TikTok has been dominating the internet since the pandemic. Trends come and go, usually lasting a few days before being replaced by something ‘new and fresh’. Although most trends are just fun dance challenges or jokes, I believe some are actually helpful to our daily lives. More recently, I believe that learning about “Girl Math” through TikTok was what helped me calm my shopping anxiety.
“Girl Math” first appeared on TikTok for girls to share how they think about finances to justify their spending habits. From believing anything under $5 is basically free to how refunding something means earning money, it’s a light-hearted poke at how girls would go to great lengths to allow themselves to shop more. What resonated with me the most, however, was how they would justify high prices by breaking them down into multiple wears. One $100 jacket, worn every day for three months, about 92 wears, is basically worth about $1.09 per wear. $1.09 seems very cheap for a jacket and thus why not purchase it? This type of thinking has helped me better decide which purchases are “worth it” and which aren’t and has been a great help during my recent shopping trips.
Before “Girl Math”, I’ve had anxiety around shopping ever since I knew about the value of money and the significance of saving. It’s not only that I am stingy and would never spend more than a certain amount, but worse, I overthink every purchase, even when I have already purchased it. There have been countless times when I want to buy something, see it’s too expensive and then pace around the store for an hour, contemplating if I should get it or not. When I finally let it go and go home without the purchase, I immediately regret it for the next few days, unable to forget about the item. Vise versa, I have also made impulse purchases that were either affected by the friends or the certain “treating myself” feeling. Once I bring it home, I realise I’ll never use/wear it and start scolding myself for spending uselessly. It’s an endless cycle of saving, then spending because of regret and then saving again because of regret.
Now with “Girl Math”, every time I decide to purchase, I think about how many times I would realistically use the item. I then divide it by the price to give me my “Girl Math” price to determine if it’s actually worth it. This has helped me put down items that seem cheap at first, but were useless to me and has also allowed me to splurge on big purchases that I know I’ll use every day, all without any stress or regrets. I’m now less scared of spending too much and instead, allow myself to enjoy shopping as a treat because I know I’ll make good decisions.
On the surface, “Girl Math” isn’t the best financial decision-making tool as it’s often used to encourage more spending. However, “Girl Math” isn’t trying to be serious. It’s a fun way for girls to share and connect with each other over the ways they choose to enjoy shopping. As a girl myself, I believe it fights the notion that all girls do is shop and “waste money”. It applies logic to our habits to make them seem reasonable but at the end of the day, as long as our purchase makes us happy, that’s all that matters. Seeing how other girls can enjoy shopping for items that they love has taught me that it’s okay to treat myself once in a while and not stress about every single dollar that I spend. If I have my basic necessities, buying something I like should not make me more stressed, but rather happier that I can enjoy owning it.