The Thrill of Antici...pation

I have a confession to make: I totally splurged on something I didn’t need the other day.

Two days ago, there was a Facebook deal for tickets to the Chargers pre-season football game that is scheduled for tonight. Seats were $40 a piece (for seats that are usually $80). Being the frugal dude that I am, I immediately x-ed out of the screen and didn’t give the tickets another thought.

Yeah, not really.

Actually, I bought three, knowing I could get a couple of buddies to pitch in (well, one was for a birthday present for a former roommate; it’s something of a tradition for us to buy each other tickets to sporting events for our birthdays).

Still, I didn’t need to go to this game. Pre-season football doesn’t count for anything, and so most of the A-list players will have little to no playing time. So why, then, as a logical, financially-minded person did I buy?

Recent research (from the university where I received my M.A., no less) has suggested that the happiest people are not those who spend money on lots of things, but those who spend their time and money investing in experiences. One of my favorite things to do in the year is to go to a couple of Chargers games, and getting to do so with a couple of good friends that I don’t get to hang out with nearly enough is worth the money to me.

An additional benefit is that I have spent my time since purchasing tickets looking forward to the event. The three of us are all Chargers fans (which eliminates the fun of trash-talking), but there’s still the fun and camaraderie that accompanies the texts and emails that have been exchanged speculating on who will be playing and for how long.

It seems like this has turned into a justification post, which I don’t know that I intended. Still, even the writing of this post has pleasantly increased my anticipation for the event.

How about you? Is the joy of anticipation a consideration when planning purchases?