2. the dangers of girl math

hey zesties!

do you find yourself frequently engaging in retail therapy and spending excessively? if you do, you're not alone.

let’s first break down how we justify our spendings. when we see an item on sale, our first thought is to “just buy!!!!” because we think we’re saving. some of us might even use girl math to break down the price into a “cost-per-wear” analysis by dividing the price by the number of times it is worn/used. also, with the influx of online platforms like carousell, we might think that our spending is insured cos we can always resell items.

however, this is NOT a sustainable mindset to have. let me use the example of a cup of matcha to put this in perspective. a matcha a day costs a minimum of $5. that’s $150 a month and $1825 a year! If we had saved slightly more in a month, we could have saved an additional $3k a year. and this is only talking about small ticket items. here are some tips to start budgeting wisely.

1. instead of carting out immediately, leave it for a week or two. afterwards, if you still want the item, it is probably sth you have thought about enough about. often. impulses for instant gratification overshadow genuine wants or needs for the item.

2. start using money tracking apps such as spendee or money manager. this allows us to visualise what most of our money is going to. if this could be too challenging, set an impulse spending budget every month. let’s say the budget is set as $200 a month. if the item you want to purchase is $300, save up that budget so you can spend on an item you really want instead! this would enable us to gain the ability to buy even bigger ticket items which are more valuable in the long run.

3. lastly, learn to drive active or passive income for higher returns. this would allow continual spending on whatever we like instead of dooming us to a life of living paycheck-to-paycheck. one of the ways this can be done is through stocks and investments. there will be another post on how to start venturing into this so stay tuned for that if that is something you would be keen to learn about.

anyways, i hope this post has helped you gain a bit of perspective as to why terms coined in the media like “girl math” might have a negative impact on us starting out our adulting journey. bye bye for now!

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#lifestyle #finance #girlstalk #realtalk #girlmath