Author: Jon Bittner

Splitwise helps you and your friends keep track of shared expenses, so that bills (and friends) get paid on time.

Living Alone Is Overrated

I think that many Americans share a similar mythology about roommates – it’s a challenge that happens in college, or in your 20s, on the quest of growing up. Part of this myth is the horrors that must be overcome to save money. The often-discussed issues of dirty dishes, loud noises, and unpaid bills lead us to think that the only way to be civilized is to escape from shared dwellings as soon as possible.

While not everyone makes a good roommate, sharing living space with good people can make you so much happier. I found this article by Leilani Clark a heartwarming story about how her new housemates cook, brew and grow things together, and how it cured the loneliness she felt after a divorce. (I found the article via a google alert). Continue reading Living Alone Is Overrated

Splitwise Supports International Currencies

Hello, world! At long last, Splitwise supports non-$ currencies from within our interface. We support €, £, ¥, and even the ₹ symbol for INR. This can be set on a per “apartment” basis, so that if you use Splitwise for travel, you can set your trips to use a different currency.

If you would like to help us translate Splitwise into your local language, or if we don’t yet support your country/currency, please email us at contact@splitwise.com. We really want to support everyone, everywhere, but we need your help to do it, because hiring translators is expensive, and this is a free service after all.  Continue reading Splitwise Supports International Currencies

Loud Sex And The Noise Calculator

Hey all – just posted an article on Forbes all about loud sex. That survey was also used to create the new Noisy Neighbors calculator.

Very few survey respondents actually would offer to pay cash to a roommate based on disrupting them. It’s a more of a guide to the value of the appropriate gift for, or to how much value your apartment would lose on the open market if you knew how frequent the disturbances would be.

The way we calculate the number comes from linearly extrapolating loud sex to all other cases.  Specifically, loud sex is worth (per incident) some number we get an average of from our survey. We take this as a fraction of the average daily rent contribution of our survey respondents. Lastly, we linearly extrapolate this percentage from the average badness of each sound type in the “how disruptive question” described in this article.

Make sure you use your personal rent contribution instead of the total rent for the apartment, or the number will be several times too high!

If you have questions about the procedure, feel free to use our contact form and I will respond as soon as I can (often well within 24 hours).

When Things Go Super-Wrong: Roommates and The Law

Here at Splitwise, we are focused on simplicity, ease-of-use, and trust. If you owe your roommates money,  you can use our service to keep track of that. If you want to figure out how much they should owe you, we offer fairness calculators and blog content. If you want to settle a dispute using us as your mediator, you can email Dear Splitwise.

But sometimes, things get a little more complicated then friends settling debts. For instance: your roommate broke the lease and the landlord is coming after you for the money. Or say the landlord won’t do anything about the broken toilet which is rapidly making your apartment unusable. In times like these, what you need is legal advice, not fairness advice.  Continue reading When Things Go Super-Wrong: Roommates and The Law

When Three People Share A Room

Dear Splitwise,

What if more than 3 people are in a room? Your rent calculator does not have a setting for this.

Our apartment has two bedrooms. The first is a guest bedroom (113 sq ft) being shared by two people, with a guest bath that also has access to the living room. The master bedroom (124 square feet) is being shared by three people, and has its own “private” bathroom. There is a living room (126 sq ft) with a fireplace, a balcony, and a normal sized kitchen.

Thanks if you could help me decide what to charge for each of us 5 apartmentmates.

With gratitude,
Roommates à trois Continue reading When Three People Share A Room

See all debts at once

Ryan pushed out a mini-update this week for people who manage large apartments and big group trips. The feature lets you see who everyone owes, not just for yourself.

We noticed that if not everyone in your apartment was a registered user, it was hard to tell the big picture of who-owes who.  This is helpful if you manage finances for your apartment, and send out an email each month to settle up all the debts. Or if you go on a big trip and don’t want to bother registering every last person’s email.

This feature doesn’t look very pretty yet, but we felt it was important to have it, and we will be improving it over the next month or two.

I’ve been hearing a lot via email about international currencies recently, which is awesome. They’re coming right up! It’s our top priority once we get mobile apps out the door. Let us know if you want to make sure your currency is included.

For what it’s worth, I will probably be switching my blogging schedule to Monday and Wednesday from now on. With the exception being a post tomorrow.  Till then!

How To Share A Broker’s Fee

Today we answer our first question emailed to Dear Splitwise.

Dear Splitwise,

How does one split the broker’s fee fairly in a NYC apartment? If someone has their own bathroom, should they pay more, or is it split evenly by all roommmates?

Thanks,
Broke and Broker

Dear Broke and Broker,

It’s true that in New York, Boston, and other major metro areas you often have to pay a broker’s fee to the real estate agent to get an apartment, even one you would share with roommates. Which stinks.

So, Broke and Broker, your question is: if the bedrooms are different enough in quality that one bedroom should have a higher rent, the question is, should that person also pay a bigger share of the broker’s fee? Great question! Continue reading How To Share A Broker’s Fee

Guests in bedrooms

I neglected to post a link here to my most recent Forbes article yesterday – the last in the three-part series on guests. In it, we consider the merits of cold mutton and show some data on the question of what is fair for people living in your guest room for a long period of time. Check it out!