We get it… you don’t want to think about your second year yet. You have exams coming up for this year, maybe an end of year project, and a long summer to look forward to. Hopefully you already have accommodation and housemates for next year. Onto the next thing: bills.

The bills you’ll need to split

In a shared house you’ll need to pay separate bills for water, electricity, gas if the property has a supply, the broadband package (which might include TV and landline services), and a TV licence.

We are still in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. While broadband and TV license is a flat fee, the others are not. You will pay for every unit of water, electricity, and gas that you use. This makes it in your best interests to be as disciplined as possible with those services to avoid being hit with a nasty bill at the end of your contract.

Note: unpaid bills will damage the credit rating of the person whose name the bills are in.

Have a house meeting before you move in

This is the key to avoiding problems later. Decide between yourselves: your budget, what checks you’re going to put in place, and how everyone might pull together to keep the bills down. Also decide how you’re going to pay, whose account you’re going to use, and how the others will pay back).

This goes for food shopping too – will you have your separate supplies, or will you pool food and cook for each other to save money? Again, this will require discipline and a mutual agreement that everyone pulls their weight.

Also, think about using dryers, room temperatures, being disciplined about lighting. All these things will impact your bills.

Bills splitting apps

Most bill splitting apps and calculators are free. No doubt you already use one and have your favourites. We’re not here to tell you which to use. It is important to be on the same page though and working together to ensure everyone pays their share.

Use it for everything from grocery shopping, bills, meals out and takeaways.

Alternatively, consider a joint account

If you don’t want to deal with the faff of bill splitting and sending requests for every little thing, consider a household joint account for all those joint bills. Work out how much you’re going to spend and split equally the amount you each put into the account every month.

Somebody should keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t go overdrawn and incur charges. This will also leave you free to budget your groceries individually and other costs.