In a viral TikTok, a self-described poor artist shared her money hack for surviving until the next payday. Viewers can relate.
In the video, user @vanboozled shared what she described as a “poor people hack.” She explained that sometimes people like her have a bill coming up that needs to come out of their bank account, but will simultaneously need the money for necessities like food and gas to be able to live and work the next few days until payday.
@vanboozled Replying to @Juan Zendejas i know yall do this too usualy a couple days or a day before payday 😆 some bills font line up right. #poorlife #paychecktopaycheck #lifehack ♬ original sound – Vanboozled
In this situation, what @vanboozled will do is take the money out of her account to cover necessities and then let the bill hit, over drafting the account.
“Then you still have money to get to work until you can hopefully get your paycheck in time, or get your paycheck deposited in time so you don’t get charged by the bank for overdraft,” the artist said.
“Normal people know, only rich people don’t know that game,” @vanboozled said at the end of the clip.
The video has more than 45,000 views and 300 comments.
“there’s girl math and poor people math. I’m not good at any other math lol,” a commenter wrote.
Overdrafting on your bank account is when you make a purchase but don’t have enough money to cover the total. For example, if you have $50 in your account but pay a $100 grocery bill, your account is overdrafted for $50.
When this occurs, the bank covers the missing amount, but they often charge an overdraft fee. While the fee amount varies by bank, the fee is typically about $35 for every transaction. That means a person might not just get one fee penalty but multiple. It depends on their bank’s policies and how many transactions they made, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Some banks give customers a few days to rectify the overdraft, while others charge a daily fee until the person’s account is back in the green.
Generally, debt card holders have to opt-in to be able to overdraft. The alternative being that if they don’t agree to be overdrafted, their card will decline a purchase that would put the person’s account in the negatives.
Several commenters shared that they relate to @vanboozled’s experience and have had to navigate their finances similarly.
“Night before payday, $3 in account, go gas up but select credit. You’ll avoid overdraft because gas on credit takes a little longer to pull,” a top comment read.
“playing beat the bank was a multi time per month game for many years….” a person shared.
“Broke me got a target debit card and would get groceries then $40 cash at the register to get gas and pray it didn’t hit before my direct deposit,” another wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to @vanboozled for comment via email.