If you've had any internet access in the last few weeks, then you probably know about "girl dinner," aka the TikTok trend where women share the random things they cobble together for meals. It's a phenomenon that has many of the girlies feeling seen, including myself!
The trend even inspired a counterpart called "boy dinner," and BuzzFeed spoke to two nutritional experts about their thoughts on girl dinner.
Well, it looks like there's a new girl trend on the scene. Samantha Jane, a 28-year-old real estate developer and content creator, recently went viral for sharing the concept of "girl math."
"I know we've been talking a lot about girl dinner," Samantha says in the video, "but I really think we should focus our attention on girl math."
She then launches into some examples of girl math out in the wild, like, "Anything under $5 feels like it's pretty much free."
"[If I] return something at Zara for $50 [and] bought something else for $100, it only cost me $50."
"Even, like, tickets that I buy months in advance, I show up to the concert and I'm like, 'this was like a free concert, right?'"
"Girl math," she concludes.
Considering that Samatha's video has over three million views, there are LOTS of girl mathematicians out there! And many of them flooded the comments with their own (accurate) examples of girl math.
Samantha told BuzzFeed that she thought up the concept of girl math while out to lunch with her colleagues. "We were talking about how funny girl dinner is, and what we each had for dinner the night before. Starbucks is an (almost) daily ritual for us, [and] that day there was a 25% off promo, my total came to $4.90 and I was laughing that anything under $5 feels like it doesn’t count as spending, and joked, 'girl math!!'"
The girlies wasted no time hopping on the trend and sharing even more real-life examples of girl math, like the idea that if you load your Starbucks card and then buy a drink later, that drink is free:
Or, if you buy a $400 handbag but use your bag every day (aka 400 divided by 365) it actually only costs about $1 per day:
Or, if you almost had to get an oil change but didn't, that's month back in your pocket:
And if you think girl math is all about making frivolous financial choices, think again! Samantha told BuzzFeed, "Girl math is fun logic. It’s not about good vs. bad financial decisions. It’s meant to be lighthearted. If buying a new dress you feel good in brings you joy — do it! We can justify things however we want to in our heads — we can make our own rules. Girl math reframes the narrative and takes away the shame around spending money. Girl math also isn’t gender specific — if it resonates, it's for you!"
Samantha also mentions in the video above that it's still important to practice girl math within your financial means.