Actual English 15 - Spending Habits

Reference: http://home.ebse.co.kr/actualenglish/

 

Actual talk

https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZgIEx7ZKY50FUCfqR0WDmb65ebN8b2kFNOy

 

M:       What kind of a spender are you? Do you try to save money?

W:      I used to be an impulse buyer, which was the worst thing you can do, especially here in Korea. ‘Cause I’ve checked online and it is shopper’s heaven (shopper’s paradise). You get discounts. It’s sale every single day and you get credit points as well. So if you stack up on your points you can get a free item.

M:       You can buy more!

W:      Exactly! So, it’s a waste of time going offline. I like the shopping experience, browsing through the stores and trying on the clothes and stuff.

M:       I think that’s a women’s thing. Men tend not to like shopping.

W:       So you’re in and out?

M:      I will wait until the last minute that I need something or wait a whole year. And I will go way out to the countryside to the outlet stores and do a year’s worth of shopping in three hours.

W:      I’ve definitely gotten a liking to online shopping. (They’re the) Best place to get discounts.

M:       Do you keep track of your expenditures?

W:      I didn’t, but I found this really good smart phone application which sends me a text and shows me how much I’ve accumulated over the past few weeks. It’s a good application to have.

 

• impulse: [im-puhls]                                          (sudden)
• stack up: [stak-uhp]    syn. accumulate                   
• browse: [brouz]   syn. flip / run through; glimpse              (to look through; look at briefly)
• in and out: [in-uhn-out]                                     (take part for a short time / quickly, then out)
• outlet: [out-lit]                                              (store selling merchandise at low prices)
• expenditure: [ik-spen-di-cher]   syn. expense                 (money used up)
• application: [ap-li-key-shuh n]
• accumulate: [uh-kyoo-myuh-leyt]    syn. collect               (to gather; collect; form a steadily increasing quantity)

 

I like browsing through ~.

• I like browsing through internet shopping malls.

• I like browsing through fashion coupon books.

 

I do a ~’s worth of verb + ing in ~.

• I do a year’s worth of shopping in a day.

• I do a week’s worth of cleaning in 6 hours.

 

 

Actual Story

https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code=XZNIEx7ZzoQA9AN3MayLkJKEPXxdJHi9b0hk

(Actual Interview Question: Tell us about your spending habits.)

 

Now that I’m earning my own income I would say that I am more fiscally responsible, or fiscally conservative. I’m thinking a lot about my future, and so it’s important for me to save money so I would say I’m not frugal and I know when to spend my money, and I’m usually the person that wants to pay for everybody when we got out to meals. But I think that’s also a very Korean thing to do because you want to show that you care for the people that you are with. So you tend to, you know, you always see the fights at the restaurants, “I’ll pay”, “I’ll pay” I’m definitely one of those people. But, you know, I like to spend my money and I just like to invest my money in things that are really important or things that I think are of high value. I’m not really the kind of person to go for the cheap thrills I guess I would say. But other than that I tend to save my money. I think to be financially stable is really important. Especially at this time of the year, or this time of the world, when everything is going pretty poorly economically. But other than that I’m a good saver and I hope that this will continue on for the years ahead and that I won’t be broke or stuck in poverty.

I am fiscally responsible, or fiscally conservative.