By Ahana Samat - Equitable Spending When You Have a Roomate
Make sure you and your roomate both discuss your financial positions and what you can contribute to the apartment before you move in
Make sure to speak about both/ all of your incomes, job security, credit scores- these help determine the kind of apartment you will be able to secure
Additionally, ensure you decide upon and write down your shared responsibilities
This is a contract that can include how much each of you will contribute to the rent, utitilities, how you will split food costs and so on
If your apartment is unfurnished, work together to come up with a budget and decide upon how you will split the costs for furniture and what will happen to it when you move out. The cost of items can be decided based on the discussed spending capabilities.
Make sure to create a budget that indicates how much everyone will be expected to spend on rent, utilities, and even groceries and cleaning supplies or repairs every month. This is in addition to the budget you should make to decide the initial expenditure on unfurnished apartments.
In addition to having a personal budget, having and sticking to a shared budget can indicate collective responsibility and complete transparency
Contributing a stipulated amount to a shared roomate account that can be used for all household related expenditures (including utlities, groceries and such) is a good idea and can be spelled out in a roomate agreement ( a contract for roomates to follow)
Ensure that you pay your bills on time. Designate one roomate to pay the bills on time and write down in a roomate aggreement how the other roomates will reimburse the person who pays the bill.