I wrote an article ages ago explaining how me and my other half split our finances. It’s an approach that still works for us two kids later, and I am happy to say we still never argue about money.
We have improved our approach slightly since then, though. We started to use a brilliant little app called Splitwise.
I have to credit my fella with introducing it to me. He went on a stag do, and one of the group had suggested using it to keep track of spending while they were away. When he got back, he thought it would be useful for us too – and it really has.
The idea is simple: you log any shared expenses, and the app works out how much each of you has paid and whether one of you needs to pay the other to even things up. One of us usually ends up owing the other £50 to £80 at the end of the month. It doesn’t sound like loads, but over a year that could leave one of you almost £1k worse off!
It’s also really useful for keeping these sorts of spends transparent. If I put a £90 haircut on there my fella would probably have something to say about it. Equally, if he took the kids to McDonald’s three times a week I would be having words.
Splitwise keeps you honest!
How Splitwise Works
The first thing to say about Splitwise is that it’s free to use. There is a paid option called Splitwise Pro, but we don’t use it. The free version limits us to three expenses each per day, and that’s totally workable.
Someone sets up a group, adds members, then all the members can add expenses whenever they like. They add the amount, and a few words explaining what the expense was. These can be edited or deleted by any member of the group, and you get a notification about any action that involves you so you don’t miss anything.
You can split an expense 50/50, ask for the full amount back, or divide it in any other way, such as 70/30 or 75/25. That makes each expense flexible and transparent. A running tally shows how much you owe or are owed.
When you are ready to settle up, you can record a cash payment or link your bank account to pay directly from the app.
How We Use The App
We have a joint account for food and utility bills, but we use Splitwise for all of those day to day extra spends or weekend excursions.
These are the little things that don’t seem like much at the time. But if one person ends up paying for them far more often than the other, the difference can become surprisingly big – especially with two kids in tow. And it’s really hard to think back over what you have spent after the fact – especially with two kids in tow!
Spends like:
- A family trip to a cafe
- The kids swimming lessons
- Ice creams in the park
- A book of stamps
- School uniforms
- Train tickets
- Presents for random kids when our two get birthday party invites
It can be anything really.
You don’t have to be a Scrooge about it. If I ask my man to get me a bag of Minstrels from the shop he won’t put the 89p on Splitwise. I mean he could if he wanted to, I wouldn’t complain, but he doesn’t. Well, not usually.
Come to think of it, Splitwise can be a good gauge of how upset your partner is with you as well 😂 If I have annoyed him I am much more likely to see those micro expenses show up on Splitwise! To be fair, I do it too. He put my hand wash only jumper in the tumble dryer a while back and I was logging every £1 parking charge on Splitwise for weeks.
Petty? Yep. Warranted? Absolutely!
It Works For One Off Events Too
You can set up different groups on Splitwise. You give them a name and they are calculated separately. It’s super useful for things like a holiday, or a bathroom renovation – two things we have genuinely used a dedicated Splitwise group for.
When we had our bathroom done, we set up a group called ‘Bathroom’. We were too stressed to be clever with the name.
So when he paid for the taps and the shower screen he put it on Splitwise, and when I bought the tiles I did the same. At the end I had spent a few hundred quid more than him so he sent me the difference.
We did something similar last time we went abroad, just so we could see what we had spent specifically on the holiday and keep those expenses separate from our normal life expenses.
With big spends like these, it’s also useful to see the amounts spent and owed in real time. It stops any nasty surprises at the end. For example, you won’t end up having a panic attack when you suddenly discover your partner has spent £5k more than you, because you will see the amount you owe growing over time.
We use this info to try and balance things out as we go. It’s funny sometimes actually. I will add something and the balance will show he owes me £50. That makes me feel great. But he will then remember to add an expense he hasn’t logged yet and I go back to owing him a tenner, and I silently curse him 🤬🤪
Large Group Expenses
I mentioned my fella picked up the idea from a stag do. Well, large group expenses are where Splitwise really shines.
Me and my girl friends have started using it when I go to visit them down in London. I used it on a hen do recently, too. It reduces spending stress in big group situations so everyone can have a good time and the cost is shared evenly.
The app is clever enough to tally everyone’s expenses up and work out the simplest way to settle up.
Say eight of you go away for a weekend and different people pay for the food shop, lunches, drinks and ice creams along the way. Once everything has been logged, Splitwise works out what each person ultimately owes and reduces the number of payments necessary to settle things. For example, if Anna owes Ben £20, but Ben owes Chloe £30, it might simply tell Anna to pay Chloe £20 instead of sending the money to Ben and making him pass it on.
(I have no idea who Anna, Ben and Chloe are, I just used random names 😇)
Again, you don’t have to put everything on there, it’s up to you. If you want to be everyone’s favourite person you can pay for dinner and announce you will not be putting it on Splitwise.
The point is, whatever does end up on there will be calculated in a jiffy.
Even if you don’t want to use the app for your day to day spending, I would recommend at least using it for big group holidays and similar occasions when they come along.