The Kitty

[mickeyd]

When traveling with members of my family (all adults), we have created a system of paying for stuff along the way. We call it the kitty. Initially we all put up a flat amount of money (say $50 each), one of us volunteers to hold the kitty (an old zippered purse), we all agree that whenever the holder of the kitty says so we will all contribute an additional like-amount of cash to the kitty. We usually pay for hotel rooms separately with CCs. The kitty pays for food, entrance fees, gas, snacks, booze, etc.

Over many years of using this simple system we have never had a disagreement or felt shortchanged. It almost seems too simple to work, but it works well for us.

 

[Texas Proud]

I would say it only works because you all probably eat the same, drink the same etc.... or you just don't go enough times to matter...


I don't have a problem with paying a bit more for someone else to drink (I do not) or eat the most expensive thing on the menu (I do not)... but if it were a regular thing... then I would want an adjustment...

Where I used to work... we used to go to lunch as a big group all the time.. we usually paid the same amount like you say... but we did start to charge a 'tea tax' to the ones who drank a drink that cost money... everybody was OK with this as it made it easier to pay a bill...

 

[soupcxan]

but we did start to charge a 'tea tax' to the ones who drank a drink that cost money...

This led to the creation of the Tea Party?

 

[Achiever51]

Funny you should mention this as a friend mentioned this same system just the other day. I like it because I hate micromanaging the bill at a table deciding X owes more because he had a drink and Y owes less because she didn't have any of the appetizer. For a few bucks it just doesn't seem that important!

 

[Nova]

When I was working, our weekly lunch group (12 to 15) split the bill equally. After several times of coming up on the really short end of the deal, I finally said my order only totaled $10 and that I would put in $15, but not the "every one put in $25 and that will cover the tip, too". Several other people chimed in that their share was well below the $25, too. We all knew that the same 3 or 4 people were ordering expensive entres and a couple of glasses of wine. That was the end of "splitting the bill". BTW those 3 or 4 people quit ordering pricey meals and started drinking iced tea like the rest of us once they had to pay for what they ordered. Splitting the ticket wasn't hard...there was always some lady with a calculator who seemed to almost instantly know each person's total, including tax and tip.