Living with a roommate has a lot of benefits, like the ability to rent a larger space and saving money.
However, it does come with its own fair share of issues you have to deal with. Aside from simple personal incompatibility, handling money around the house is one of the most difficult things to do.
People who don’t know how to manage their money and split bills will run into a lot of issues along the way.
The sooner you learn to manage money as a group, the better. When time comes for you to part, there won’t be a whole lot of lingering issues and resentment.
Here are some tips to help you spit bills with your roomates.
1. Set some ground rules
Just as you likely agreed how much rent each of you is going to pay, consider working together with them in order to create some general guidelines for the bills.
This will involve discussing which expenses you are going to share and which ones each of you will pay for individually.
One of the most major factors in maintaining the peace around the home is to have all the bills paid, and for that matter, organized.
Some bills like electricity and water may warrant an equal spit while others, like parking should be paid for individually.
Additionally, it's a good idea to set a deadline to have each of your halves ready earlier than the actual due date of the bill. This way, you will save yourself a lot of last minute headaches and stress.
2. Put it in writing and make a spreadsheet
Once you’ve all agreed on who will pay what amount, you should put it all in writing, just to be safe.
The best way to keep all your expenditure in check is to have spreadsheet outlining who is going to be paying what amount. Each entry should outline details such as dates, the amount to be paid and who is going to be responsible for the cost.
If you get a new roommate or happen to spend more than expected, it might be useful to hold a monthly meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Alternatively, establish ratios that everyone will agree to in case things get out of hand.
3. Don’t pay the bills until everyone contributes
One of the biggest mistakes you could make is paying all the bills because you have a little extra money in your pockets.
Nobody likes being in debt and human behavior is unpredictable.
If one of your friends says they aren’t going to be around and thus won’t be able to pay the bills for the next month, ask them for an advance payment. Otherwise, it will take you months’ worth of stress and lost time trying to get the money back.
Be as persistent as you can because it’s a communal living space, after all, not just yours.
The better way would be to agree to contribute to a fixed amount of the cost of the expenses before time comes to pay. If you’re able to collect the money from your roommates in advance, you’re going to have an easier time keeping a record of who owes what.
If you pay your bills with a check, write a receipt that shows which roommate paid which portion and keep a copy for yourself. Hopefully you'll never have to use it, but you may need the evidence in a small claims court someday if it ever comes to that.
Just watch a few episodes of Judge Judy if you don't believe us.
4. Keep some purchases separate
Furniture
Unless you and your roommates are OK with selling everything you own when the time comes to live on your own, there are some things you should never split.
The first thing that comes to mind is furniture. It sounds pretty logical to split the amount each of you contributes in order to buy furniture. After all, it’s the most expensive part of moving into a new house. But it’s also the most difficult asset to split.
What happens if you didn’t contribute an equal share in the purchase of the furniture? What then?
Sure, the roommate who paid less could give the other the remaining cost, but that doesn’t account for the wear. The bottom line is, splitting furniture is much too problematic.
Consider instead, creating a list of all the electronics you will need in your place and agree who is going to responsible for each item.
For instance, you might buy a kitchen table and TV, and your roommate could be the Xbox and a couch. When you all move out, each person takes what they paid for.
Groceries
Another item that’s going to be difficult to split is groceries. This is mostly because you and your roommates likely have different preferences on what you like to eat.
You may prefer frozen pizzas while the rest of them are vegans that only eat fresh foods.
In this case, splitting the costs of groceries won’t make much sense. It will create even more controversy if you decide to get fresh foods for a day and your roommates indulge in them. It can be extremely frustrating, but fortunately it's easy to avoid.
Shop on your own or if you decide to go out with them, use two different carts.
If you want to reduce your grocery bill considerably, shop for fresh produce at your local farmers’ market, buy food in bulk from wholesalers and make good use of coupons.
You can also save a whole lot of money by cooking food at home rather than eating out every night.
Toiletries
Buy your own body wash, toothpaste, and hygiene products. Some roommates even prefer to keep their own supply of toilet paper, because some people use more than others.
As silly as it may seem right now, it's actually very beneficial to talk things over like who's buying paper towels and other necessities the house needs, beforehand.
Otherwise, you could end up buying countless rolls of toilet paper, paper plates and other products for the entire house, even if you use less than everyone else.
5. Don’t Leave Passive-Aggressive Notes
This isn't high school. Passive-aggressive notes are some of the most immature ways of dealing with a problem.
Leaving a note about dishes in the sink that need to be cleaned or about how you don’t like the ketchup in the fridge only serves to frustrate your roommates. It exacerbates the problem and will likely drive the rest of them insane.
On that note, the value of being able to communicate with one another cannot be understated.
If you need help, it can never hurt to talk about it rather than trying to deal with it indirectly. Odds are pretty high your roommates will be happy to help you out, anyway.
To be fair, notes cannot be ruled out completely. There are instances that call for leaving a friendly note behind.
If you work different schedules and hardly get to see each other, for instance, leaving a note will be warranted. This only applies to issues that don’t have a class A priority around the house.
For instance, if you have some leftover food that you don't want, it's perfectly fine to leave a note on it saying the roommates can have it. Or if you have a dog and didn't get a chance to walk them before going to work, leave a note asking if you roommate could take them out.
Or, you could just send a text.
Other things like discussing bills and such important stuff will require all of you to make some time.
Splitting bills with roommates makes living together much easier
Admittedly, if you want to have an easy time around the house, it will all boil down to two important points:
- Be a good roommate
- Choose good roommates
You obviously don’t want to be the person who does all the chasing around for bills and cleaning up after others. If you’re not careful, you could end up hurting your credit pretty badly.
This is especially if they skip on their part of the rent and you’re unable to pay it on your own and on time. Checking their credit scores beforehand would actually be a good idea.
Since human behavior is hard to read, and it’s impossible to know their future habits, meet them beforehand to get a general feel of them. If they seem difficult to live with, it’s not worth it.
