made me very happy, indeed.

[idun]

Rabbie said:

If that were true then nobody would be happy

Now that is opening up another moral maze and thoughts about my mother which frankly, I would prefer to never have again, as she always wanted more. Never made her happy though, little did, her greatest joy laughing at others misfortune, that did make her happy.

I am not like my mother. I have a lot less than most of my peers, but they are not happier than me and a few are not very happy at all with their lot.

I'll stick with having a little more than income with which to do as I please. And I can dream of winning the lottery etc, and why not. Dreaming is quite another thing.

[Chancer]

No money at all!

 

I did a 15km trail run with a new group of people this morning, great route, great people, cost zero and I am feeling very happy.

 

Now that the money is coming out of my ears so to speak I am no happier than when I was living for all those years on next to nothing plus a bit of my savings, €348 per month in 2010 down from €631 just 2 years before, the drastic reduction did not make me feel sad either.

 

In fact I am unhappy these days at being ripped off and had over right left and centre because I now have money and dont have the time to fight on several fronts at the same time, my bank started stealing €50 at a time when my cash deposits started growing, after creating a polemique then then had me over for a €500 cheque, I am now on my 3rd bank in a decade, les impôts gave me rebates totalling close to €2K a year ago and its only now I realise they havn't paid me, or perhaps they paid it to the previous bank who has kept schtuum.

 

I have just recieved my avis d'impôt and will be delighted to pay it, its very very reasonable, works out at 4% of income, yet if I say to a French person that I have had a good year they just look depressed and say that I will pay loads of tax.

 

To me it boils down to can you answer the question - how much is enough?

 

I can and did in 2004 when I stepped off the ride, most of my friends said that you can never have enough money and still think that way, they are genreally an unhappy bunch compered to me.

[alittlebitfrench]

Personally I want lots of money. Call me old fashioned but I like the stuff.

The average Brit moves to France because they can buy a far bigger house in a country location with a pool than they could ever afford in the UK.

Am I right ? Yes.

Do they really love of the culture and the food and all that...NO. Brits in France just want a bigger house with a view....and a pool.

Seriously...

[idun]

 You have made me smile ALBF.

My mother, as I said always wanted more. In the end she would say, when your Dad has retired we will do XYandZ. And then she became desperately,horribly ill as my Dad was not far off retirement age, so not only did he not get to do all these things either, but was nursing her. And he looked after her for years, and that well that she probably, upon reflection by both of us,  lived far longer, in spite of getting worse daily, than she should have done. As he says, he would never have done any differently, but it does make you think.

Me, not being like her and when I had some money, I spent it on the family. We did things that we fancied and I would always rather have good memories than plans for a future that may never happen. And if I had some I would do the same again.

Last Saturday I was chatting to a friend of ours, and he simply did not believe that we were not well off, ie having a worth of about a £million. He simply would not believe that we didn't, at all. And in the UK we know loads of people with homes that are currently  worth a lot, and those pension schemes in the UK that I do not understand, AND do not want to as they seem very weird to me. However, between lots of savings and these things, their wealth adds up. And the worst thing is too many of them are getting very miserable in their old age about spending their money. ie Resent paying for a coffee etc, too dear they say and complain, and yet the poor buggers who are serving them will likely never have their sort of money.

[Blodwyn]

Well someone said 'Money doesn't make you happy but at least you can be miserable in comfort'.

I was happy enough when the kids were small, we lived on OH's student grant. We had very little money and worried about paying the mortgage and unexpected bills. I'm happy now we are retired in France and have no mortgage. We did not come because we wanted a big house with a pool, still haven't got one, but because we have always liked France and speak French well enough to chat with people in the village, negotiate the health system etc.

I'm happy that it's summer and OH is well enough, for the moment, so we can enjoy life here with our silly cats and dogs. Also, we don't need loadsamoney but it's good not to have to worry too much about money now. So maybe the amount to make us happy is a little more than we need for the basic essentials.

I just said to a younger friend, who has a small income and partner with no thought for economy: ' Why spend money you haven't got on things you don't need?' That would make me miserable, not happy!

[Gluestick]

[quote user="alittlebitfrench"]Personally I want lots of money. Call me old fashioned but I like the stuff.

The average Brit moves to France because they can buy a far bigger house in a country location with a pool than they could ever afford in the UK.

Am I right ? Yes.

Do they really love of the culture and the food and all that...NO. Brits in France just want a bigger house with a view....and a pool.

Seriously...[/quote]

Indeed and I do muchly agree.

In our little bit of peasant France, Nord, in the late 90s and early 2000s there was quite an invasion...

The Brits coming either part-time of full-time, clearly wanted to create precisely that which they couldn't afford back in the UK: Nob Hill, Surrey.

Old, beautiful tiled floors ripped up and err, carpeted: which later rotted. Quelle surprise.

Nasty old aged oak beams covered over. New glossy kitchens but they couldn't actually cook. And so on.

They have all buzzed off now back to England...

Our petite barraque whilst renovated in circa 1970 by a French couple as their weekend maison de campagne, retained most of the old beams, massive fireplace and so on.

Which is precisely what Mrs G and I wanted.

Compliments were paid by French friends; she knew the house as a young girl and was thrilled it retained the old French style. An English chum staying over, who has travelled throughout la belle, and was an under graduate at university in Grenoble (speaks fluent French of course) loves the house and states it reminds him exactly of old French houses in his youth.

[alittlebitfrench]

Well that is exactly it. I wonder how many British move to France because they actually like France ? Hmmmm.....

Would so many British move to France if house prices and the size of houses were comparable to the UK ? Hmmmm not many I guess.

It is one big mensonge. They say they want a more meaningful life breeding chickens and growing veg and live like the French. But really they just want a bigger house in country location with a pool. In SW France of course. Because the rest of France is cràp......and to expensive.

What is live like the French by the way ? Never understood that one. Most French I know want to live in a city location and drive a flash car.

I knew I was a little bit French.

[Gluestick]

"Live like the French?"

I wonder if you have read John Burton-Race's book "French leave" ALBF?

He seems to capture a considerable swathe of living -like the French - in la France Profonde.

As did Patricia Atkinson in her book, The Ripening Sun: Atkinson, more so, I feel.

A chum in France, lent me the book and I was engrossed! Having read it, I was hugely dubious that this English woman could transport herself to France, not speaking any French; and set up a vineyard. What's more, she knew nothing whatsoever about wine, other than it came in bottles and one drank it! Then became a local wine tasting expert! I tracked Patricia down and we exchanged emails in which she assured me the foregoing was absolute fact.

To me, she is a wonderful example of a hugely gutsy lady, whom I much admire and respect; who despite lots of misfortune, ploughed on. Eventually, the original old neglected 4 hectare vineyard finished up as 21 hectares (which she has now sold) and Clos d'Yvigne  is a well established - and expensive! - label.

Above everything else, Patricia has integrated, completely, now speaks fluent French and has adopted the local lifestyle.

It is very well worthwhile reading her first book (Above). Whilst checking a couple of things I discovered the short film, below, Do watch it!

Here: