A new study claims that people will spend less money if the bills are new.

Love to shop?

Well, research out of Canada is showing that we don’t like having dirty money in our pockets and tend to spend more when we have a fist full of grubby bills.

On the contrary, if we have the same amount of cash in clean, crisp bills, we are inclined to spend less – except when we are being watched. Then, we like to show off and are more likely to pull out the newer bills.

Part of the study, being published in the Journal of Consumer Research, gave students from the University of Winnipeg money to go shopping with.

The cash included new and old bills, as well as small and large denominations. The results showed that students spent an average of $3.68 when given a crisp, new $20 bill, but when given an old, dirty $20 bill they more than doubled that amount and spent an average of $8.35.

Authors of the study say “Consumers tend to infer that worn bills are used and contaminated, whereas crisp bills give them a sense of pride in owning bills that can be spent around others.”

Do you spend less when you have new, crisp bills in your wallet?