Shoppers embrace ‘girl math’ to justify luxury purchases — here’s how it works

By nearly every measure, Americans are financially strained. Yet, we’re coming up with new ways to justify expensive purchases.

The latest way, coined “girl math,” breaks down the price of an item by the cost per wear. If you use an expensive handbag every day for a year, for example, then it might only set you back a few bucks each time you wear it.

Alternatively, buying something on sale not only means you’ll spend less, but the difference can be considered “found money,” which can be put toward something else.

While the term originated from an unflattering view of women and their finances, TikTok’s latest trend aims to reframe the narrative around luxury indulgences.

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In addition to how these purchases are rationalized, there’s also a psychology to which payment method is used.

Buying big-ticket purchases in cash, for instance, makes them easier to forget because there’s no paper trail, according to a recent paper by Christopher Bechler and Szu-chi Huang at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

This works well for “an indulgent purchase that doesn’t feel super justifiable,” Bechler said.

Otherwise, consumers increasingly turn to buy now, pay later to spread out the cost of their “retail therapy” with small installments.

All this coincides with TikTok’s other recent trend, “treat” culture, which promotes spending money as a form of self-care, providing a temporary boost during stressful economic times.

By whatever means, “we are all vulnerable to destroying ourselves financially,” said Brad Klontz, a Boulder, Colorado-based psychologist and certified financial planner.

However, there are some benefits to this approach.

Most experts recommend thinking about major purchases more carefully, and that’s where “girl math” can come in…