You may want to cease scrolling if you want to stop spending.
“Spending coach” Paige Pritchard, 33, says she found herself in a dire financial situation after needless spending and has shared how she overcame her debt.
The Texan candidly shared a TikTok explaining how she spent her entire $60,000-a-year salary — while living at home with her parents after college — admitting she would impulsively buy things as a way to curb her stress.
“[Spending money] turned into a source of entertainment,” Pritchard admitted in a video clip. “What started off as a couple of trips to the mall turned into weekly trips [where] I would drop several hundred dollars.”
After realizing she wasn’t saving any money and was never going to meet her goal of affording her own home, the TikTok creator overhauled her spending habits and is now sharing how to avoid making the same mistakes she did — by teaching people how to spend their money “well.”
One of the major factors in people blowing through their cash, according to Pritchard, is making purchases based on TikTok, adding it skewed everyone’s idea of normal consumption.
“The more time I spend on this app, the more I’m seeing these themes coming through about what your consumption habits should look like that actually aren’t very normal,’ she explained.
“I want to point them out to you so that if you see them on this app, you can just keep all of this in mind to know that these themes aren’t really the way that you should be spending your money,” the budget guru added.
According to Pritchard, there are four major “themes” she’s noticed on TikTok when it comes to spending. The first being there is always something “newer” and “better” being hailed as the “must have” item.
“As soon as you buy something, and you start using it, something better is going to come along,” she said. “Not only does constantly upgrading your items waste money, but it also ensures you will end up with more junk and clutter.”
The second theme the savvy spender pointed out the app had made us conditioned to, is seeing people spend money — often on extravagant purchases — daily, which makes viewers feel they should do the same.
“The overarching theme on this app is ‘I’m going to treat myself, and I’m going to prioritize what I want most in this moment rather than what’s best for me long term,'” she pointed out.
Another trap TikTok has people caught in is feeling the need to have “everything” at once, like the right gear hobbies, or activities for example.
“If you move into a new house, it has to be fully furnished. If you start a new hobby, you have to have all the gear for the hobby,” she listed. “If you’re having a baby, you have to have all of the baby gear. If you’re starting a new job, you have to completely revamp your wardrobe.”
“This app definitely promotes an all-or-nothing mindset when it comes to our consumption habits, especially when we’re moving into a new season of life,” Pritchard continued. “It tells us that we can’t be okay with being in an in-between.”
The final theme the saving expert noticed is that having more of something is always perceived as “better.”
“There is just this overarching message that the more you have, the more you spend, the more you acquire, the happier you will be, and that’s just simply not the case,” she reflected. “The truth is that there is a law of diminishing returns when it comes to our spending habits.”
To get the most out of your salary, and set up an achievable savings goal, Pritchard said to always think of what you’ll want in the future.
‘My philosophy is that you always want to prioritize your future self and what’s best for her financially rather than doing what’s best in the moment,’ she said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, consumer spending in the U.S. increased to $14,226 billion at the end of 2022 from $13,282 billion in 2021.