A few days ago, when shopping online, Duowen almost "fell short" - in the payment options, the small dot stayed in the "Yunzi Log" Alipay small purse column, she was instantly alert, and quickly switched to other payment methods.
Yun Tsai is a little hamster she imagined. Dowen said that now, whenever she hesitates to pay, she will ask herself: "After saving for so long, do you really want to spend all of Yunzai's money?" This nonsensical and interesting inner dialogue seems to have become a special ritual in her money-saving strategy.
However, Dorwen is not alone. Recently, a unique "pretending to save money" wave has swept the Internet, and netizens from all walks of life have participated in this challenge.
From pretending to be pregnant, raising a puppy, to playing Zhen Huan or a princess in distress, everyone integrates themselves into the storyline, and the "spending" of the protagonist in the so-called fantasy world is actually converted into a small amount of money quietly accumulated in reality.
01 The plot design of saving money is imaginative.
Under the foreshadowing of trends such as wool picking, pursuing "exquisite poverty", pursuing anti-severance and renunciation, and digging deep into the secrets of "picking the door", young people have set off a unique trend in the field of "throttling" - "pretending to save money".
It's a story-based method of saving money, in short, people simulate various life scenarios in a unique way, and the plot covers multiple themes such as love, time-travel, history, sci-fi, adventure, etc. The main quest is to raise money for the fictional protagonist and then deposit the funds into their real bank account.
For example, a netizen pretended to have traveled to the world of cultivating immortals and became the outer gate of a certain sect, and then he had to take a flying boat to the sect for a day to buy dry food and spend 20 spirit stones. For this task, he deposited 20 yuan in reality.
And a netizen who pretended to be a princess in distress arranged a plot for himself on the first day like this: your country was destroyed by the war, and your father sent you out of the country ahead of schedule and placed you in a small house purchased in advance. In a foreign land, penniless, you must start the path of self-reliance. On this day, you worked part-time as a KFC clerk and earned the first pot of gold in your life of 30 yuan. So, you save $30 for yourself.
In addition to this, there are also some plots that are closely connected to real life. For example, Xiao Ding posted the first post of "pretending to be pregnant and saving money" in mid-September: On this day, you found that you were nauseous and wanted to vomit, so you boldly speculated that you were pregnant, so you decisively placed an order for pregnancy test-related goods, and in order to be accurate, you bought three copies and spent 30 yuan.
The rest of the plot details the daily expenses of pregnant women, as if they are going through the process of pregnancy. For example, on the 57th day, I went to the hospital for a large deformity examination, which cost 350 yuan; On the 58th day, in order to measure and record the daily abdominal circumference, I spent 5 yuan to buy an automatic telescopic soft ruler...
In order to ensure that the details are authentic and believable, and to understand what pregnant women will go through at each stage, Xiaoding even refers to a large number of pregnancy science books, and when inspiration runs out, as long as you search for what to do in the first few weeks of pregnancy, you can easily continue the plot.
Xiao Ding read a lot of professional books in order to write the screenplay.
Xiao Ding claimed that the short-term goal of "pretending to be pregnant" is to hold on until April next year and give birth to the imaginary child. "Raising a child can be raised until the age of 18, as for whether you can insist on raising the child after that, and in other words, if you stick to that day, this money will be regarded as my pension**. Xiao Ding said.
The "post-00s" duowen projects more of his shadow onto the protagonist, reflecting his growth and struggle through fictional stories.
Her fictional protagonist is a small off-white hamster named Yun Zai, taken from a manga by a Japanese illustrator.
The story begins when Yun Tsai comes to a big city alone and finds a job doing odd jobs on the farm, which also echoes Duowen's own experience of coming to Shenzhen from Henan.
When conceiving the plot, Duowen often looks at the comics, imagining what Yun Tsai does every day, and sometimes mixing the plot with what happened to him, such as buying a cup of milk tea, riding a shared bicycle, taking the train home during the holidays...Once these projects happen, she saves the corresponding amount of money in reality.
Later, Yun Tsai met two little hamsters who worked at the same time, which corresponded to Duowen's two Xi partners in real work. Their workstations were right next to each other, sitting in a corner against the wall, which made Dowen feel safe.
Therefore, Yun Zai's part-time job log was updated to the fourth day, and Duowen wrote: After joining the company, fortunately, three Xi rats were arranged to sit together in the corner of the company.
The drift in the big city is still going on, and Yun Zai's part-time job log is also constantly updated. However, a few months ago, one of Duowen's Xi colleagues chose to leave.
In the plot, Yun Zai's companion is also reduced by one, and only a little hamster is left in the part-time job log after that. On that day, Duowen saved 10 yuan in the Alipay small purse of the "Yunzi Log" he created as a commemoration of the meal.
Multi-text recorded Yunzai part-time job logs.
02 brain-burning screenwriter's plot only survives "pieces of eight cents".
