What it's like being the broke one in your squad

Being the broke friend usually means being dragged down back to the ground by your empty wallet while trying to fly in the "financially stable" sky, hoping to splurge on food with friends, it also means becoming a machine that churns worn-out excuses every time something fun is planned.

Here's your life:

YOU SHUDDER AT THE THOUGHT OF HANGOUTS

Well, anything that has something to do with money is a red sign for you. Be it trips to the outskirts or just a casual meet-up at a burger place, your friends always find you hesitating to answer. That's because you have to do a lot of mental calculations before fully understanding whether spending money would only bring momentary happiness.

YOU HAVE MADE EMPTY PROMISES

As many birthdays have passed, a list of pending treats has been made by your friends, only to be brought up in several occasions.  Given that your friends are yet to be treated by your 2016 self, they have most certainly stopped expecting anymore. But if you end up spending on them in the near future, they will definitely write an ode to you on social media for doing something you weren't financially designed to do.

YOU TAKE ABNORMAL RAIN CHECKS

'Later' is a very familiar word to your tongue. You almost involuntarily spill it out as an answer to every question that is related with spending.  As opposed to the definition, you are never seen fixing a date for the postponed plan. You brush off the concern to a point where everyone forgets the plan, but what they do remember is the fact that this is a very bad habit of yours.

YOU OPT FOR CHEAP (OR NO) GIFTS

It takes you weeks before a friend's birthday racking your brain to make a list of cheap yet meaningful gifts.  There is chronic tension regarding the adjustment you have to make for spending money on the gift and also the fear of being inferior to others' gifts because your broke-self subconsciously has standards too. But it's totally fine to buy gifts at your own comfort because... isn't love the best gift of all?

YOU GET DITCHED SOMETIMES

Though you have to cancel out plans because of your light wallet, when your friends, tired from the effort of always having to drag you to hangouts, make plans among themselves and don't invite you, thinking you won't make it this time either, a sense of betrayal seeps into you. This is a very conflicting emotion because you know they deserve an outing that doesn't involve five people convincing one person for weeks to join them but you also know that the group is not allowed to enjoy without you.

YOU ARE OFTEN PITIED

It's really no surprise that one friend's mercy sometimes saves you from the embarrassment of having to sit alone, scrolling through your phone while everyone else devours the mouth watering food. If not anyone else, that friend deserves a treat.

Exception is noticed when you get hold of a generous amount of money. This conventional life disappears into thin air. Momentarily or not, your fate knows.