In the real world, the weak economy has left far too many Americans fretting about getting their bills paid each month.
That’s why it can be a stress reliever to take a trip into the hypothetical world, where you can consider what you’d give up in exchange for going one month without worrying about the bills.
A new survey finds that — hypothetically, of course — 18 percent of Americans would give up sex for six months in exchange for having someone else pay their bills for just one month.
The same survey, conducted by polling firm Toluna on behalf of a bill-paying company called BillFloat, found that 26 percent of respondents would turn off the TV for a month if those bills were paid for them.
In exchange for no bills for a month, 21 percent would give up digital devices and their cell phone, and 14 percent would go without Internet access.
It turns out we’re more willing to give up sex than vanity. Only 9 percent would add 15 pounds of body weight in exchange for not having to pay their bills this month.
It says something about the state of the economy that so many Americans would give up life's pleasures in exchange for relief from financial worries. Still, most of us would rather just lump it and pay the bills: 52 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn’t do any of those things.
The survey of 1,045 people was conducted in mid-January.
Of course, all these questions are hypothetical. In the real world, we’ve never heard of anyone offering to pay our bills if we just went a month without TV.
Anyone?