5 minutes by Valerie Mellema
In today’s digital climate, there are so many options out there that make our lives easier. One of the best progressive moves is that of apps or websites that help friends, family members, or housemates share expenses without having to go through the awkward conversations about who hasn’t paid, why someone owes how much, and who isn’t contributing their fair share.
There are so many choices out there, though; which one is right for you and your group?
Get WellPaid
WellPaid is a system designed to help housemates or roommates split expenses fairly and easily, whether it’s rent, utilities, groceries, or streaming subscriptions. No matter what it is you’re splitting, it can be done with one system—WellPaid.
The setup only takes about two minutes. WellPaid works to streamline bill sharing by identifying which bills are paid regularly, such as rent, utilities, Amazon, Netflix, or cable. It tracks how much each subscription costs, puts them into specific categories (e.g., household utilities, television and movies, music, delivery services), and then enables tracking together with others. The service can auto-split recurring bills as they arrive.
On top of all this organizing, WellPaid takes care of the notifications, too. It tells people when there is a bill due that they share in the responsibility for, and it lets the organizer know when people have paid their share.
Those split requests go automatically into a group ledger to be settled up later or can be auto-requested to get paid back with a bank transfer. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!
What If You Don’t Have Roommates?
If you live on your own or don’t share subscriptions with anyone, WellPaid can benefit you, too! You can sign up on your own, and the platform will keep track of subscriptions so that you never have a surprise charge on your account again.
If you like to test out new services, products, or subscription kits but you have a hard time remembering when you need to cancel or when something is going to renew, WellPaid will take care of all that remembering for you, notifying you before something ever renews. Whew!
What If You’re Combining with the One You Love?
Maybe the relationship has gone past roommates into something more romantic. However, combining bank accounts into a joint account is a big step! What if one person uses all the movie streaming services, but the other never watches and only uses music or workout streaming? WellPaid can help you stay organized so that you don’t have to split everything, but only the bills you truly share. For more, check out this article on how to simplify house budgeting together.
If you already split certain bills but get paid on different schedules, that can be confusing. WellPaid allows you to keep your separate accounts and pay your share of bills on your schedule, so you can keep your autonomy while developing your relationship.
Is WellPaid Helpful for a Small Business Owner?
Finally, if you have renters or you own your own business, WellPaid can help you keep track of all your vendors and services that you use. It even has the option to auto-save a certain amount for tax purposes. If people pay you often (such as those renting out your property), WellPaid has a function for requesting automatic transfers on a variety of timetables. You can request a fixed amount, for rent, and even auto-request utility costs from your tenants.
How to... SplitWise
SplitWise is another platform created to make sharing expenses less stressful and more streamlined.
You have the opportunity to create different groups within the app, as well as just to add contacts. For example, you might split dinner every couple of months with your brother and have him as a contact, but you also have a whole group that you vacation with every summer. Everyone involved in that trip can be added to a “group” in which all the trip’s expenses are added and split accordingly. You can also share expenses with housemates or family members.
SplitWise does allow for payments to be made through Venmo or PayPal and enables you to record payments in the platform. However, it can get a bit confusing if people are paying you through different channels or if you forget to mark something as paid.
Splitting Hairs
SplitWise can be a bit overwhelming, as there are a lot of different options, and you have to navigate around them to find what works best for you. For example, let’s say everyone going on the summer vacation trip wasn’t drinking alcohol. You can add a bill for drinks, but certain people need to be taken out of the group. Or if you went on a rafting excursion, but some people had more time than others out on the water, people can pay for extra shares. Although those features are nice, they can get a bit confusing.
Extra Paid Features
If you want SplitWise’s best experience, you’ll have to pay for SplitWise Pro. This saves default bills, searches for categorized expenses, itemizes bills, allows for receipt scanning, and gets rid of ads, among other things.
Final Thoughts
Although WellPaid and SplitWise essentially do many of the same things, WellPaid is more user-friendly while offering more options without unnecessary complexity or needing to use additional services to look up charges or check statuses separately. It’s also more convenient to have all the payments owed to you go into one single platform or straight into your checking or savings account on your own schedule.
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