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Time may not be money, but here’s a solid correlation: the more time you spend with someone, the more money you’ll spend together. And, inevitably, the more challenges your relationship will face. You don’t need a guy who’s “always a bridesmaid” to tell you that. But you might need his Joint Expense Accounting Template to help ensure that money is the least of those worries.
No sweat.
Well, you can sweat about that if you want, but not about this: The template works for any and all cost-sharing partnerships, like roommates, BFFs, and glorified criminal duos.
Is this something your relationship needs? Let’s check:
- Math: You juggle every flavor of expense (individual, mutual, joint) and form of payment (your card, their cash, the shared account) without a shred of confusion.
- Fairness: You’re consistently confident that expenses are shared equitably—even if you’ve decided that ‘equitable’ means something other than a 50/50 split.
- Budgeting: You’ve set a budget for your shared expenses; perhaps even for categories and subcategories of expenses. Checking and tracking spending against these budgets is so easy and accessible that you do it regularly.
- Empowerment: You both have equal access to, understanding of, and agency in all of the information and decisions encapsulated in the statements above.
Did I hear four resounding Yeses? Wow. Please drop everything and become a couples financial coach. Or start a website dedicated to developing and sharing calculation tools with the world. (It’s fun I swear.)
Otherwise, this template may be the simple-yet-powerful solution you and your partner need. It works with all sorts of computationally-complex cost sharing situations. You don’t have to log into yet another web app, nor trust it with your bank account logins. Your data stays yours. It makes budgeting easier than ever, by piggybacking on the info you’re already entering to stay even.
For shared finances, empowerment and ease of mind are but a couple clicks away: follow the link, make yourself a copy, and share it with your honey. (Or roomie. Or bestie). Enter and classify shared expenses as they come up, and when you really want to get in the mood, sit down together with the ‘Budget’ tab. As for work, sex, children, and chores, you’re own your own. At least, until the next spreadsheet tool…