"The Science Of Why You Should Spend Your Money On Experiences, Not Things"

With this baseline knowledge, that we should spend our money on experiences not things, what then should we buy?

He's stating that using money to buy experiences is better long-term than buying an object that we will eventually wear out the novelty of and adapt to. Some examples of one-off experiences are concerts and vacations (this is taken right from the article btw).

So what can we do daily?

Where do you get the impression that experiences must be purchased daily? I didn't see that anywhere in the article. What the author stated was that having one-off experiences provides lasting happiness whereas items that we adapt to do not.

This quote is taken literally right from the article:

"So rather than buying the latest iPhone or a new BMW, Gilovich suggests you'll get more happiness spending money on experiences like going to art exhibits, doing outdoor activities, learning a new skill, or traveling."

The reason why you don't need experiences everyday is because whatever experience was had becomes "experiences become an ingrained part of our identity" and "we are a sum total of our experiences."

What is considered an experience when it comes to this research?

I think it was pretty clear as he gave lots of examples (provided above). Reading a book, watching TV show/movie, playing a video game, and listening to a CD all seem to be examples of experiences based on the implied criteria, but I can't help but notice that you gave all examples of solitary activities. The danger from personal use of video games in the past is that they can end up being very monotonous (e.g. CoD, kill spawn kill kill kill spawn etc. until you don't even think about it much, or WoW where it's basically grinding for hours on end) which, in my opinion, really don't make them good experiences compared to other one-off experiences like playing Mario Kart 64 with friends, going out to see a new movie on a date, or the examples the author provided like going to an art gallery, etc.

Assuming we work a typical 9-5 job, what experiences can we do daily after work? If we don't have ideas, then we'll likely just watch TV or surf the net, and not go and get experiences.

That's a pretty narrow and negative mindset. There's loads of fun things than can be done, and they don't have to be done everyday.

What if the weather isn't desirable outside, what experiences can we have during those times?

Some examples: go bowling, art gallery, go to a cafe, laser tag, sushi, etc.

tl;dr RTFA, it doesn't say experiences have to be daily, and there's tons of things to do besides watch TV or reddit

/r/minimalism Thread Parent Link - m.fastcompany.com