Free family fun creates priceless memories
For us, making memories is more important than having something physical to keep. I’d rather have memories to go out with. Rebecca Rose
The Roses are an average Kiwi family, but they reckon their happiness has a lot to do with the way they spend their money.
Mum Rebecca, dad Marcus, and the children, Mia and Ryder, figured out what amounts to a secret formula.
It’s spending their free money on experiences, not things, and it’s often choosing the free option when there’s a choice of two things to do.
‘‘We certainly don’t spend heaps of money on going out for dinner. We can spend that money on doing stuff,’’ says Rebecca.
A lot of the stuff they do, such as walking in the bush, going to the beach, or playing in the park, is free.
‘‘We’re just a normal family. We try and fill it with as many memories as we can,’’ Rebecca says.
‘‘We say to the kids, ‘would you rather go to a cafe and spend a hundred dollars there and get lunch, or should we go to the zoo, take our own lunch, and we’ve got the whole day’.
‘‘They get the experience, but they eat out of a lunchbox.
‘‘For us, making memories is more important than having something physical to keep.
‘‘I’d rather have memories to go out with.’’
Studies show spending on things brings short-term happiness. Spending on experiences creates memories, and a lot more longer-term happiness.
One study shows that happy families allocated around a quarter of their discretionary spending (after all the necessities are paid for) on savings, 40 per cent on experiences, give away about 10 per cent on gifts and charity, leaving 25 per cent to spend on stuff.
The Rose family’s spending closely mirrors that pattern.