Best ways to split apartment costs with roommates.

There are many ways to approach communal living but in nearly all scenarios people want to leave with what they came in with. Easiest way to ensure that happens? Divvy up the spending for each roommate to purchase individual items (and shoulder in full).

Try to aim for fairness where each person lands around the same dollar amount spent (e.g. $500 each). Of course, 1 flat screen TV = many pots and pans.

💡Other Pro-Tips:

• Make sure one person doesn’t buy everything for one room. If you outfit the kitchen and your roommate the living room, when you both move out you’ll be missing a lot of items for the rest of your new place. Or, if your roommate moves out first, she just took the entire living room with her.

• If in the end no one can decide or remember who bought it, sell the items and split the sale price.

• Set ground rules to avoid awkwardness down the road. EXAMPLE: If YOU have friends over and one of them knocks over the lamp your roommate bought, YOU pay for it.