Organized Happiness

You Don't Have to Be Rich

Money

Money may not buy happiness, butorganizing your financial affairs canmake you feel richer. In researching hernew book, ($23.95; Portfolio; 2003), Jean Chatskyfound that better money managementcould lead to a more contented life. Forexample, try balancing your checkbookevery month as soon as your statementcomes in. This simple strategy leads to afeeling of control that has even more concretebenefits. People who balance theircheckbooks regularly tend to save more,have lower credit card debt, and fewerfinancial worries overall. That feeling ofwell-being has a bottom-line effect,according to Chatsky, editor-at-large for magazine. People with goodfinancial habits tend to rate their happinesson a par with those who have incomesas much as 50% higher but whoaren't as organized about their finances.