Yahoo Answers! – A Tale of Terrible Customer Service

Here at Splitwise we’re a small start up, which means that we don’t spend a ton of money on marketing and advertising. It’s something that we do ourselves through various outlets; one being answering questions on Yahoo! Answers when people ask about rental advice. It’s a good way to get our name out there, and get some visibility on our sweet rent calculator.

Well, it was a good way until last week. On Wednesday I woke up to my Yahoo mailbox looking like this:

Continue reading Yahoo Answers! – A Tale of Terrible Customer Service

Window Issues

When it comes to living spaces windows can be both a blessing and a curse. You’ve either got no light, too much light or noise when it comes to some window pains (pun intended). 

Dear Splitwise,

I have a room in a 3 bedroom apartment that doesn’t have any normal windows but has a skylight. The other two rooms have large windows but face a fairly loud street. What do you think the the rent differential for this would be?

Painful Windows

Continue reading Window Issues

Pinching Pennies When You’re a New Parent

If you’re like me, you never believed your mom or dad when they complained about how expensive kids were. I always thought they were just looking for yet another thing to complain about. As soon as I figured out I was about to have one, I hit the internet to find out how much my mini-me was going to cost. My eyes almost started bleeding when Bloomberg told me I’d be spending $234,900.00 before my kid even hit college!

Continue reading Pinching Pennies When You’re a New Parent

Shelling Out for Dish Duty

Ever have one of those roommates that just can’t seem to ever do their share when it comes to chores around the house? Today we discuss that person who don’t get the importance of cleaning up after themselves while leaving appliances on 24/7.

Dear Splitwise,

I think maybe you guys should make a calculator for roommates who leave appliances on. Sorry, but I’m not paying for you to leave 2 fans and a scentsy on all day. Maybe even one for doing all your dishes all the time since you love to cook and use every dish in the house. There are flies and I’m not waiting for you to do them. Charge them.

Drowning in Dishes

Continue reading Shelling Out for Dish Duty

Back to School: How to Save Yourself Some Cash While At College.

My little brother Tucker is going away to college today. It’s a defining moment for our family – my mom will finally have a child free house for the first time in 32 years. This child-free luxury livin’ doesn’t come cheap though. Being a parent myself, hearing how much my mom has had to (and will continue to have to) shell out for having a kid in college made me break out in a sweat. I’ve already informed my 5 year old he better get good at writing scholarship essays sooner rather than later.

I then realized that Tucker, like many college students, will have to sustain living on his own with little to no money. In a world where 20 bucks needs to last you an entire month, there has to be some serious personal money management that has to happen… and I’m here to help!

Continue reading Back to School: How to Save Yourself Some Cash While At College.

Splitwise Launches “Adorable Kitten”: Android App, PayPal, More!

Adorable Kitten
Splitwise is not just for roommates anymore. Adorable Kitten includes a new Android app, redesigned website, and PayPal integration. Split costs easily with any friend!

Today Splitwise is launching a major update to all of the “Splitwise” apps, on Android, iPhone and on our website. We’ve code-named this beta version “Adorable Kitten”.

While Splitwise has always been the best way to track roommate expenses, Adorable Kitten makes Splitwise the best way to split any bill or IOU. Now, you can create “friendships” and split a bill with any subset of friends – which is useful for group travel, bachelor or bachelorette parties, spotting a friend $20, and many more situations.

To make Adorable Kitten even more awesome, we’ve released a slick new Android app to keep up with our majorly redesigned website, which for the first time today integrates free P2P PayPal payments.

Continue reading Splitwise Launches “Adorable Kitten”: Android App, PayPal, More!

Everything is Bigger in Texas (Including the Closets)

Today we’ll be talking about how to split up room cost between roommates when it comes to fancy Texan livin’ and their huge closet spaces.

Dear Splitwise,

I am currently in the process of moving into an apartment for the first time with 3 very dear friends of mine. It’s all really exciting but we are having some problems figuring out exactly how much everyone needs to pay a month. Two people will be sharing the master bedroom, while the other 2 will get their own rooms.  Continue reading Everything is Bigger in Texas (Including the Closets)

Welcome, BillMonk Refugees! (In Which We Import BillMonk Data)

Welcome BillMonk refugees!

[Edit: As of Friday, September 14th we now have our Simplified Debt feature live, which is known on BillMonk as debt shuffle. Information on Simplified Debt can be found here. We updated the importer Tuesday, August 21 to handle debt shuffles and multiple payers. If you imported before this, go through the import again and it will pick up the debt shuffles correctly and won’t import duplicates. ]

Like many of you out there, I’ve been waiting for BillMonk to load.

Why am I waiting? I’ve been testing our new importer for BillMonk data.

In the last week, BillMonk has sadly gone from slow to unbearable. While this is painful for their users, we hope we can provide a fairly painless process to move from BillMonk to Splitwise.

For those of you eager to try it out, go export from BillMonk and import to Splitwise. Otherwise, let me tell you a little more about the benefits and limitations of our importer. Continue reading Welcome, BillMonk Refugees! (In Which We Import BillMonk Data)

Bittner vs Hughes – Nerdtastic Restaurant Bill Splitting

Splitting restaurant bills is an awkward business. In the US and many other countries, most restaurants are unwilling to create a separate check for each guest.  As a result, many a lovely night of dining out ends with an awkward fairness problem.

One appealing solution is to just “split the bill,” because the math is easy and everyone contributes. Here the awkwardness is for people living on a tight budget. No one wants to start a fight about a spare change, but a dinner out often crosses the line into real money. If you’re being spendthrift and go out with less thrifty friends, splitting a check can torpedo your spending cash for the week. It’s hardly fair for someone who is broke and orders an appetizer to split with someone who had a few drinks and a main course.

Continue reading Bittner vs Hughes – Nerdtastic Restaurant Bill Splitting