Paying the Bills

Depending on your personal circumstances this is probably the first time that you have had to organise paying all the bills for your new home. In addition you may be sharing your home with a number of 'new' friends and have to split the bill several ways. Your first important lesson in this regard is that there is always someone in the house who can't pay on time - get used to it. If you are that person, well, no problem. If you are not that person you need to keep on top of them by preparing them for the bill in advance of it's impending arrival.

Listed below are a number of arrangements that may work in your home (or may not!!!);

1. You appoint one person to be in charge of the kitty and everyone contributes.
This system really only works well if there are only 2-3 people involved. It is quite possibly going to be a nightmare if you are trying to organise this in a house of 6 people for example. After all, there are no guarantees that everyone will contribute.

2. Everyone puts one bill into their own name but you still work on the kitty rule.
This means that everyone is ultimately responsible for their own bill but if you play fair everyone will pay the same through the kitty rule. However this does mean that whoever sent you the bill will only chase you for the money - they do not care that 5 other people still owe you the money for it. Be aware.

3. You set up an account in the name of the address where you live.
Everyone contributes into the account and all bills are settled from this account. We suggest making at least three people signatories on the account so that anyone from the house can pay a bill as and when.

You will make savings on your bills if everything is set up on Direct Debit. However the down side is that you need to manage your cash flow properly to ensure that the funds are in the bank account at the correct times.

To finish, understand that there are going to be times when you will argue over the bills but you live with these people and they are likely to be your friends - so don't lose your temper, just deal with it!! 

Good Luck!!!