https://www-cbc-ca.cdn.ampproject.org/c/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4220213
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/07/25/paying-someone-to-do-your-chores-could-make-you-happier-study-finds.html
OK, so not a very Mennonite/simple living idea on the surface. However, it doesn’t take much digging beneath the surface for me to find something here that does match with simple living – time vs stuff. If we have even a few dollars to spend on something that isn’t absolutely essentially, the Menno/simple living approach would be to buy time instead of stuff (especially since many of us live in fairly small houses and simply don’t have room for more stuff, even if we wanted it.) Therefore, if we are going to spend treat money, having someone else do the Saturday cleaning, for example, is a bigger treat than buying more stuff that doesn’t fit into our space, anyways. 🙂 Naturally, this can easily cross the line into spending extravagantly, the same as it can with buying stuff, but I don’t think that’s what they are talking about here.
Here’s some of the other places with coverage on this that popped up when I did a quick search:
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/yes-you-can-buy-happiness-if-you-spend-it-to-save-time/
https://news.google.com/news/story/dLhYm5we9AiMN7M84NlhcUVrej-eM?hl=en-CA&ned=ca
Want to be happier? Hire a housekeeper, researchers suggest. Many who have the means to buy themselves more free time don't do so.
