How to fairly split utilities with roommates?

[jds2006]

..........

 

[George2816]

I'm not quite sure how my roommates and I should fairly split the utilities bills. Right now we each have a bill under our names but we don't all use everything equally. The electricity bill came out to be $125 for last month, and $215 for this month (I'm pretty sure this was mostly due to the air conditioning costs); Cable is about $100 a month. However, I don't have a need for AC and have never turned it on. They usually turn it on all day... including at night when it's not even hot (I have no idea why) and I rarely watch TV (I've only used the TV 6-7 times during the past 2.5 months). Should we split it according to each of our uses or just split all the bills evenly? I'm leaning towards paying according to our uses because I don't think I should have to pay as much for cable when I rarely even use it. But I'm not sure if this would seem fair to my other roommates... so what do you guys think?

You have cable but no internet or are you on dail-up?
33.3-33.3-33.33 all utilities is usally fair

 

[eyrei]

Split it three ways. There is no other way to quantify the costs accurately. They will think you are ridiculous if you bring this up.

 

[Bamspeedy]

This is why I don't like roommates. Most people split expenses evenly just to avoid arguments as to exactly how much each person is using the utilities. Don't like it? Move or find new roommates when the lease is up.

 

[amadeus]

Compensate by using a lot of water.

 

[Newbunkle]

That reminds me of something I read a while ago that I found pretty funny:

Marxists' Apartment a Microcosm Of Why Marxism Doesn't Work
By TheOnion.com
TheOnion.com | November 18, 2002

AMHERST, MA—The filthy, disorganized apartment shared by three members of the Amherst College Marxist Society is a microcosm of why the social and economic utopia described in the writings of Karl Marx will never come to fruition, sources reported Monday.


Above: Marxists Kirk Dorff and Josh Foyle.
"The history of society is the inexorable history of class struggle," said sixth-year undergraduate Kirk Dorff, 23, resting his feet on a coffee table cluttered with unpaid bills, crusted cereal bowls, and bongwater-stained socialist pamphlets. "The stage is set for the final struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, the true productive class. We're well aware of that here at 514 W. Elm Street, unlike other apartments on this supposedly intellectual campus."

Upon moving in together at the beginning of the fall 2001 semester, Dorff, Josh Foyle, and Tom Eaves sat down and devised an egalitarian system for harmonious living. Each individual roommate would be assigned a task, which he would be required to carry out on a predetermined day of the week. A bulletin board in the kitchen was chosen as the spot for household announcements, and to track reimbursements for common goods like toothpaste and toilet paper.

"We were creating an exciting new model for living," said Dorff, stubbing his cigarette into an ashtray that had not been emptied in six days. "It was like we were dismantling the apparatus of the state right within our own living space."

Despite the roommates' optimism, the system began to break down soon after its establishment. To settle disputes, the roommates held weekly meetings of the "Committee of Three."

"I brought up that I thought it was total . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . that I'm, like, the only one who ever cooks around here, yet I have to do the dishes, too," said Foyle, unaware of just how much the apartment underscores the infeasibility of scientific socialism as outlined in Das Kapital. "So we decided that if I cook, someone else has to do the dishes. We were going to rotate bathroom-cleaning duty, but then Kirk kept skipping his week, so we had to give him the duty of taking out the garbage instead. But now he has a class on Tuesday nights, so we switched that with the mopping."

After weeks of complaining that he was the only one who knew how to clean "halfway decent," Foyle began scaling back his efforts, mirroring the sort of production problems experienced in the USSR and other Soviet bloc nations.

At an Oct. 7 meeting of the Committee of Three, more duties and a point system were added. Two months later, however, the duty chart is all but forgotten and the shopping list is several pages long.


Above: Dishes and seminal Marxist tracts pile up in the kitchen sink.
The roommates have also tried to implement a food-sharing system, with similarly poor results. The dream of equal distribution of shared goods quickly gave way to pilferage, misallocation, and hoarding.

"I bought the peanut butter the first four times, and this Organic Farms . .. .. .. . isn't cheap," Eaves said. "So ever since, I've been keeping it in my dresser drawer. If Kirk wants to make himself a sandwich, he can run to the corner store and buy some Jif."

Another failed experiment involves the cigarettes bought collectively. Disagreements constantly arose over who smoked more than his fair share of the group's supply of American Spirit Blues, and the roommates now hide individually purchased packs from each other—especially late at night when shortages are frequent.

The situation is familiar to Donald Browning, author of Das Kouch: A History Of College Marxism, 1970-1998.

"When workers willfully become less productive, the economy of the household suffers," Browning said. "But in a society where a range of ability naturally exists, someone is bound to object to picking up the slack for others and end up getting all pissy, like Josh does."

According to Browning, the group's lack of productivity pervades their lives, with roommates encouraging each other to skip class or work to sit on the couch smoking pot and talking politics.

"A spirit of free-market competition in the house would likely result in better incomes or better grades," Browning said. "Then, instead of being hated and ostracized by the world at large as socialist countries usually are, they could maintain effective diplomacy with their landlord, their parents, and Kirk's boss who cut back his hours at Shaman Drum Books."

The lack of funds and the resulting scarcity breeds not only discontent but also corruption. Although collectivism only works when all parties contribute to the fullest extent, Foyle hid the existence of a $245 paycheck from roommates so he would not have to pay his back rent, in essence refusing to participate in the forced voluntary taxation that is key to socialism. Even worse, Dorff, who is entrusted with bill collection and payment, recently pocketed $30, a theft he claimed was "for the heating bill" but was put toward buying drinks later that night.

