Why a hug is better than a gift

Harvey Jones explains why many of us would prefer to receive a hug than an expensive gift.

Finally, some good news for people who hate spending money. The best things in life really are free after all. According to new research, twice as many people would prefer to receive a hug than an expensive gift.

I’d like to meet these people. I’d like to induct them as relatives, it will save money at Christmas. And I would certainly like to marry one of them, because that would save money all year round.

No more expensive gifts, lots of cheap hugs. Sounds like a great deal to me.

Feeling good...

Hugs aren’t the only things better than fancy gifts. There are plenty of other cost-free ways of making people feel great, the research says, although it depends on whether the recipient is a man or a woman.

While 37% of men said the best way to make them feel great was to tell them a joke, 55% of women said it was being paid a compliment. Maybe, but I suspect it depends on the timing of the compliment. If your partner says she wants an expensive new dress, you won’t make your partner feel much better by saying how nice she looks in her tatty old one, whatever the research says. She will see right through that.

Men and women do agree on one thing. The second best thing you can do to make them feel great (after telling a hoary old joke or muttering something about their eyes) is to smile at them.

Again, that’s free.

Multi-what?

This entirely sensible and in no way pointless research wasn’t funded by the taxpayer (so don’t get grumpy), but by a company that wants to sell you vitamins and minerals. The company is called Multibionta, which sounds very scientific, and its research reveals that a mere 19% of people say getting expensive gifts makes them feel great, which doesn’t sound very scientific at all.

Still, let’s go with it. Making somebody a cup of tea or coffee, opening a door for them, or letting them in when they’re stuck in traffic will do more to boost morale than splashing the cash.

Just think of all the money you have blown trying to cheer up your loved ones, when all you needed to do was put on the kettle or let them pull their motor out of the driveway first.

Sexymoney.com

We don’t really do sex on lovemoney.com. Our relationship with money is purely platonic. So I won’t dwell on the fact that men’s top priority for making them feel great in a relationship is sex (39%) whereas for women it is a hug (58%).

Flirty texts also score highly on the happiness stakes, for both sexes. Although I suspect they score even higher if they are sent by somebody other than your regular partner...

Oh Carole! Really...

No, bear with me, there is a financial angle to all of this. As I pointed out recently, life is expensive. To be is to spend. But it doesn’t have to be that way, says life coach and author Carole Ann Rice, who is quoted in the Multibionta press release (Damn - I’ve plugged them again!).

She explains that the small things often count too – a lovely walk on a winter’s day, a divine candle-lit bubble bath, cozying up with a good book, eating more healthily, getting your five-a-day and boosting your intake of beneficial vitamins and minerals can all help improve your general wellbeing.

Did you see what she did there? You know, right at the end. That bit about vitamins and minerals. Clever Carole.

Hugs and bubbles

But she has a point. Life doesn’t have to be a daily round of spending. You can pamper the person you love without lavishing money on them. Men, try listening to your partner. If she says Sky TV’s Andy Gray is a sexual stegosaurus who deserves to be fired, nod and agree. Then hug her. Run a bath for her (a divine candle-lit bubble bath, no less). Give her vitamins. Show you care.

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Women, laugh at his jokes. Better still, tell him one. Try smiling at him, even when he says Andy Gray is a victim of the feminist thought police and anyway, women REALLY don’t understand the offside trap. Then hand him a cold beer (37% of men say their favourite feel-great moment is having a cold beer on a hot day) and turn up the heating.

Although I’d skip that hug, if I was you.

Happy now?

So there you go. This highly practical article will save you hundreds of pounds on pricey gifts that will dismally fail to cheer up 81% of your partners. If your partner belongs to the other 19%, then I’m sorry.

Best of all, you didn’t have to pay for this advice. You don’t even have to hug me. A smile would be nice, though. :)

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