Friends and Money

This reader posted in our anonymous Savvy Confessions group, asking if she should crash at her friend's for free. Do you have any advice for her?

I recently moved to a new city to job search. My friend offered her place for me to stay rent-free while I job search. I've been here for a month now and I've offered to pay for half the rent, but she insists that I don't. She's been so gracious to let me stay, and I do my best to try to cover costs where I can (groceries, buying her dinner, etc.) However, I still feel bad for not paying rent. While I really want to pay her part of the rent, it also really helps me cut costs not having to pay it since I'm still unemployed. Should I force her to take the rent or just tell her thank you for offering me her place to stay and pay it forward to her in the future?

Pose your own anonymous questions or off-load your work confessions by posting in the Savvy Confessions group, and I'll find the right expert to help you out.

Fed up with friends who keep bragging about money? OnSugar blogger Beauty and the Budget shares some great suggestions on how to deal.

If there is anything that worsens how you feel about your financial situation, it's probably being around someone that always brags about money. For me, one of the most difficult things is to hear others bragging about their impressive salaries and benefits package, expensive getaways, and huge end-of-the-year bonuses. And of course, you try to be nice, because you're their friend and you love them, but really you just want to tell them to shut it.

Money problems can make you bitter, especially toward others with more money and success, but there are classy ways to contain yourself around a money bragger:

• Compliment them. Have you ever heard the expression "kill 'em with kindness"? Well, this goes along with that. Your friend might not be trying to hurt your feelings, but they could just be really proud of how much they've accomplished. Maybe they don't get a lot of praise from other people, so you tell them you're proud of them! That could be all they needed.
• If they're being competitive, ignore them. You can tell a friend is being competitive when he or she brags about recent purchases or income and then immediately want to know what you bought or what you make. Whether they are jealous of you or not, this is childish behavior and shouldn't be acknowledged. Simply compliment them on their recent success and change the subject.
• Never burden them with your financial troubles. When a friend starts to brag about money, it's easy to become upset and envious of them. Still, it's never a good idea to start talking about your financial problems after they've just gotten done talking about buying a $4,000 pair of shoes (or whatever). If you want to talk about your finances, wait until later. Otherwise, you'll just be a Debbie Downer.

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SavvySugar spoke to Mike Melby, CEO and founder of PayDivvy, a free service that allows you to pay all of your bills in one place and split group expenses. The inspiration for PayDivvy came from Mike's own experience juggling his personal bills as a young professional and shared expenses with roommates. He says, "For three years, there was confusion, hassle, social friction, and financial drain. I realized that this is too ubiquitous of a problem. This is happening everywhere, particularly in our demographic, and I started to think what the ideal solution would be." Whether you are a college student looking to divvy up expenses between your roommates or simply trying to efficiently pay your bills, PayDivvy can help anyone to manage personal finance in a better fashion. Mike takes us through the four major tenants of PayDivvy