Dealing with the bills
by Gareth A. Blake                      

The Money Problem

The major argument spinner and problem area is money.  Unlike halls where your bills were most probably included in your rent, this time it is down to you and/or your housemates. 

Also unlike halls, you're all in it together; if Pete, Jim and Bob all have to pay a third of the electricity bill and Bob spends all his money on something else, Pete and Jim will suffer as well!  It is surprising how the best of friendships can turn very sour over money. 

Get organised

Make sure that you have your own money sorted out well in advance.  When you find out how much bills will be at the start of the academic year, take that and your rent from the money you have available and make sure it stays there until it needs to be paid. 

If adding these numbers up comes out with a minus, see if anyone can help and be up front with your housemates. If it is known about, something can be done.  If times do get hard and you have the money available, pay the bill. 

The repercussions can be far worse with court orders or being cut off and you won't succeed in hiding it from your friends as they will directly be involved and will probably have their name on the bill as well.

One good idea is for the house to open up a new bank account (with internet banking) for all of your rent and bills. That way, everyone has easy access to both pay money and to see who has paid for what. And with direct debits, you also have the option of putting your money into this account months in advance, to insure that it is not spent on other things. 

Whatever you decide to do, if you can make sure that your own economy is sorted out, if anything does go economically astray in your house, you at the very least will not be responsible and if everyone did this, there wouldn't be any problems at all!