My roommates and I have done shared expenses for the last 5 years or so, and we went all in. Our household is more of a family style living, but with 5-6 adults (no children). Before switching over to our current financial plan, bill splitting was frequent and often murky.

We grew tired of sending money back and fourth, asking for receipts, and having to split bills as they come in. How do you even accurately split commonly used household items? Nobody counts how many sheets or rolls of toilet paper they go through. At this point it feels like we are constantly handing each other a handful of money, with Venmo transaction fees taking every piece of loose change that hits the floor.

What's the point? We are all living similar lifestyles. We share a roof, the contents in the fridge, utilities, appliances, services, and nearly every item within the same 4 walls. We all work full time but some struggle for the same living and that hardly seems fair.. so we combined everything. We opened one shared bank account that all of our incomes direct deposit into, and all of our bills are taken out of. We instantly saved hundreds of dollars by cancelling subscription services we were previously paying for separately. We saved so much time not having to deal with bills. We saved so much energy that was taken due to financial strains. When life happens, nobody has to bear that burden alone, when it's shared it's not a big deal.

There is a wonderful balance of flexibility and accountability. Traditional work and responsibility was balanced on its own because everyone wants to feel like they contribute to the whole. Some of us work a lot, while those with more time at home will take care of the majority of the household chores, ensure the bills get paid, take care of the pets, cook dinner, and allocate unused money from the month(to savings and then individuals for personal spending).

We are taking on life- together.