Friends who keep pushing you to spend what you don’t have aren’t treating you. They’re recruiting you.

Someone who keeps nudging you into spending you cannot manage is usually looking for company in a habit, not doing you a favour. It rarely feels like pressure, because it arrives wrapped in generosity and a good night out. The bill still comes to your address, and one awkward no weighs far less than a balance you cannot clear.

Decide your number before you leave the house and have an easy sentence ready. You are sitting this round out, or you already ate. Suggest something cheap you would genuinely enjoy instead, and see who says yes.