Sharing Bills with Roommates: Staying Organized
The idea of living with a roommate can seem pretty awesome! You always have a companion there to talk to, Your rent and utility bills are cheaper, sometimes they make dinner to share! Yet, if you all don’t sit down and discuss some of the important things like bills, it can become very frustrating. I have been in a few situations where this has happened. When I lived in my first apartment we would trade months on the bills. 
This meant that I would only have to pay for the utilities every other month, but I would pay for them in whole!
In the next apartment that I shared with roommates I was lucky enough to have a super compulsive, OCD, roommate that took full charge of the bills. There were three roommates so she would do the math on all the bill we received and divide every bill evenly between all of us. She was nice enough to allow us to pay her cash and she would write the bills out every month. This was probably the best situation I have been in with roommates in regards to paying the bills.
Unfortunately the next roommate situation I was in there was no such girl to help us organize everything so we decided to put money together and get money orders together. Messy is the only word for those 6 months. In the apartment that I am currently sharing, I am now the bill collector. I divide all the bills and let my roommates pay me cash and then I send out the checks! This works alright for me right now, but I could imagine if my income was a little less stable, or roommates were a little more irresponsible, that this would prove difficult. Luckily I made some pretty awesome choices when it came to my roommates!
How are you collectively paying bills with roommates? What issues have arisen?
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