🍽 One bill for everyone. But whose expense is it?

You have dinner with friends, pay the whole bill, and everyone promises to send you their share. Nothing unusual—until you try to work out how much you spent eating out that month.

The full amount left your account. But you didn’t eat three dinners.

Say the bill was 90 and the three of you agreed to split it equally. Your dinner cost 30, and your friends owe you the other 60. The currency doesn’t change the point.

Record all 90 as your own food spending, and your dinner looks three times more expensive. Then count the 60 paid back as new income, and you’ve apparently found a curious way to “earn” money from your friends.

What leaves your account isn’t always the same as what you personally spend. Getting someone’s share back doesn’t make you richer, either. They’re returning money you paid on their behalf.

The same thing happens with shared accommodation, tickets, or a group gift. A clear picture means distinguishing what you paid for yourself from what you covered for others. And remembering that until they pay you back, that money isn’t in your account.

Who usually picks up the bill in your group—and who ends up doing the bookkeeping? 👀