"As is human nature, power tends to corrupt even the noblest of men," Browning said. "The more power the collective has over the lives of the individuals, as is the case in this household, the more he who is in charge of distribution has to gain by being unscrupulous. These Marxists will soon realize they overestimated how much control they would like 514 W. Elm as an entity to have."

 

[GarretSidzaka]

definitely split it perfectly even and tolerate NO BEEOTCHING

 

[Fëanor]

@jds2006, if the bills are becoming a serious financial burden for you then you should tell them that either they waste less or pay more, like splitting the bills 30-35-35 or 26-37-37 or whatever you feel is fair.

@Nephrite, that article, is it meant sarcastically? like to show the complete lack of a basic understanding of socialism that the average American possesses or was it meant seriously?

 

[brennan]

Myself and 4 other guys decided to split all our bills evenly. Until we found that 90% of our phone bill was one guy calling his relatives in Bangladesh...

Edit: Currently I more or less refuse to participate in cleaning the house I share. Given that 99% of the time I spend clambering over my housemates washing and miscellaneous junk - he can go screw himself if he thinks i'm going to help him clear up. Seriously, the place is a ******* health hazard.

 

[Brighteye]

Get a meter.
Or, for a week measure how much time things are turned on, and how much time you're benefitting from it (lights on when you're using the room, even if only to pop in and out; air conditioning on when you're awake...).
Then if your results are far under the 30-50% one might expect you can have words with your housemates with some serious data to present.

 

[JerichoHill]

if you try to split anything other than evenly, house unrest follows

 

[bhsup]

"6th year undergraduate"?? Sounds like Bluto from Animal House. Quite the role model there, Mr. Kirk Dorff. Ooooh...DORFMAN!!

 

[downtown]

Its really better to just split things up evenly. Trying to count how often you watch TV to save 10 bucks a month is really pretty crazy, and your roomates will resent you.

If there is a service that all of you pay for, that only 1 of you uses (like cable television), I think it is reasonable for one person to pay for most it though..but not if everybody uses it but you. My sister had that problem last year with her roomates...they agreed that the 4th girl would have to pay the entire cable bill (but be allowed to opt out of the rest of the utilities).

Have a talk with everybody about conservation. If paying for TV bugs you too much, move out.

 

[azzaman333]

The only fair split that will actually work is evenly.

 

[Newbunkle]

Split it evenly, but make sure you use the most resources and food. Its not nice, but if you don't you'll be the one getting the short end of the stick. They'd do it to you if they can get away with it. That's what sharing is all about.

 

[Arwon]

"6th year undergraduate"?? Sounds like Bluto from Animal House. Quite the role model there, Mr. Kirk Dorff. Ooooh...DORFMAN!!

There's several undergraduate degrees at my university back home that are 6 years long. Though the Onion being American and, you know, satire, they're probably not referring to the Australian uni system...

 

[ShannonCT]

Should we split it according to each of our uses or just split all the bills evenly? I'm leaning towards paying according to our uses because I don't think I should have to pay as much for cable when I rarely even use it. But I'm not sure if this would seem fair to my other roommates... so what do you guys think?

You should probably wait until your lease comes up for renewal to bring up any change in the utilities split. Your roommates have no incentive to let you pay less now. But when the lease comes up for renewal, they might think keeping you as a roommate and not having to risk a new one is worth paying a little more every month.

In the meantime, I think you should humbly explain to your roommates that money is tight and that those big electric bills are hurting. Ask them if they could find ways to use the AC less at night (open windows instead). Don't attack them or become accusitive. If you appeal to their sense of compassion and generosity, you're much more likely to get what you want. And if you don't get what you want, hold your tongue and move out as soon as you can. There's nothing worse than living with people you hate.

 

[Photi]

Myself and 4 other guys decided to split all our bills evenly. Until we found that 90% of our phone bill was one guy calling his relatives in Bangladesh...

Edit: Currently I more or less refuse to participate in cleaning the house I share. Given that 99% of the time I spend clambering over my housemates washing and miscellaneous junk - he can go screw himself if he thinks i'm going to help him clear up. Seriously, the place is a ******* health hazard.

if you're going to have a common phone, definitely have only local service. you can usually get better long distance rates with a pre-paid calling card anyway. it has been years since i have had roomates, but it used to be such a pain to add up all the long distance charges according to who used what, and there would always be the problem of visitors calling L.d or roomies not owning up to the charges they incurrred. calling cards or VoIP is the only way.

as far as the cleaning, i would suggest hiring a cleaning person (maybe use craigslist.org). if you have enough roomates, the split cleaning bill could be affordable and it would get rid of any resentment towards cleaning in the common areas. the added cost is worth the headache it saves, plus you get regularly scheduled sanitation, which is a GREAT thing, especially if you live in a house full of males.

as for the OP, there is no way to pay anything other than equal share without causing friction. best you can hope is to teach conservation, but even that may cause a stir depending on who you live with. count yourself as lucky that you live in the age of broadband, back when i had roomates, broadband was still a luxary and cell phones were only then becoming more common (affordable) among college students. there was always tension about tying up the phone line.

 

[GinandTonic]

The cost of disharmony is greater than the cost of the differential between usage of the utilities.

 

[Murky]

Get a studio apartment so that you can avoid having roomates. This helps you become more self-sufficient and gives your more freedom.