When I moved into my first Austin apartment in August 2020 with two roommates, we never sat down and made a real plan for bills. Jake, my first roommate who knew the US rental system well, handled most of it without complaining. Marcus, our third roommate, paid late almost every month and once disappeared for two weeks when the electric bill came. This post is about what we did, what broke down, and what I wish we had set up from day one.
I was standing in the kitchen holding my phone, staring at a Venmo request I had just sent Marcus for the third time that month.
It was October 2020. The electric bill had come in at $127 for the whole apartment. Jake and I had already paid our share. Marcus had not.
I sent the request again. I added a note that said “electric bill, October, your share is $42.” I put a little clock emoji next to it. I do not know why I thought the clock would help.
It did not help.
How We Set Things Up at the Start
When we first moved in, Jake, who had rented before and knew how these things worked in America, said we should put each bill in one person’s name and then split it three ways.
He took electricity. I took internet. Marcus was supposed to take water but the building handled water in the rent, so Marcus had no bill to manage.
That was the first problem. Marcus had no bill in his name. He never had to be the one to set anything up, call anyone, or stress about a due date. He just paid us back when we asked. And the asking, as it turned out, was going to be my job.
Jake said early on, get Splitwise. It is a free app that tracks who owes what. He had used it with roommates before. I downloaded it. Marcus downloaded it too but I do not think he ever opened it again after that first day.
The Bills We Had and What They Cost
Our apartment near UT Austin had three main bills outside of rent.
Rent was $1,800 split three ways, so $600 each. On top of that, each of us was paying roughly $70 to $84 a month in shared bills. Total per person came to about $670 to $684 a month all in.
The electricity swung the most. Austin summers are hot. The AC runs all day. Our highest bill was $148 one August. Split three ways that was about $49 each. Our lowest was $61 in February. That is just how it goes here. Summer always costs more than winter for electricity in Austin, never the other way around.
What Jake and I Did That Actually Worked
Jake and I had a simple system. When a bill came in, whoever had that bill in their name would screenshot it and drop it in our group chat. Then we would both Venmo the other person within two days.
That was it. No reminders. No chasing. We just did it.
I think the reason it worked between us is that we both understood something simple. If you live somewhere, you pay for it. The bill is not a surprise. The due date is not a surprise. You know it is coming so you just pay it when it comes.
Jake also had a rule he told me early on. He said never let a bill go unpaid for more than a week past the due date because late fees add up fast and then you are arguing about who pays the fee and it gets messy. That was good advice. I kept that rule even after I moved out of that place.
What Marcus Did That Did Not Work
Marcus was not a bad person. I want to say that first. He was fine to live with in most ways. But with money he had a habit that drove Jake and me crazy.
He would go quiet.
When the Venmo request came in, Marcus would see it and not respond. Not pay it, not say anything, just nothing. Two days would go by. Then three. Jake and I would start texting each other asking if Marcus had paid yet. He had not.
Then one of us would text Marcus directly. He would say sorry, I forgot, I’ll do it tonight. Sometimes he did it that night. Sometimes it took another three days.
The biggest problem came in August 2021. The AC had been running hard all month. The electric bill came in at $148. Jake paid his share the same day I sent the request. Marcus went quiet for nine days.
Nine days. I was checking Venmo every morning.
He finally paid but by then the three of us had a weird tension that lasted a couple of weeks.
The System We Should Have Set Up From Day One
After the August thing, Jake and I talked about it. We came up with what we should have done from the start.
First, every shared bill should be on autopay if possible. When the money comes out automatically, nobody has to chase anybody.
Second, if autopay is not possible, set a group rule that says everyone pays within 48 hours of the bill being shared in the chat. Not when you feel like it. 48 hours.
Third, if someone misses the 48 hours twice in a row, the group talks about it. Not a big fight, just a conversation. Hey, this is not working, what can we do differently.
We did not set any of this up at the start because we assumed everyone would just handle it. That was the mistake. People handle things at different speeds. Without a rule written down somewhere, the slowest person sets the pace and the fastest person gets frustrated.
My cousin Ranjith Roy, who moved to Austin in 2023 for his MS at UT and lived with me at my East Sixth Street apartment, was the opposite of Marcus. He paid the same day every time without being asked. I did not even have to send a Venmo request half the time. He just knew what the bill was and sent it. Living with someone like that made me realize how much energy I had spent chasing Marcus without even knowing it was draining me.
