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Friday, August 21, 2009

On the Web

How to avoid picking up the check

Posted by Jonathan Bender on Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 1:30 PM

check.splitting_thumb_210x279.jpg
​You go out for drinks with some friends from the office. You're having fun, so you decide to help close the bar. When it comes time to settle the bill, suddenly you're left with a few $20 bills and a bill that is significantly more than that. So much for this month's attempt at budgeting.

The Money Saving Blog has a 10-step guide to avoid being stuck with the check. Many of the suggestions might make you feel slightly uncomfortable, but they'll make your wallet feel a lot fuller.

The most interesting is using a mobile payment system like PayPal to split the check. If you've got a phone with Internet capability, you can send payment to a friend's e-mail address. It's a great solution if you don't have cash and you don't want to split the check a dozen ways.

MSN Money asks whether you should overtly acknowledge

that not everybody at the table likely makes the same amount of money.

That seems like a way to start an argument that will last long after

the meal is over.  

And in the current economy, restaurants are noticing that splitting the check in half

is becoming less common. Instead, cost-conscious customers are asking for itemized

bills that more accurately reflect what they ate. People are no longer

willing to subsidize the lobster or gin that they didn't get to enjoy. 


Is picking up the check just the cost of inviting friends out to

dinner? Does splitting the check or alternating who pays even out over

time? The key is to not let this decision be a bad ending to what was a

great night or meal.

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Debt-Free Living: Eliminating Debt in a New Economy DIVDIVIDebt-Free Living/Ihas been providing poignant and biblical teaching on debt for over a decade.It is a necessary resource to battle the temptation and trappings of debt that are weighing you down/DIV/DIVDIVDIVIt dominates our society... and ....

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Posted by free budgeting programs on June 25, 2010 at 8:08 AM

There's a special place in hell for people who always want to split the check - because they invariably order the most and the most expensive items.

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Posted by Anonymous on August 27, 2009 at 1:15 PM

There is a special place in hell for people who skimp on communal checks. It is perhaps the most unattractive quality a person can have.

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Posted by DLC on August 21, 2009 at 2:03 PM
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