The student guide to shared money

Student money has two features: there is not much of it, and it is shared constantly. Pizza for the corridor, a fridge full of three people’s food, the train to a friend’s city. The amounts are small enough that nobody tracks them and large enough, over a term, that someone ends up €60 short and quietly annoyed.

The three situations

The dorm kitchen. Shared milk, oil, dish soap. Do not split this. Rotate: each person buys the shared basics for a week. Tracking €1.80 of milk costs more goodwill than it saves.

The first flatshare. Now there are real numbers: rent, electricity, internet, a sofa from the second-hand shop. This needs a list. The method is the same as for any flatshare, and splitting rent and bills with roommates covers it, including the roommate who moves out mid-term.

The cheap trip. Four people, a weekend, a hostel. This is where the money gets lost, because everything is paid by whoever is at the counter.

The weekend, worked through

Four friends: Ali, Bea, Chen and Dana. Ali buys the train tickets, €60. Bea pays the hostel, €160. Chen buys all the food, €84. Dana pays for nothing, as it happens. Total €304, so €76 each.

Nobody pays back each ticket separately. The biggest debtor pays the biggest creditor:

Three transfers, done on the train home. The method is in settling up with the fewest transfers.

Two rules that save friendships

Say the budget before the trip. “About €80 each” in the group chat, before anyone books. The person who cannot afford it can say so when it is cheap to say.

Pay back the same week. Student debts between friends do not get smaller with time, they get awkward. Settle on Sunday night and the weekend is finished.

How we do it in kisir

It is free, which for students is the first requirement, and there is no account, so the friend who never installs anything can be added by name and still be in the split. Everyone adds what they paid from their own phone; the group shows who owes whom and the fewest transfers at the end. It works with no signal on the train, and syncs later.