BusimyShared expenses app: home, roommates and trips
To track shared expenses without spreadsheets you just need an app where each person records what they pay, and the app works out each share and who owes whom. Busimy does this for a home, a shared apartment or a trip, with equal, percentage or income-based splits, in any currency.
The usual problem
In a shared apartment or on a trip, money comes out of different pockets: one pays groceries, another the power bill, another the gas. By the end of the month nobody really knows how much each put in, and doing the math in a group chat or spreadsheet is tedious and causes friction.
What a good shared expenses app needs
- Everyone can record from their own phone: if only one person enters things, it isn't shared.
- Flexible splits: half, percentages, fixed amounts or by income, and the option to change it on one expense.
- A clear balance of who owes whom that simplifies itself (if A owes B and B owes C, no going around in circles).
- Private personal expenses: what's yours isn't seen by the whole group.
- Several currencies without mixing them, if you travel or get paid in another currency.
- Separate events (a trip, a party) that don't clutter everyday expenses.
An example with numbers
Three friends share an apartment. This month Carol pays $1,500 rent, Lucy $300 of fees and Sam $200 for internet. Total: $2,000, so $666.67 each.
Carol put in $833.33 too much; Lucy and Sam put in $366.67 and $466.67 too little. To be even, Lucy sends Carol $366.67 and Sam $466.67.
How Busimy does it
You create a household, invite the people you share costs with and pick the split. Each expense is recorded with who paid it; Busimy always shows who owes whom and how much, per currency or combined at the rate you choose.
When someone settles up, the payment is recorded and the balance goes back to zero. Each person's personal expenses stay private.
Shared spreadsheet vs. app
A spreadsheet works at first, but has two problems: someone has to maintain it (usually always the same person) and formulas break when the split changes or someone joins.
An app does the math for you, everyone records their part at the moment, and the balance is always up to date. You can also add expenses by voice or with a photo of the receipt.
Settling up with few transfers
If in a group of four everyone paid for different things, you don't need each person to pay each other. Work out each one's net balance (what they paid minus their share) and those who owe pay those who are owed: two or three transfers are almost always enough.
Frequently asked questions
- Does it work for a trip?
- Yes. Create a household for the trip, add the people traveling and record expenses in each place’s currency.
- Does everyone have to use the app?
- Ideally each person records their own, but one person can record for everyone, noting who paid.
- Can I be in more than one group?
- Yes: you can belong to several households (your home, a trip, an apartment) and switch between them.
- Can I use it for a trip with people I don't live with?
- Yes. In Busimy an event (a trip, a party) adds people from outside the household, with its own expenses and its own who owes whom.
- What if someone pays in another currency?
- Each currency keeps its own balance. If someone paid in dollars, the debt stays in dollars, or is converted at the rate you choose when settling up.