We’ve all justified a purchase at some point by saying you’ll get a quick return on your investment. Or using cash so it feels like you haven’t spent anything. This is ‘girl math’, but it turns out not to be the best way to spend money.
What is girl math?
You may have already seen it on TikTok, but it’s not just the younger generation that knows about it. We are sure that you have used it too. Girl math is about justifying purchases, and there are several forms of it:
- “Any amounts under ten euros do not count.” This is often the case.
- An online wallet: Think of a Vinted wallet: you do not have that money in your checking account, but it remains in your personal Vinted account. This way it feels like free money, and you can buy unlimited clothes with it if you then sell your own clothes.
- Cost per wear: Dividing the purchase amount by the number of times you will use the item. That expensive bag that you will use every day actually costs ‘only’ two euros per day if you walk around with it for four years…
- Payback: That – actually much too expensive – outfit that you are going to wear during your job interview will pay for itself when you get this job thanks to the outfit and will therefore earn much more money.
- Cash isn’t real money: If nothing comes out of the checking account, you haven’t actually spent anything, right?
- Pay well in advance: That holiday you have been planning for months is actually free if you have paid for your flight, transfer and hotel much earlier. And that concert or festival ticket for next year will also be free by then, because you pay for it now and you don’t have to spend anything on it when you get there. Except for the drinks.
Bad way to spend
You may have already guessed it, but the bogus excuses to justify purchases are of course not realistic at all. Every expense you make adds up in the long run, no matter how small the amount is now. By looking after the little ones you can save a lot of money, which will make you thank yourself later. Girl math is therefore certainly not recommended, but we know that everyone does it sometimes.
