Group holidays fall apart over money long before anyone reaches the airport. One person books the villa on their card, two people pay them back straight away, and the fourth is still "sorting it" in August. A shared pot fixes the order of events: the money exists before anything is booked.

Start with a number

Add up the three big costs: getting there, sleeping there and getting around. For four people in Lisbon for four nights that came to £1,268, or £317 each. Add a fifth on top for food and the things nobody planned.

Pick a date and work backwards

Six months out, £317 is about £53 a month each. Set a standing order for the day after payday. A sum that leaves before you see it is a sum you never miss.

Book from the pot

When the pot holds enough for the flights, book the flights from the pot. Then the villa. Nobody fronts anything, so nobody is owed anything, and the feed shows every booking to all four people.

• Name the pot after the trip, not after the person who opened it
• Agree what counts as a shared cost before you go
• Keep one pot for the bookings and let the card split meals as you go

A pot does not make a holiday cheaper. It makes it impossible to argue about.

While you are away

Pay for shared things with the card set to the pot. Private things come out of your own balance. If someone wants the tasting menu, that is theirs.

When you land

Whatever is left goes back in equal shares with one tap. On our last trip it was £11.40 each, which paid for the train home from the airport.