Collect everyone's share upfront, before you reserve the site or buy the passes, into one place the whole group can see. One person holds it, and every dollar in and out is on the record.

The camping trip money problem

Group camping and festival trips look cheap until you add it up: the campsite reservation, the festival passes, the coolers of food, the gas for three cars. Someone always fronts the big pieces and then asks everyone for money in the group chat while trying to also plan the trip.

The clean setup

1. The organizer creates a table in TableCash for the trip.
2. Everyone chips in her share by card, the money lands with the organizer directly, and the group sees who's in.
3. Set the goal to the trip total, site plus passes plus supplies, and split it into equal shares so everyone sees her own number.
4. Reserve the site and buy the passes with money that's already collected. If someone can't make it, the record shows what she put in, and the organizer can send it back.

What about food, gas, and the supply run?

Half the cost of a camping or festival weekend is the running stuff: the group grocery haul, the ice runs, the gas splits, the last-minute tent someone forgot. Instead of one person fronting each one, collect a little extra into the table at the start as a shared kitty.

Then whoever pays for a group thing requests that amount from the table, the organizer approves it, and everyone watches it come out. Nobody keeps a tally in her head, and the money left at the end is on the record to send back evenly. (A camping trip that's really a long drive first? See splitting road trip costs.)

The organizer holds the money the way she always did, only now everyone sees every dollar. It goes to the organizer; TableCash never holds it and is just the record.

Lock the crew in before the campsite fee

Group sites, permits, and gear rentals all want money before the trip, and that's exactly when people go quiet. So get the commitment first. Everyone saves a card and promises their share of the weekend now, and no card runs yet.

Cards only charge once enough people are in for the trip to actually happen, and then they all go at once. Nobody fronts the site fee and nobody can silently drop out, because a commitment is a saved card the group can see. It's soft while the table fills, so anyone can take it back with nothing charged, and binding after. Here's how to get everyone committed.