Being the responsible one in the friend group shouldn’t mean being everyone’s wallet.

Being the dependable one in a group slides easily into being the one who covers, because you are the one with a card, a job and the habit of sorting things out. It happens without anybody being greedy. Each round is small, and across a term it is not. Reliability was supposed to mean people can count on you, not that your money is pooled.

Try being the one who says I will get mine, and let the rest sort itself out. Use the payment app at the table rather than later. If someone owes you from a while back, ask this week, once and lightly.