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When my grilfeind (now my wife) moved in with me a few years ago into the house that me/my bank owned, I did not charge her any rent and paid all the utiliity, phone and internet bills.
She kept the house fully stocked with food, and bought us dinner every time we went out.
Worked well enough for us, even though my costs were far greater than hers i was happy to pay for them.
Last edited by danielsa1775; 05-26-2010 at 06:53 AM..
Man, reading this makes me appreciate the fact that we didn't live together before we were married! I paid my rent, he paid his, we bought our own food, etc. As soon as we got married, we moved in together and everything became joint--I have no idea who pays what. All bills are taken from a joint checking account.
I think the fairest way would be to charge him the going rate for rent, if you were to rent a room to a stranger, and then split all the utilities 50/50. It kind of feels like a business arrangement/roommate situation rather than a committed relationship that way, but since there's no guarantee of how long it will last, it makes the most sense to me.
The best way to split bills fairly is by income percentage. If you each bring in 50% of the income, then split fifty-fifty. If you make 60% of the income and the boyfriend makes 40%, then the bills should be split that way.
I was about to rep Julia for saying pretty much the same thing--if they're both happy with the way they've set it up, then there's no problem. But the OP seemed to be asking for advice. As I said, being a man, I wouldn't expect my SO to pay a dime--and seeing as how I've never had an SO that worked in the first place, I don't see where she should be paying for anything, since she has no earned income, and I see the finances as MY responsibility.
But everyone's different, and there's no reason that other people HAVE to do it my way--as long as it works out for both of them. So, if it lets me, I'll rep both of you. I do agree with what you say...I just pointed out what *I* thought was "fair".
And if it matters--I'm 40.
She said she thinks the way she does it is fair. She asked what we think. What I think is, she needs to do what works for her and ignore what her friends say and ignore what everyone else says. She only has to satisfy two people.
The best way to split bills fairly is by income percentage. If you each bring in 50% of the income, then split fifty-fifty. If you make 60% of the income and the boyfriend makes 40%, then the bills should be split that way.
I say split the bills no matter the income percentage difference......the SO would be paying rent somewhere if they were single...one way or another
Me and my SO split our rent (no mortgage yet) by a percentage. He recently got a raise/promotion at work so he'll be paying a bit more as of next month. I make a considerable amount more than he does, so I pay quite a bit more for my portion of rent.
As for utilities/food etc., we split those down the middle. Since I'm a huge nerd, I actually have a spreadsheet with all our monthly expenses, and I scan in most receipts to my computer and keep them stored. It helps with taxes and whatnot as well as keeping things 'fair'.
I pay the bills, I just ask her to donate $300 to ease the burden a little, becuase the fact of the matter is I was paying the same bills before she came along.
As a man, it feels goof to be able to provide for my gf and I enjoy doing so. Besides, I make twice as much as she does.
My b/f and I live together. He literally makes twice as much as me, he requires more house than I could normally afford on my own i.e., garage, etc... So, he pays the rent and the bigger bills. I give him about $250 - $500 cash a month and then I pay the electric which in this house is over $200 per mth and I pay the trash and another bill. it works.
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How Do You Split the Bills?
it works.
