The array of great deals on homes, cars and other big-ticket items these days is tempting. But before you get out your checkbook, consider this: Will snagging that awesome price really make you any happier?

    It's a tricky question. Getting a real steal can be awfully satisfying, as behavioral economists and psychologists know. 'Getting a good deal takes on its own value,' says Leaf Van Boven, a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

    But a low price may lure us into buying something we don't really need -- or even enjoy, after the thrill wears off. So, says Dr. Van Boven, 'It may be useful to ask the question, 'Why am I doing this?''

    The good news is that some spending really is more fulfilling. Experts who study happiness have repeatedly found that people get the most joy out of time with family and friends or activities that provide personal enrichment, such as hobbies. What matters is not the amount that we spend, but the quality of the overall experience, so a picnic can be as satisfying as a weekend getaway.

    'Human beings are social animals, so it is no surprise that our greatest sources of happiness and unhappiness are our social relationships,' says Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor. Some goods, like iPods, actually cut off the outside world. 'When it comes to happiness, consumer goods that involve our friends are better than those that replace them.'

    These ideas can be applied to bigger investments. We may be tempted to pick a neighborhood for its status, when its schools, churches or temples or distance from work may be more meaningful factors. Indeed, the research on happiness may provide a useful way to sort through today's discounts: Put aside brand names and think about how a purchase will pay off for you personally. Here's how that might play out with some of today's big-dollar purchases:

    -- Buying a home. Falling home prices can be frightening, discouraging buyers from jumping in and potential sellers from moving on. But they also offer a great opportunity to buy a first house, trade up to a bigger place or relocate to a more expensive market, since more-expensive homes typically suffer greater price declines than modest homes.

    As a longtime Dallas resident, I've never made money on a home sale, but twice, I've leveraged bad housing markets to trade up to nicer homes. Both times, we got more space than we thought we could afford. The second time, the stiff loss we took on the home sale was outweighed by a great deal on a foreclosure in a close-knit neighborhood with great schools.

    Today, many sellers are ready to deal, and interest rates are still reasonable by historical standards, so the next few months should be a great time to buy a home. What's significant isn't whether the price goes up right away but whether the move will improve your time with family and friends while keeping your budget intact. A home should be a shelter first, not an investment.

    -- Remodeling. With home building in a tailspin, more remodelers and contractors are looking for jobs, so you might get work done more quickly and possibly at better rates than a few years ago. As a result, it may be a good time to take care of needed maintenance or to dive in on that big project you've been saving for.

    But rather than focus on resale value, try to anticipate how you will look back on the changes and the effect they'll have on your family, as well as whether you'll need to take on more debt to pay for it all. Will redoing the kitchen make the space more accommodating for your family or simply change the look? Would a deck where friends can hang out or a room devoted to a hobby have a more lasting impact than new bathroom fixtures? Of course, you'll want to get at least two or three bids and check references to be sure the contractor has a good track record.

    -- Buying a car. New-car sales have plunged with the one-two punch of last summer's high gasoline prices and the stock market swoon, and car makers and dealers are offering a truckload of incentives. Many also have low-interest financing for customers with good-to-excellent credit records.

    But the pleasure from new wheels can wear off as quickly as that new-car smell, so a new-car purchase may not be as rewarding over time as other bargains. Certainly, we do spend plenty of time in our cars, but a new one isn't likely to improve our relationships with family and friends. This is one area where you may prefer to pay less than you planned and replenish your retirement account with the savings rather than buying more car.

    Late-model used cars may also be an attractive option that is much easier on the checkbook. Even with gasoline prices coming down, used-car prices have continued to tumble, sliding 10% or so since September, says Jack Nerad, executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book. 'Somebody else has taken the big depreciation hit,' he says, but 'you can have all the modern features and plenty of useful life.'

    -- Getting a TV, computer or other big appliance. Average selling prices for front-loading washers, notebook computers and LCD televisions have declined 3% to 4% in the past year, while the average selling price on a plasma television has dropped about 17%, according to market researcher NPD Group. Special offers this season may well cut those prices further.

    Items like these, which lose their value quickly and have a relatively short life span, rarely justify running up a credit-card debt. But if you're considering a purchase and have the cash, weigh how it will fit into your life.

    After suffering a wicked case of big-screen envy for several years, I finally broke down last year and bought a 50-incher for our den. It turned out to be one of the best purchases we have made in years. Why? Silly as it may sound, two of the highlights of this past year were a small Super Bowl party with friends and family and enjoying the two-week run of the Olympics with our college-age daughters.   

