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Dealing with personal finances is a challenge in itself, never mind adding in the complication of roommates. Regardless of how great your relationship is with your roommate, conversations that involve money can become emotionally charged and uncomfortable. Unexpected things will happen… like an unexpected bill, damaged furniture, or broken appliance. So, it is essential to establish how finances with your roommate will be managed beforehand to preserve your relationship. Here you will find some roommate finance management advice.
Having to split bills with your roommate can be amicable and straightforward, or it can be somewhat uncomfortable. It depends on if you have reached an understanding and set up rules to deal with the expected and unexpected. To keep good terms between both of you, here are some tips on how to split bills.
There will also be individual purchases you will want to consider — like pieces of furniture, the vacuum cleaner, small kitchen appliances, and more. Be sure you come up with an agreement with your roommate on splitting the costs for things like these. You could split the expense or have one roommate buy the item with the deal they get to keep it when you both move out.
You might wish to talk about how you plan on splitting the grocery bill. Do you each contribute to pantry and fridge staples (i.e., eggs, bread, milk, canned goods, etc.) Or will you each be buying groceries and preparing your food separately?
You can use a roommate bill-splitting app to help avoid financial conflicts. These types of apps make it simple to keep track of and divide expenses fairly.
Some great apps include:
While managing finances is really about household bookkeeping, a lot of emotion can be tied around spending habits. To maintain peace and a healthy relationship with your roommate, you need to navigate the inevitable conflicts with care.
Communicating with each other is necessary and vital for bringing an issue to light. Chances are either you or your roommate will at one time or another be totally oblivious to the fact the other is not happy about something. This is where good communication comes in and planning ahead.