The Hidden Costs of a Group Trip (Everyone Forgets to Split)
What a fabulous group trip – can’t believe it’s 2 weeks ago already. Great fun and the costs all split fairly. Great! Well maybe not…..
The accommodation, the big food shop, the group train tickets, all split fairly. The big costs are easy, there’s an up-front receipt, bank transfers, a line in the group trip chat that everyone can scroll back to (eventually). It’s the small ones that often slip through the net, but need tracking too! Those little amounts that get paid in the moment – whoever’s bank card is out first, whoever is first at the bar (again), the easy access ride-share app, whoever noticed the bin bags have run out! It’s so easy to lose track after the event.
The costs that quietly slip through the net
- ‘Did we ever sort out the taxi back to the station?’ Nobody remembers, and was it £22 or £24. You think you picked it up as it was on your ride-share app.
- And what about the pub outing …. ‘We all walked there, and got a taxi back in the dark. No wait, some people walked back, who was in the cab? Who paid?’
- ‘Oh, and don’t forget, I got the top-up supplies shop on the last night when we realised the bin bags were out – I need to check how much that was’
- ‘Who paid for the bus trip tickets? That was cash wasn’t it? How much was that again?’
- ‘Oh and the breakages charge from the accommodation, for the mishap with the tray of glasses, that came through afterwards’
‘Oh my, that lot actually adds up to over £200. None of it got written down at the time. Did we count all that in the split fairly?’
These kinds of things keep coming up as people simply remember, get their credit card statements or check their bank accounts. They often aren’t big amounts, so people often forget or think they’ll sound petty if they mention it. Quietly feeling out of pocket. But they all add up.
It’s starting to feel like accusations that no-one means to make, and it’s making people uncomfortable. And after such a great trip – what a shame. There has to be a better way!!
How to catch them, without needing a group accountant!
Step 1 – Make it a bit of fun. Remind everyone up front that all we want is to be fair, so no round heroes needed, all transactions logged, no one has to be the group accountant – everyone agrees to track everything.
Step 2 – Log it the moment it happens. Don’t do the ‘I’ll remember / we’ll sort it later’ dance. You won’t and it won’t get sorted fairly. If everyone logs it straight away, there is a record and if the split is wrong it can always be adjusted later.
Step 3 – Note who was there. No one wants to get stuck with a share of something they didn’t take part in.
Step 4 – Agree if the split is even or adjust as needed if someone just had a coffee while everyone else had cocktails.
Step 5 – No amount is too small. Don’t fall into the ‘Don’t worry, it’s only a few quid’ trap. It all adds up and before you know it, the person with the physical cash who is helpfully paying for every tiny amount, has forked out an extra £50 by the end of the weekend.
‘Stick it on Tallykins’
This is exactly what the Tallykins app was built for. Log every cost as it happens, who paid, who took part, and Tallykins will sort the lot.
At the start of the trip (or ideally before, to catch the deposits and up front travel costs), everyone downloads Tallykins. No password needed, and no personal data shared. One person gets the ‘Organiser Pass’ and sets up the Group Event, with a mascot for everyone taking part. They share a 6 digit code with the group (can be shared in person or via WhatsApp for example), and bingo ….. everyone is in the event and can log transactions as they happen for the group.
No signal – no problem!! Even when you don’t have any mobile signal, you can still log events and it will all sync later when back in range or back on the wifi. Surprisingly important when you are stood on a remote taxi rank, or in a festival field! Transactions are time-stamped when they are logged (tho can be adjusted) so even if several transactions are logged across the day they all sync later in order on the transaction log.
If any of you are in couples (even if just some of the group) you can use the Friend Groups function so couple-to-couple settlement is easy, whilst still retaining each individual person’s fair share total.
Have fun as you go with the Tally-up view …. turn it into a game to try and keep the split as even as you can …. ‘Ooh look I owe the most right now, I’ll pick up the next round to bring the shares back in line’. When you get good at this, often there is no need for big bank transfers at the end!
And one final tip …… keep the event open for a few weeks after the group trip, even if a Tally-up has occurred. That way if something has fallen through the cracks, you don’t have to reopen everything, but just do a further Tally-up.
Let Tallykins do the maths 🐾
Download free — Organiser Pass from £3.99, no auto-renewal.