Compared with the traditional and conventional way of saving money, "pretending to save money" has to painstakingly weave the plot for a long time, and it can only save too much money by accumulating over time, which is a bit cumbersome and lacks practical efficiency, and is even considered by some people to be self-amusement. However, in Xiao Ding's view, "pretending to save money" is not only a financial game, but also a boring form of traditional savings with creativity and imagination, combining thrift with entertainment.
At the earliest, Xiaoding indirectly experienced the hardships of traditional fixed storage from his mother. "My mom put money in the bank every month, but when it came to spending money, she was always herself," she recalls. This way of saving money is too hard for me to accept. In contrast, when I write a plot to save money, I am not only coaxing myself to be happy, but also coaxing myself to save money. ”
Up to now, Xiaoding has saved 3,850 yuan by "pretending to raise a baby", and has completed his financial goals in a relaxed and interesting way.
However, at the same time, Xiao Ding also retains the traditional way of saving money. She also has a savings in the bank, which has been saved since 2020 and has not been touched, "I forgot if you didn't mention it". Xiao Ding said that compared with the money in the bank, the money in the small purse seems to have a more "presence".
Xiao Ding believes that this is just a reminder to remind himself not to spend money indiscriminately, "When I see a small purse, I will think, making money is so hard, I have to save a little every day, if I spend money indiscriminately, I don't have to save at all." ”
Xiao Ding's "pretending to raise a baby" saves money.
For Dowen, the sense of saving is awakened after facing the challenges of real life. It was after a financial crisis that she realized the need to plan for savings.
Before he worked, Duowen had no concept of saving, even if he had a surplus of living expenses that month, he would find an opportunity to spend all his money. However, after the start of his professional career, Dowen was reluctant to ask his parents for living expenses.
During this year's National Day, she spent all the 3,000 yuan she had saved before work at one time, and even borrowed 2,000 yuan from a friend. This loan, Duowen originally planned to pay it off in two months, but unexpectedly, his friend had something to do temporarily, urging him to repay the money, and in the face of the disrupted loan plan, Duowen had to ask his family again for money.
Living alone outside, how can you have no money in your hands? If something happens and your parents can't give it to you in time, you can at least take care of it yourself...Your crying makes me feel like you're having a bad time outside. *, her mother's words made Dowen feel extremely aggrieved and blamed, and since then, she has decided to seriously plan to save money to give herself the confidence to go outside.
But for Duowen's behavior of "pretending to save money", the seniors in the office once commented very puzzled: "If you want to save money, why don't you just deposit the money in the bank, and you have to save a few dollars a day in such a troublesome way?" ”
In Duowen's view, "pretending to save money" is more like a "play" that makes the dull process of saving money interesting, "It's not just about saving, it's about making life a little fun." ”
Dowen pretended to save money for Yun Tsai on the first day.
As for how to save money more efficiently, Shuming, who has been working for five years, has a special say. In college, even when I just entered the society, I wrote a lot of bookkeeping apps to remind myself to be thrifty.
But later, she found that this model was difficult to stick to in the long run. What's more, after Shuming's review, she found that bookkeeping could not play any restraining role in her consumption, at best, it only made every sum of money spent clearly.
Later, Shuming adopted a new way of saving, depositing the money he wanted to save into a separate account and untying the payment function. This method allows her to not see the money when she spends, which effectively avoids overconsumption, which is similar to the way of "pretending to save money". Now, the "little purse" has become another special savings account for her.
Shuming likes to use "Luo Wenji's emoji".
03 Fan reverse supervision.
Shuming is an insurance broker, and in her work, she is often exposed to a lot of counseling about pensions, and this has become an opportunity for her to design a pretend to save money.
Shuming said that the current aging of the country's population, as well as the social security pay-as-you-go system has made some young people begin to face up to and plan their own pension problems, "friends around me are envious of retirement can be carefree, pension life." However, they fear that at that age, they may not be able to enjoy the same adequate pension as their parents, which causes anxiety and tension. ”
Therefore, Shuming decided to design a "pretend pension" savings model to guide netizens to think about pension in a relaxed and lively way.
When thinking about the character design, the first thing that comes to Shuming's mind is the Korean actress Luo Wenji. In 2006, Luo Wenji became popular for starring in the comedy "Funny Family", and to this day, the emoji of "Ms. Luo Wenji" still has a place on the Internet.
In Shuming's impression, Luo Wenji left people with the feeling that she was an old lady who paid attention to enjoyment, loved to eat and play, and was very happy, and this was also a kind of life attitude she longed for. As a result, there was a script like "waking up and suddenly changing from a migrant worker to a 61-year-old old lady". Every day when Shuming updates the plot of pretending to save money on the Internet, he will be accompanied by a Luo Wenji emoji.
The rest of the plot is designed to be light-hearted and lively, including chatting with friends in the nursing home, drinking milk tea, eating snail noodles late at night, and going to the mall to buy mink fur collars. Such an interesting setting attracted many netizens to watch and follow the plot to check in and save money.
Shuming said that she will deliberately avoid exaggerating pension anxiety, in order not to let netizens save money due to fear and nervousness, but to guide everyone to develop the habit of saving Xi subtly, and then think deeply about the issue of pension.
