As our joint account is based on bills for three people, we don't have to panic about finding a new fourth - but we're considering it. For the last six months or so, we swore we didn't want more than three people in that house - but the two months we had of overlap was pretty great. They guys got a long great, and helped out around the house. My mom suggested perhaps we look for a new fourth, but be very picky - because, why not?
In our consideration for another roommate, I thought it prudent to check the numbers in our joint (bills) account - to see if we are in a position where we need another roommate, or it would be a luxury.
I haven't gone over Jordan and my Joint account lately - so as a refresher here's how we figured out our joint contribution:
- Rent ($1,350) less a roommates share ($500) and split two ways is $425/each
- Max Utilities with three people is $150/each
Total bills for Jordan and I combined is $1,150. That split by four (because we're both paid bi-weekly on opposite weeks) is $287.50.
Here is an image from my excel spreadsheet that shows where the monies at in the joint account:
In summary - I think we'll be fine.
It would be nice to have a larger joint cushion, but I think it's building at a pretty stellar rate. Considering last month we bought a BBQ ($400) and we owed GST (~$200).
You certainly have had to deal with a lot of roommate changes. I would be crazy at this point but you are handling it very very well :-)
ReplyDelete@ Jolie - it does seem that way. At least this time we knew he was going to be short term. Part of it is that Jordan and I are on a month to month agreement and are not comfortable asking someone to sign a fixed term.
ReplyDeletehello... hapi blogging... have a nice day! just visiting here....
ReplyDeleteIt's all about options, isn't it? If you do go for a fourth roommate, I would definitely wait till you found the perfect person. And you're right, no point getting them to sign a fixed term when you could choose to leave at anytime.
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