The Internet Bill Argument
There was one more money fight worth telling you about.
In early 2022, our internet bill went up. The company raised the price from $80 to $90 a month. My share went from $27 to $30.
Marcus said he thought we should switch to a cheaper company. That was fair. But then he said since we were going to switch anyway, he was not going to pay the higher rate for this month while we figured it out.
Jake and I said that does not make sense. The bill is still due. We still owe it. Whether we switch next month or not has nothing to do with this month’s bill.
Marcus paid it eventually but only after Jake laid it out very clearly. He said the bill is for internet we already used. We used it. We owe it. What we do next month is a separate question.
That framing helped. It was not about who was right or wrong about switching companies. It was just about the fact that the internet had already run for a month and someone had to pay for it.
We did switch the next month. The new plan was $65. I wish we had done it sooner honestly. That would have saved each of us about $5 a month which sounds small but over a year is $60 back in your pocket.
What I Learned That I Use Today
I still use a few things from that year.
I keep every bill in my name that I can. Not because I want to be in charge of it but because when it is in my name I never forget it exists. I am the one who sees the email. I am the one who feels the deadline. So I pay it.
I use autopay on everything that lets me. Electricity, internet, renters insurance. It all comes out automatically. I never think about it.
And if I ever have a roommate again, before we move one single box in, I want to sit down for ten minutes and write out which bills exist, who is responsible for each one, and what the rule is for paying back. Not because I think the person is going to be a Marcus. Just because having it written down means nobody has to guess and nobody has to be the one who chases.
For a full look at what all these monthly costs add up to, the hidden monthly costs post breaks it down well. And if you are trying to figure out how to set up utilities in a new apartment from scratch, I covered that step by step here.
FAQ
How do most roommates split utility bills?
The most common way is one person puts a bill in their name and everyone else pays them back their share. You can use Venmo, Zelle, or a free app called Splitwise to track it. The key is agreeing upfront on how many days you have to pay back after the bill drops. Without that rule, someone always ends up waiting.
What happens if a roommate just does not pay their share of a bill?
The person whose name is on the bill is the one the company will come after. So if Marcus had never paid and I had given up chasing him, my credit would have taken the hit, not his. That is the part people do not think about when they put a bill in their name. You are on the hook for the whole thing even if it was supposed to be split.
Should I put bills in my name or my roommate’s name?
Put whichever bills you are most likely to stay on top of in your name. If you are organized and your roommate is not, take more of them. If your roommate is more reliable, let them handle more. What you want to avoid is putting a bill in the name of the person who is hardest to reach when money is due.
Is Splitwise actually useful or is it annoying to keep up with?
It is useful if everyone actually uses it. That was our problem. Jake and I used it. Marcus downloaded it and forgot about it. If all your roommates check it regularly it is genuinely one of the easiest ways to keep track of who owes what without having to do math every time a bill comes in. But it only works if everyone is in it.
How much should I expect to pay for utilities in an Austin apartment?
It depends on how many people you are splitting with and what time of year it is. In a three-bedroom split three ways, your share of electricity alone could be anywhere from $20 to $50 a month depending on the season. Summer is always higher because of AC. Internet split three ways is usually around $25 to $30. Renters insurance split three ways is around $12 to $15. So roughly $60 to $95 a month on top of rent is a fair thing to expect. You can read more about estimating utility costs before you sign a lease here.
What is the best rule to set with roommates about paying bills on time?
Pick a number of days and stick to it. We used 48 hours after the bill gets shared in the group chat. Some people do three days. The number does not matter as much as the fact that everyone agrees to it before anyone moves in. When you have a rule, a late payment is breaking a rule you all agreed to. When you do not have a rule, a late payment is just someone moving at their own pace and you have no ground to stand on.
What if one roommate uses way more electricity than everyone else?
This comes up more than people think. If one person works from home all day and runs the AC constantly while everyone else is out, splitting equally starts to feel unfair. There is no perfect fix for this. Some roommates agree to split based on who is home more. Some just keep it equal and let it go. The main thing is to talk about it early, before anyone is already annoyed. Bringing it up after two months of resentment is a much harder conversation than bringing it up on move-in day.