When Shuming was writing the plot, some of her inspiration came from her real life. When Shuming travels, the imaginary old lady will start the sojourn pension mode, but she must first deposit 99 yuan to buy fashionable shoes for the elderly and a flower silk scarf; When Shuming dyed her hair, Mrs. Kuo would bleached all her gray hair the next day, dyed it into cherry blossom pink, turned into a fashionable old lady, and then deposited the 129 yuan spent on hairdressing.
It is worth noting that almost every plot can reflect the old lady's outfit, mood and even state in detail. Shuming firmly believes that through concrete descriptions, readers can better "enter the play".
In short, spending money for the little old lady in his heart every day is actually putting the money into his own pocket, and Shuming finally truly realized "saving money".
Now, pretending to save money for the elderly has reached the 65th day, since the first saving post, there are quite a few fans who follow her in the comment area to check in, some people will directly paste the balance chart of Alipay's small purse, and even some netizens "three steps together", in addition to the pension savings in the list of small purses, there are also savings projects for raising puppies and raising babies.
In order to better interact, Shuming has specially built a fan base. And the fans' chasing and punching in also formed a wonderful reverse supervision for Shuming, "You have to maintain the same amount of savings with fans every day, so there is no way to spend it secretly, so it won't be right." ”
What impressed Shuming was that there was a fan who was very self-disciplined. She was Xi using paper money to save money, inserting paper money into the photo album, and one day, she told her friends: "Now that I have no money, I will mortgage the gold bracelet here." The subsequent ** shows her tucking a bracelet into a page of the album.
A few days later, she again declared: "I have redeemed the gold bracelet". *, I saw a stack of banknotes stuffed back into the album with the gold bracelet.
What's even more interesting is that when chasing the plot, some netizens will send out "provocative" inquiries.
On this day, the inscription reads: Mrs. Kuo has just had breakfast at the airport after a trip, so let's save the money for breakfast. Some netizens commented, "Why don't you save the ticket money?".Of course, there is a similar question: "What about the money to live in a nursing home?"”
In this regard, Shuming couldn't cry or laugh, and she later replied: "Guess why I didn't save these money?."Because I'm afraid I won't be able to save it. ”
A netizen "three steps together".
I have to say that in terms of how much money to save every day, Shuming is also well-intentioned. If she saved more than 100 the day before, she would save less the next day to reduce the burden for everyone, for example, save a bottle of ice Coke money - 4 yuan.
If the amount of money you have saved for a few days in a row is too high, a friend has commented below: 'It's a bit expensive, promise me, don't save more than 100 next time.' Shuming said with a smile.
04 Pretend to be more frugal after saving money.
In this seemingly monotonous and naïve "pretend to save money", it is undeniable that there have been some subtle changes in young people's financial concepts and attitudes towards life.
But Xiao Ding is also a little worried, "This 'pretending to save money' may not be sustainable, and its plot will become monotonous, and every day is just a mechanical action of saving money." Eventually, people may revert to more traditional, conventional ways. But more importantly, this process helps young people develop the Xi of thrift and saving. ”
On the day of the interview, Xiao Ding, who had just worked for 3 weeks, received his first salary: more than 3,900 yuan. That day also happened to be the last day of her 22nd year. The moment he saw the amount of salary, Xiao Ding felt that his self-esteem was frustrated for a moment.
That's a meagre salary. I took two exams and ran a remote interview. Although I didn't care so much about the salary before, the moment I really saw the numbers, my heart was still half cold," Xiao Ding sighed: "How can I be so cheap." ”
Xiao Ding had a gap period after graduation and is currently working in Ningbo, but she finds it difficult to live in the city with such a salary.
In terms of dining, in the past, she was able to do whatever she wanted, and she didn't care if she didn't eat more than 50 yuan per person for a meal. Now, when I go to McDonald's and order the "poor ghost**", I can't wait to weigh it again. "This feeling is so uncomfortable, although you don't have money in hand, but you just don't want to spend that money. ”
With the opening of "pretending to raise a baby and saving money", Xiaoding's life is more simple. One of the most noticeable changes is the reduction in spending on clothing, and three sets of clothes are enough to wear in turns at work. Even when she had insomnia, she began to flip through the ...... "The First Lesson of Financial Freedom".
In another story, after Duowen's job became regular, her salary increased a little, and now, she has made a clear plan for the money she has - most of the money will be paid for rent and utilities, and part of it will be used for daily consumption of food and drink, and the remaining part will be half of it for pocket money, and half of it will be saved for Yun Zai.
A few days ago, when Duowen was about to pay for the cat's supplies, he almost misused the money in the "Yunzi wallet" to pay. She gasped in fright, and then quickly switched to bank card payment.
Nowadays, the word "Yunzai" has a special significance, and "Yunzai Log" is a long-term effort of many languages. Although there is no clear plan for the use of this money, Duowen is sure that "this deposit will not be spent easily", and she wants to use the small wealth of "Yun Zai" to support a better and more secure future. "I want to keep it in my little purse and keep it forever. Dowen said.
*: Beijing Youth Daily client.