Merry Christmas and happy holidays! In the midst of all the festivities, now is a good time to ask ourselves: “Buying new stuff makes us happy, right?” Well if you have a need that is now being met, there is certainly some value that item is now providing. But value isn’t the same as happiness. Hedonic adaptation, or the hedonic treadmill, helps us understand the effect of consumption. Coming to grips with that can help us end unhealthy cycles of mindless consumerism and set us on a path to a healthier way of thinking about money, spending, and saving for the future. Listen to the full episode to learn how hedonic adaptation can be terrible, how it can actually be a good thing, and then finally to learn how to hack it and truly control how happy you really are. During this episode we enjoyed a Mangifera Flux by Marz Community Brewing- a huge thanks to our buddy Andrew for bringing this beer all the way back from Chicago. And if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and give us a quick review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Help us to spread the word to get more people doing smart things with their money! Best friends out! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers