Money interchanged between friends is a tricky thing. As a general rule, you shouldn’t loan your friends substantial amounts of money – or, on the flipside, accept large loans from friends. You never know what can happen between the two of you, or your respective financial situations, and you could potentially find yourselves in a mess. Small loans, however, are more negotiable. If you lend her twenty bucks, expect her to pay it back, although it’s not necessary to send out bi-monthly typed invoices to get the point across; a gentle reminder once in a while is fine. But keeping a running tab for every single thing you’ve paid for – the time you picked up the bill at lunch, the two dollars’ sales tax you gave her when she ran short – can get annoying. Friends just pay for each other’s things sometimes. It’s what friends do. Chances are that she does the same thing once in a while. If she doesn’t, and you feel like you’re always footing the bill for both of you, stop – it’s that simple.
Blow-offs
Over the years our life circumstances are bound to change. We’ll make new friends and enter new intimate relationships. These can be some of the biggest challenges to friendships; it’s oh-so-easy to alienate one relationship in favor of another, newer prospect, especially a romantic one. But blowing off one friend to hang out with another is a huge no-no. Even if you come up with a justifiable-sounding excuse the first few times, there are only so many excuses your friend will believe before she starts to get ticked. If it’s a new friend you’ve made, try introducing her to your other friends and including her in your activities rather than ditching your older comrades and hanging out one-on-one all the time. If it’s a new boyfriend, it’s a little harder – we all know the feeling of wanting to spend every spare minute with the crush du jour – but if you want to keep your friend, you may just have to make yourself pencil in some quality girl time. After all, he has friends he needs to hang out with too. And later, when you’ve settled into a long term relationship with this guy and can’t stand another moment of watching him scratch himself while he channel surfs, you’ll be glad you still have your friend to get you out of the house.