Square it away
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Top - For Love and Lemons
Pants (actually a jumpsuit!) - Norma Kamali
Hat - Zara
Jacket - Nasty Gal
Sundays I love me some brunch. I think we all know this by now. You get to dress up in a fab outfit, head to a super cool spot downtown buzzing with people. Mimosas are being poured, perfect egg yolks come from the kitchen, and multiple plates of sizzling bacon are set down on tables for hungry revelers. It's the epicenter of New York City's energy on any given weekend, and where you go when your hangover has got you thinking you can't go on.
So, several avocado toasts and overgarnished fruity drinks later, all is well and you've finally caught up with all of your super-busy friends. Your buzz has got you feeling decent, until the bill comes. That little piece of paper with a list as long as a grocery bill after you've neglected your fridge for three weeks. And then you have to force yourself to realign your thoughts so that you can figure out the math? Total buzzkill.
Of the 11 friends at your table, 3 pay with cash, the rest want to split cards. Or, it all ends up going on two cards. One being yours. One friend goes to the ATM (who has time for that?), a couple of others pay you in a few days, and someone totally forgets, and you have to awkwardly ask them to pay you back, stat, because payday is too far away and you impulsively overspent on the shoes you saw at Bloomingdales the other day ('it was Friends & Family!' you tell yourself).
Or you split lunch with 8 people at work, leaving you in a similar situation. Been there, done that, yea? You don't have to be a brunch fanatic like myself to get stuck with this same problem frequently.
Well, that's where Square Cash swoops in to save your behind. This app makes sharing bills, and send money to friends, family, businesses, whoever- a piece of cake. With gold sprinkles on top.
Here's the quick rundown:
You take two seconds to download the app for free. Then, just add your debit card. After this, you're good to go and can send or receive money to anyone in your contacts or a mobile phone number.
Square Cash lets you make this username called a $Cashtag, which lets you get paid anonymously if you want to, and which I like. None of that sharing business- I don't really need the cost of my eggs benedict on a news feed. This app keeps it bare-bones simple for the user, from its clean design to its minimal requirement of information.
$Cashtag is also great because it makes it a breeze for non-Square Cash users to pay you. The sending party doesn't need an account (I hate telling friends and family to "download the app" just so we can make our exchange). You just send a text, they get your $Cashtag link, and click it. Super easy. Simple, like...a square.
Other highlights about the app: It doesn't "hold" your money the way other apps do. It's the ONLY app that allows you to send instant deposits, just with a small 1% fee.
You can even use bluetooth in times you don't have someone's number or don't feel like taking it down and saving it to your phone book. Sometimes I just want to pay an acquaintance or business and not give them my digits, so I love this part. Easy as airdropping photos. Holiday gifting for my super-picky family members is going to be a no-brainer this year.
One other big thing I'll be using this for is travel. I travel frequently, and when I'm away with friends, splitting costs quickly gets confusing. This is a great way to divide the total for the big hotel suite we share or the train tickets we bought in a rush because we cut the timing too close.
Check it out for yourself, and let me know what you think!
Also, shop my look below.
Tell me your thoughts on your favorite money-sharing apps, or if you already use Square Cash, how it's working out for you.
xx
*Thanks to Square Cash for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.*
Photos by Greg Routt
