It’s not easy to share space and be fair with your roommates all the time, unless you’re on great terms with each other. Even if you and your roommate are the best of friends, things can get awkward – or worse, heated – when it comes to fairly splitting money, chores, food, etc. Start by coming to verbal or written agreements on who does what household job and when, who buys what, and who pays for what. Make sure there is an understanding that everything will be split equally, so everyone’s happy. Why not even put up a fun sign to remind all roomis to clean up after themselves? Finally, get these helpful shared apps made for roommates, to maintain a harmonious relationship in your household.
Related: 7 Tips for Getting Along with a Roommate
1. Tody – For sharing chores
Making a chore chart can be overwhelming. But for Tody, it’s a piece of cake. Tody is a shared app which creates lists of chores and organizes them by rooms. The shared app understands that there should be coordination and motivation, different tasks have different frequencies, time varies, fairness matters, and everyone needs frequent reminders. It also gives tips on the most effortless ways of doing things around the house, be it cooking, shopping, or cleaning.
2. OurGroceries – For grocery shopping
Besides helping you with lists and reminders of grocery shopping, OurGroceries has the feature of multiple people from the same house sharing the app. This way, if you forgot to buy something on your grocery run, your roommate knows from the checklist and can pick it up. You can add the items manually or use the barcode to ensure you get the right brand. The shared app also has a bonus feature where it coordinates between groceries and recipes!
3. Splitwise – For splitting costs
Rent and utilities may be the biggest bills every month, but there are also dozens of other expenditures that you and your roommate share. Splitwise does away with the difficult conversation of splitting the many (and sometimes seemingly trivial) dues. The pizzas you ordered, your Amazon delivery she paid for, the balance remaining from weeks ago, bill customization – the shared app keeps track of them all between several people.
4. Cozi – Keeping track of things
Use this family app to keep in touch with your roomis. Cozi is a shared app that features a common calendar to hold everyone’s important schedules and locations, to-do lists, a recipe section, important reminders, and a grocery list. Use the library that is designed to store checklists for vacations and parties. We love the journal feature that allows users to share photos and notes.
Related: A Guide to Shared Living: Getting Along with Your Housemates and Accepting Their Habits
5. Venmo – Pay each other
Venmo is a safe platform for sending money and paying bills online. All the roommates can link your respective bank accounts, credit card or debit card to pay one another for the bills and utilities. All the careful and fair splitting of expenditure on Splitwise also comes down to paying each other easily via Venmo. Anyone can log in securely with a phone number or email ID.
6. Roomi – Find new roommates
When you need a new roommate or when you and your current roomi are looking for a third, Roomi helps you find candidates on your own terms. Look for your new best friend here. You get to choose specific options, like single room renting, a room that’s available for only three months, limited use of kitchen, etc. When a potential renter finds your house and your rules suitable, you can talk with each other via the shared app’s in-house private chat feature. The company also offers to do background checks for a fee.
Related: More on The Shared Economy: For Millennials, Shared Living is Becoming a New Way of Life
Need some more Roomi in your life? Have your pick from Roomi’s endless recommendations crafted to your needs. Doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a room to call home, a couch to call your bed or a mate to share these with! Download the app here — and get surfin’
