REVEALED: How to split the bill after a dinner where you’ve stuck to cheap items and your friends have splashed out – without appearing petty

App makers have come up with new, simple ways to divide bills fairly and avoid the awkward conversation that comes at the end of group dinners or outings with friends.

Restaurant meals and shared vacations can be especially stressful for people who are careful with money, because they are forced to pay the same as the big spenders in the group.

Awkward situations often arise when some members of the party opt for a starter, main course and dessert and several drinks, while others choose not to overdo it.

Luckily for people who tend to stick to cheaper options, app makers have come up with helpful ways to avoid these awkward conversations as much as possible.

Apps like Splitwise and Tab have emerged to help split the bill and eliminate that annoying 10 minutes at the end of a nice meal, often spent inspecting the receipt with the calculator off.

Data shows that more people are using the apps every month as the post-pandemic economy continues to boom and people eat out and travel as much as possible after years of being cooped up.

The recent inflation has put everyone on edge, so it’s difficult but important to make sure that when money is discussed among friends, no matter how difficult, the conversations don’t last long.

“The less you can talk about money on these occasions, the better,” etiquette consultant Liz Wyse told the newspaper. Wall Street Journal.

To keep things fair, the easiest way to navigate a bill splitting conversation is to open an app and let the numbers do the work for themselves.

It is useful if groups of friends decide in advance whether the bill will be divided equally, so that everyone knows what the expectations are on the occasion.

When the bill comes and it is split equally, it is advisable that you put down a credit card, ideally one but no more than three, and then apps such as Venmo, Zelle, PayPal or Cash App can be used to refund whoever picked up the bill to pay .

For rideshares like Uber and Lyft, there is an option to split the trip in the app, eliminating any potential back-and-forth discussions.

Apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats allow group ordering so everyone can split the cost and pay for what they ordered.

Splitwise is a good app to use for joint holidays – to keep track of who paid for what and make sure everything is split evenly. Splitwise pro also offers hi-tech receipt scanning so the app can divide what everyone got and split the tip, tax and other charges.

Tab is a free app that is the most accurate for recognizing items and determining the amount each participant owes. The entire group also does not have to download the app and it has special functions that allow certain group members, such as the birthday boy or girl, to be excluded from the split.

App makers have come up with new, simple ways to split bills fairly and avoid the awkward conversation that comes at the end of group dinners or outings with friends (stock image)

Despite all the innovative ways to reduce the chance of an awkward conversation, there will always be dinner guests who are unaware of their spending habits or the fact that not everyone at the table has ordered the same amount.

For example, vegans and vegetarians often get the short end of the stick at group dinners, when meat eaters order expensive steak dishes and luxury entrees to “split” and they lump together an equal share of the bill.

People who choose not to drink for whatever reason are sometimes forced to pay more than their share to avoid an awkward argument when others order cocktails, wine or beer.

a USA Today Reader responded to a segment on the check-splitting dilemma with a particularly nasty scenario.

The anonymous respondent said she and some other single friends had gone to dinner with a couple, and the couple – especially the man – had ordered a bunch of food for the table to share, as well as their own entrees.

‘We enjoyed the meal and drinks and when the check came the man said to the waiter: ‘You can split the bill in three’ – and counted he and his wife as ‘one person’ plus each of us single women . They ate most of the food (and his own entree) and drank more than us single ladies.”

The unfortunate party member said she got a share of the check worth $258, but she didn’t care and has been fuming ever since.

‘That didn’t seem fair to me at all. But I kept my mouth shut and paid my share… and I’ve been thinking about it ever since,” she said. ‘Should I have said something? Now I actually would like that, but they are good friends and I didn’t want to shake things up.’

Apps like Splitwise and Tab have emerged to help split the bill and eliminate that annoying 10 minutes at the end of a nice meal, often spent inspecting the receipt with calculators off (stock image)

Elaine Swann, a lifestyle and etiquette coach in Carlsbad, California, and founder of The Swann School of Protocol, told USA Today, “People don’t like this awkward conversation.”

“But you have to,” she said. ‘My recommendation is to embrace the difficult. Find out who pays for what.’

Users on TikTok have been poking fun and making light-hearted jokes about the awkward situation – which appears to be a universal experience.

Nate Meeker role-played a situation in which one person at the table kept careful track of what each person was getting – even dividing the communal fries for the table by the number each guest consumed.

People in the comments were torn about the situation. Many agreed that they shouldn’t have to pay for something they didn’t eat. “I’m not stingy, but if I haven’t eaten something, I shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

‘Actually, this man is not the stingy one. The stingy is the person who orders more than everyone else and expects the bill to be split evenly,” another user wrote.