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New Way To Split Your Restaurant Bill
MSE_Martin
Posts: 8,272 Money Saving Expert
The Standard Solutions
Split the bill evenly.
Sounds great, but its a nightmare for budgeting. If you earn less than others, there's no way to keep the price down, as even if you just nibble at one course, if others drink and have three courses, you'll pay more. If you earn more than the rest, do you really want them to pay for you? It simply isn't fair, yet it's often embarassing to try and argue.
(PS if you're looking to budget have you checked out the free budget planner software?)
Calculate exactly who owes what.
It's much fairer, but much more difficult, takes a lot longer and makes arguments likely. Also, if you're the one to suggest it there's always the feeling everyone thinks you're a tight-wad (not such a bad thing in my book
)
My alternative
Easy Honours System:
It's effectively an easy hybrid of the above two.
How it works: After the bill, ask everyone to quickly put in what they roughly think they owe. This isn't a numbercrunch estimate, more a quick off the top of your head guess.
Then: Collect all the money in. Almost undoubtably you'll be short, then simply divide the shortfall up between everyone. So if there are 8 people and you're £40 short, everyone has to put in another £5 (£40 divided by 8).
Why?: This way everyone is much nearer what they actually should be paying than simply splitting the bill, yet it's much quicker and less argumentative than having to sift through and calculate.
Please discuss this or what you do, suggest other methods and vote on how you currently divide the bill
Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
Debt-Free Wannabee Official Nerd Club: (Honorary) Members number 000
What do you do most commonly when eating out with a group of friends? 165 votes
Split the bill evenly between everyone
59%
98 votes
Work out exactly who had what and divide in detail
23%
39 votes
We take it in turns for one person to pay it all
11%
19 votes
A.N. Other method
5%
9 votes
0
Comments
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What do you do about the person who deliberately underestimates what they "think" their share should be?
Mind you,it may be a better option when we go out as a couple with two adults who bring two children along,we used to split the bill in half then ! funnily enough,they used to enjoy eating out with us.....i wonder why????Sponsored by Tesco Clubcard Points !!0 -
Can we have a "martin is my hero" button please, just as we ahve a thanks button?
nalibz
0 -
Interesting topic.
When we go out with british friends, we tend to each put in roughly what we think we owe and usually it's a little over and the remaining few pounds gets left as a tip.
However, when we go out with chinese friends, it's always one person that picks up the entire bill and although there's no spoken agreement, we take it in turns to pick up the tab.I have the mind of a criminal genius. I keep it in the freezer next to Mother....0 -
Whenever I go out for a meal with friends, we normally eat roughly the same, either we will all have a starter or all have a dessert generally so its easy to just put in equal amounts cos the difference in what people have eaten is often no more than 50p.
If someone does eat more than the others, then they just volunteer more money, I guess we are all understanding of each other as we are all low wage earners and wouldn't want to take the mick.0 -
when we go out as a group sometimes 6 sometimes 8 etc depends how many couples are going.. im normally the one who sorts out the bills as im normally the only one who hasnt had a drink.. when people have had a drink they tend to overestimate there contribution.. once when i added it all up we had 40 over lol i wasnt leaving that as a tip as they had already charged us service charge so i took the remainder and bought everyone a drink in the bar afterwards.. mind you i didnt let on it was there own money so i looked good buying everyone a drink lolThose we love don't go away,They walk beside us every day,Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear
Our thoughts are ever with you,Though you have passed away.And those who loved you dearly,
Are thinking of you today.0 -
i like the idea of roughing it and will be doing that next time i'm out with a group.
well done jockettuk on buying everyone a drink, it couldv'e been your tip for working it out!
'What's poignancy grandad?'
'It's the cordon bleu of emotions sonny'0 -
With my circle of friends it has evolved that the the chaps pay for the food and the women pay for the wine. (Always 'house wine', for two reasons - it's a good test of a restaurant and we prefer to pay supermarket prices for the good stuff and drink it at home).
As the chaps all have more disposable income than us women (!) we tend to get quite a good deal that way.....well it works for us anyway!
♥♥♥ Genius - 1% inspiration and 99% doing what your mother told you. ♥♥♥0 -
We split the total for food and the total for wine. The food is then split equally. The wine is "loaded" so that those who drank more, pay more. We then say that the bill for those who had a sip is £x and the bill for those that that had a good glug is £y. Generally, it works out ... but this is an established group who wouldn't dream of trying to save a few quid.
I guess that much depends on the group and the integrity of the individuals involved. In our group, those that display little integrity don't get another invitation Warning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac0 -
seems to be an ?english thing.
like noozan, when i go out with my indian friends, one will usually pay, it all works out. nobody takes the !!!!!! really, unless someone just told they got a mssive bonus, hey hey
however when i go out with my english mates, they usually want to work it out to the penny.
strange hey?0 -
it really is an english thing....donsaini wrote:seems to be an ?english thing.
like noozan, when i go out with my indian friends, one will usually pay, it all works out. nobody takes the !!!!!! really, unless someone just told they got a mssive bonus, hey hey
however when i go out with my english mates, they usually want to work it out to the penny.
strange hey?
same here, go with family or other indian friends, always one that pays and yes it does normally balance out....
go with english friends and its always split equally.
its the non drinkers i feel sorry for cos they end up paying the same as everyone else who are !!!!!!:)0
!) we tend to get quite a good deal that way.....well it works for us anyway!
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