Happy Sunday everyone! Chi-town decided to treat us with above 32F/0C weather this weekend and it’s been an enjoyable weekend so far. For those of you who have MLK Day off (work or school) tomorrow – YAY! It’s a long weekend and we don’t get another one until Presidents Day, so don’t waste it! Start your day early and hit the gym or do something that you otherwise couldn’t do on weekdays because of other commitments 🙂

Anyhow, today I want to tell you about the IKEA effect.

I learned about the IKEA effect from an online quiz and found the concept very interesting and relatable.

If you’re like me, your apartment will be 100% furnished with IKEA furniture. This Swedish company has done pretty well for itself, but I doubt making themselves a Psychology phenomenon was one of them…

The theory says that you put a higher value on something when you were involved as part of the construction process. When you purchase an IKEA product, it comes in a box, unassembled. With simple tools and (supposedly) easy-to-read instructions, you, the purchaser, will put together your own table, chair, drawer, or whatever it is you bought.

Since you’ve put in your own time and effort to assemble the item(s), you value it much more than the same product already assembled by someone else. Which all makes sense. What is weird is that people think their own item (aka their baby) is more valuable even if its poorly assembled – like how the clothes basket I assembled breaks apart every so often, but hey, i built it!

Question for you today: What are some of the things you’ve assembled yourself from IKEA? Comment below!

With love,

-S