Clear money agreements leave more room for the relationship to remain about other things.

Vagueness about money does not take money out of a relationship. It moves it underground, where it becomes scorekeeping, small resentments, and a running tally neither person admits to keeping. A stated arrangement is less graceful and far cheaper, because settled numbers stop occupying the space between people.

If there is an unnamed financial arrangement in your life, a loan, a shared cost, an ongoing favor, say the terms once in plain sentences this week. Awkward for ten minutes beats unspoken for a year.