    時下，減價出售的住房、汽車和其他貴重消費品比比皆是，實在讓人心動；但在拿出支票簿之前，不妨先考慮一下這個問題：撈到這筆好買賣真的能讓你更快樂嗎？

    這個問題很難回答。正如行為經濟學家和心理學家所指出的那樣，買到便宜的好東西會讓人感覺很爽。“買到物美價廉的商品，本身就是一種價值。“科羅拉多大學(University of Colorado)博爾德（Boulder）分校心理學教授利夫•萬博文(Leaf Van Boven)說道。

    一臺等離子電視然而，低價格也可能誘使我們買下本來并不需要的東西。我們甚至可能在從撿到便宜貨的狂喜中冷靜下來后，發現自己根本就不喜歡這玩意兒。所以，“在買東西之前，最好自問一下：‘我為什么要這么做？’”萬博文博士說道。

    好消息是，有些消費支出真的能讓你更快樂。研究幸福感的專家發現一個規律，人們在與家人及朋友一起、或者從事能充實自己生活的活動（比如個人愛好）時，最能感覺到快樂。花錢多少并不重要，重要的是這種體驗本身的品質；因此，簡單的一次野餐聚會也可以得到與周末外出度假相同的滿足感。

    “人類是一種社交動物，所以可想而知，導致我們歡喜悲傷的最大源泉，就是自己的社會關系，” 哈佛大學(Harvard)心理學教授丹尼爾•吉爾伯特(Daniel Gilbert)說道。有些商品，比如iPod，恰恰切斷了我們與外界的聯系。“從賦予幸福感這一角度來看，那些讓自己能與朋友同樂的消費品，要好于那些取代朋友的消費品。”

    這種觀點也適用于金額更大的投資。買房時，我們可能傾向于選擇上流社區，但社區配備的學校、教堂、或上班遠近可能對你更重要。事實上，關于幸福感的研究也許能為你在眾多選擇中指點迷津：不要考慮什么品牌，而只要看所買的東西能給你自己帶來什么好處。下面給出的是這一原則在購買貴重消費品上的一些具體應用：

    買房：房價可能下跌，令人生畏，讓買家不敢輕易下手，賣家也無法脫身。然而，如果你是首次購房，或想換套大房子，或想搬到房子更值錢的地段，這時候買入是個不錯的機會，因為房地產價格下跌時，高價房往往比低價房的跌幅更大。

    我在達拉斯住了很久，我從未在售房中賺到錢，但是我兩次利用房地產市場低迷的機會，把自住的房子越換越好。每次換房，我們享受到的面積都超出了我們原先經濟上能夠承受的范圍。第二次換房時，我們在賣掉原來的房子時虧損了不少，但買到的新房是被行使止贖權的房子，讓我們撿了個便宜，它所在的社區鄰里關系密切，而且學校也很棒。權衡利弊，得大于失。

    現在，很多人都想把房子賣出去，以歷史標準衡量，利率也處于比較合理的水準，所以接下來的幾個月應該是買房的好時候。重要的并非能不能抄到底，而是這次換房能否讓你有更多的時間與家人和朋友相處，同時不會增加額外的預算。畢竟，房屋首先是一個居住場所，而不是單純的投資。

    裝修：目前的房屋開工數量急劇下降，越來越多的裝修公司和建筑商都在尋找工程項目。與前幾年相比，裝修工程的完成速度會更快，價格也可能更優惠。因此，如果你需要修繕房屋，或已經攢好錢準備對房子大動一番，現在是個好時機。

    不過，你別太關注裝修對房屋價值的提升作用，而是要設想一下將來你對房子的改變會有何種看法、對家人會有何種影響，以及是否要舉債來進行裝修。廚房重新裝修后，家人使用起來會更舒適方便嗎，還是只不過換個外觀？搞一個朋友聚會用的露天平臺、或者把一個房間專門用于自己的興趣愛好，是不是比更換洗手間設備更有意義？當然，你還應該至少向兩三個建筑商詢價，了解一下他們的裝修質量，選擇一家信譽良好的。

    買車：自2007年夏天以來，汽油價格不斷上漲，股市也頻頻跳水，導致新車銷售量持續下降。現在，汽車制造商和代理商正在千方百計促銷，很多還向信用記錄優良的顧客提供低利率貸款。

    然而，買車帶來的樂趣就像新車的味道一樣，很快就會消退，所以，新車也許并不會象其他買到的便宜貨那樣讓你活得更開心。當然，我們會有很多時間在車上度過，但新車不一定能改善我們與家人親朋之間的關系。因此，你不妨減少買車的預算，把省下來的錢放在退休賬戶里，而不是買更多的車。

    新款的二手車可能是個更具吸引力的備選方案，而且在經濟上更容易負擔。即使現在油價有所回落，二手車的價格仍在下跌，自2008年9月以來又跌了10%左右，Kelley Blue Book公司負責市場分析的杰克·奈羅德(Jack Nerad)說。“賣家將承受巨大的貶值沖擊，”他說，“而你作為買家，可以享受到（新款二手車的）所有先進功能，以及很長的使用壽命。”

    電視機、電腦和其他大家電：根據市場研究機構NPD Group的報告，過去一年中，滾筒洗衣機、筆記本電腦和液晶電視的銷售價格平均下降3%到4%，而等離子電視的平均售價已經下跌17%。2008年底銷售旺季的優惠活動可能會使這些大家電的價格進一步跳水。

    這些消費品的價格下跌很快，而且使用壽命相對較短，實在不值得為此承擔信用卡債務。但如果正在考慮購買，而且你手頭有現金，那就只需權衡一下這些東西是否適合自己。

    好幾年來，我一直對大螢幕電視垂涎欲滴，去年終于忍不住買了一臺50英寸的放在家里。事實證明，這是我這么多年來買得最值的東西之一。為什么？聽上去可能有點傻，但一年來我過得最快樂的兩段時光，一是和家人朋友開了個看超級杯橄欖球賽的派對，一是和我上大學的女兒們一起，整整看了兩個星期的奧運會實況轉播。