Splitting bills with roommates can be a tricky business. You need to decide practically how you are going to split bills, which bills to split in the first place, and how you are going to fairly divide things like rent and apartment bills with roommates.
But, not to worry, nowadays there are many free apps for splitting bills. So if you want to split bills with your housemates and simplify debts to each other, then a bill-splitting app is the way to go.
Together Price is one of the best bill-splitting apps available, letting you create groups, split expenses equally or proportionally, store high-resolution receipts, and even use integrated payments.
When moving in which new housemates it is important to discuss how you want to manage your expenses. With roommates splitting rent, utility bills, and household costs there can be a lot of space for argument. So it makes sense to make a basic plan.
Things you should consider include:
Will you set up a joint bank account? Will you create a house credit or debit card?
How much will each person’s portion of the costs be?
How will you arrange recurring transactions?
Which budgeting tools will you use?
What actually counts as shared costs within the house? Do group trips, the dinner bill, or Friday happy hour count?
How will you pay each other? through a simple PayPal transfer? With a Venmo account? Cash payments? Or directly into the bank?
Once you have decided how you will start bill splitting, it’s important to determine what counts as shared costs within the house.
Things to include when splitting bills with a housemate:
Rent
Utility bills
Household expenses such as toilet paper, washing up liquid, dustbin bags, etc
Other things such as food expenses might be considered private expenses by some roommates but might be shared for instance by couples sharing relationship costs. This is something a house group should decide.
Using a bill-splitting app simplifies the process of sharing expenses with roommates. But what benefits does using a bill-splitting app such as the Together Price app actually bring? What does it help with?
Some shared bills with housemates are regular, automatic payments. For example, the rent and utility costs will be the same each month. In many bill-splitting apps, you can create a group with multiple payers and then set up regular, monthly payments. That way you don’t need to think about paying the rent every month because the app will do that for you.
By automising your monthly payments you do not risk forgetting to pay your rent. If the rent comes out of one housemate’s bank it means they aren’t left covering money for housemates that forgot to pay the rent. Instead, it will be reliable and on time every month without even having to think about it.
Other group costs are less regular. For instance, you might order a group dinner and need to split the restaurant bill. You don’t want to be left paying for someone else’s lobster, and by using bill-splitting apps you don’t need to. If you are close with your housemates you might go on group trips and need to split the costs of the vacation house and food on the trip.
All of these one-off payments can be added to the app. All you need to do is choose to add expenses you want to split, create a group, and add multiple payers, the app will then help you to split bill totals.
Each of the app users in your group will be notified of the outstanding balance and get the chance to pay back any informal debts. You will be able to see how much each person owes and pay back using your bank or with cash. That way you can easily split bills and informal debts between your housemates.
By choosing to create bills on your bill-splitting apps you can track your expense history to see exactly how much you and your housemates are spending each month. That way you can calculate group totals and also use the expense categorization features to really track your finances.
You can be a member of multiple groups at once and convert expenses that are shared to discover how much your proportion of the expense is. You can even start recording cash payments so that you don’t lose track of cash.
Using this genius expense-splitting app you can start to work towards creating your own, personal budget plan. That way you are more likely to meet savings goals and have a healthier financial future.
Most bill-splitting apps let you send money requests to other users. Once you choose to add expenses or add informal debts and select the person who owes you, they will get push notifications reminding them to pay. This means that you don’t have to physically chase up late payments anymore. Your bill-splitting apps will do the hard work for you.
Together Price is one of the best bill-splitting apps available, with world-class customer support and an easy-to-use interface. This helps you track every single expense you make and keep private friendships free from money worries.
But what is Together Price?
Together Price was the first worldwide app for sharing subscription costs. But now, with Together Price, you can do so much more. You can now share any kind of expense, from household costs to holidays, dinners, weddings, gifts, and more.
The Together Price app is available for both Apple and Android users and offers multi-platform support and industry-leading features.
Using Together Price you can easily share and send expenses with housemates.
As an Owner, you will create an expense to share. After registering to Together Price for free, simply create an expense and add the participants you want to share the cost with. Easy!
As a Participant, you will be invited to add yourself to an expense created by the Owner. By registering with Together Price, you can pay your share of the costs and keep track of your payments in a simple and secure way.
You can keep track of all your transactions, send messages to the participants in your group, and much more.
Sharing costs with housemates can seem intimidating, but with careful planning and using the right tools, it can be an easy and hassle-free thing to do. So make sure to stay open and honest when communicating about shared finances, and start using a bill-splitting app to make your life much easier.
Sign up for free on Together Price on Android and iOS and you can take all the effort out of managing money with your new housemates.