In years of German panel data, people with longer commutes were less satisfied with life, and the extra pay or bigger house at the other end didn't make up for it. Economists called it the commuting paradox: people take the trade and it doesn't pay off. Evidence: decent
One country, observational. Plausible everywhere. One guess at why you don't get used to it: it's different traffic every time.
If you can't change it, the next best thing is making it count: a call to a friend, a language, an audiobook. Not the news.
Same theme: Money, spent right
Money, spent right
Book the experience, not the thing
Next time there's spare money: a trip, a match, a course, a meal with people. Not the gadget.
no timeEvidence: decent
Money, spent right
Buy back an hour
Pay someone to do the one weekly job you dread. Cleaning, ironing, the lawn, the tax return. Use the hour on a person.
no timeEvidence: decent
Money, spent right
Spend a little on someone else
Once a month, a small amount you'd have spent on yourself goes on someone else. Lunch, a gift, a cause you'd back.
no timeEvidence: worth trying