You just finished having a delicious meal. In addition to verbal compliments, you desire to give a tip, but you aren't certain how to calculate it. Here are few ways to simply calculate tips for dinner. In a restaurant, it is customary to give a 15 – 20% tip.

15% -- good service
20% -- very good service
Above 20% - excellent service

I. Easy Way to Calculate Tips

First, calculate 10% of the meal total before tax.
******How? Simply move the decimal to the left one time.
Example: total meal - $41.63 10% = $4.16

To calculate 20% tip
1) Calculate 10% tip -- $4.16
2) Double the amount
So, 20% of $41.63 = (4.16 + 4.16)= $8.32

To calculate 15% tip
1) Calculate 10% tip -- $4.16
2) Half the amount to get 5% ---- $2.08
3) Add the 5% amount to the 10% tip
So, 15% of $41.63 = (4.16 + 2.08) = $6.24


II. An Easier Way to Calculate Tips, be generous and round the dollar amount up to the next dollar.

To Calculate 20% tip -
1) Instead of $41.63, round up to $42.00
2) Calculate 10% of $42.00 by moving the decimal to the left once --- $4.20
3) Double $4.20 to get 20% tip --- $8.40

To Calculate 15% tip -
1) Instead of $41.63, round up to $42.00
2) Calculate 10% of $42.00 by moving the decimal to the left once --- $4.20
3) Half $4.20 to get 5 % tip --- $2.10
4) Add the amounts in step 5 and step 6 together; ($4.20 + $2.10 = $6.30)


III. Simple Simple Way to Calculate Tips
Refer to the tax rate on the sales receipt. If the tax rate is 7.5% or higher, just double the amount of the taxes. This method will calculate an acceptable tip for dinner.
Why does this work? For instance the tax rate in my city is 8.25%. Thus, the taxes for a dinner of $41.63 would be $3.43. Therefore, double $3.43 to get a tip of $6.86. This is equivalent to a 17.5% tip.


The holidays are fast approaching. If you are concerned about other areas of etiquette, Emily Post is a good source of reference.