My friends always want to split the bill equally, how do I say no?
One friend orders two cocktails. Another "just wants to try" that £16 truffle arancini starter. But you stuck religiously to tap water. So when the waiter places the card reader on the table at the end of the night, you are facing a social minefield. Even if you are sober enough
One friend orders two cocktails. Another "just wants to try" that £16 truffle arancini starter. But you stuck religiously to tap water. So when the waiter places the card reader on the table at the end of the night, you are facing a social minefield.
Even if you are sober enough to manage the mental arithmetic, you will be hard-pushed to overrule the jolly friend who shouts: "let's just divide it equally!"
"When we eat out, we always just split the bill," says Ella, a communications assistant from Leeds.
The 23-year-old says she never suggests to her friends they all just pay for what they've ordered as "it just feels awkward".
Ella earns over £30,000 but some of her friends earn more and she finds it hard to say no if they want to go somewhere a bit fancy that she can't really afford. Instead she matches her order with theirs so she isn't left feeling short-changed.
When that happens, rather than tell her friends how she feels, she scrabbles around for extra money.
"I'm probably on the phone to my mother in secret asking to borrow that extra bit of cash," she says.
Research from the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) in 2025 found that only four in 10 adults do feel comfortable talking to friends about money, with women significantly less likely to feel okay discussing finances with friends (39%) compared to men (50%).
