Digital Potlucks and Project Contributions via GCash

My friend’s daughter is such an avid GCash user.
During my frequent visits to their house, I’ve heard her mention it many times while she’s on the phone with her friends, planning a group project or a weekend trip. Something like a digital potluck.

I got curious. She told me her group of friends uses GCash to send money to one friend assigned for that particular activity or event as the cash keeper. She said it’s less cumbersome when they need to split the bill for art materials, venue payments or dining.

It also spares the group from the time-consuming pitching-in for, say, the food bill, when everybody usually has cash in big denominations. Like if you’re dividing P3,500 six-way, imagine the hassle of finding change for a fair split.

So ahead of every activity, whether they’re buying school materials together or having a weekend group date, they do bank transfers through GCash.

It’s so simple yet clever, I was amazed at how spending so much time on one’s phone actually has some advantages. Heads-up mommies: your teenagers could be productive on their phones!

I asked her to teach me. I do several bank transactions nearly every week and wanted to experience how convenient mobile banking via GCash is.

I downloaded the app on my phone and she gave me a 101. We linked my bank account and cashed in so I have funds in my GCash wallet. Then she pointed me to the Send Money feature, which has a Send Money to Bank Account option.

I chose the recipient’s bank, put in the account name and number, then typed in the amount I wanted to transfer. I tested sending money between two of my own bank accounts, and I saw how the money was wired instantly.

How convenient right?
I have been doing this ever since. GCash has saved me the trouble of having to go to my bank each time I needed to transfer funds which, from the commute to queuing to transacting, usually takes at least one and a half hours—long enough to run out of patience.

I’ll have to thank a teenager for teaching me how to save some precious time.