Let Homies keep score for you
What should you sort before moving day?
Three jobs, in order — and the first only counts if it happens before a single box comes in.
- Photograph everything. Every wall, every scratch, the inside of the oven, the water meter and electric meter readings. Timestamped photos in a shared album are the difference between getting the deposit back and paying for the previous tenant's sins. Ten minutes, once, and only before move-in counts.
- Settle the money skeleton on paper: the rent split (even, by room size, or by income), who pays the deposit and how much of it is whose, and the date rent moves each month. If the rooms are obviously unequal, decide the premium now; the person who took the small room remembers the conversation very differently in month six. This is also the moment for a one-page roommate agreement: twenty minutes now, while nobody has a grievance yet.
- Make the landlord-logistics call: how does the landlord get paid? One person transfers and collects from the others, or everyone pays separately? The collector model is simpler for the landlord and riskier for the collector, so if you use it, the agreement should say everyone pays the collector by the 1st, no exceptions.
What do you set up in week one?
Week one is infrastructure week, in this order:
- Utilities first, because they have lead times: electricity, water, gas, and internet either transfer to a new name or start fresh. Decide whose name carries each bill and write it down; that person fronts money every month, so the settle-up day matters to them most. In Israel, add the va'ad bayit and check whether arnona needs a tenant change at the municipality, since some cities give renters a discount only if it's registered.
- Then the shared infrastructure: one place for expenses, one shared shopping list, one chore rotation. Set these up in week one, before habits form, not after the first "who bought the toilet paper" argument. The group chat feels sufficient in week one. It is not: it's where shared logistics go to get buried under memes.
- Buy the boring communal starter kit once and split it: cleaning supplies, trash bags, dish soap, a plunger, basic spices if you'll share a kitchen. One ₪300 receipt split four ways beats four people each buying half the list.
| When | What | Why it can't wait |
|---|---|---|
| Before move-in | Photos, meter readings, rent split, deposit shares, agreement | Only evidence and decisions made before day one count |
| Week one | Bills in names, expense tracking, shopping list, chore rotation | Defaults harden fast; week one sets them on purpose |
| By end of month one | First settle-up, first chore cycle review, agreement tweaks | Month one surfaces what the plan got wrong, cheaply |
Which systems prevent the month-two fights?
Month two is when the honeymoon ends and the patterns surface: one person has fronted three bills, the same roommate has taken the trash out five times, and somebody's partner has been around a lot. The fix isn't better people, it's systems that make the score visible before it becomes a speech.
Three systems, set up once: a running expense balance with one monthly settle-up day (the 1st works), a chore rotation where every job moves to the next person on schedule, and a shared shopping list that anyone can add to and the shopper checks off live. The test for each: does it work without anyone having to remind anyone? If a system needs a nag to run, the nag becomes a person, and that person starts resenting the house.
What do new roommates always forget?
Renter's insurance, or at least contents coverage: cheap, boring, and the only thing standing between a burst pipe and a four-way fight about whose laptop died. A spare key plan: who holds it, where it lives, and what happens at 2am when someone's locked out. And the maintenance contact: everyone should know who to call when the water heater dies, not just the person who signed the lease.
Also the exits, awkward as it is on week one: what's the notice period if someone leaves mid-lease, who finds the replacement, and does the leaver pay until a new roommate moves in? Every shared flat eventually loses a roommate. The ones that survive it decided the rules while everyone was still staying.
How do you keep it running after the honeymoon?
At the end of month one, do a fifteen-minute review over dinner: did the rent split feel fair, did the chore cycle work, is anyone quietly fronting money? Month one is when fixing things costs nothing. Adjust the agreement, shift a premium, swap a chore. Then stop having meetings; a house that needs a weekly standup is a house with a missing system.
The honest answer for what keeps it running long-term is that someone, or something, has to keep score, and it's much better for the friendships if it's something. Homies was built to be exactly that: shared expenses with one-tap settle-up, chores that rotate themselves with checklists for what "done" means, one live shopping list, and an optional quiet who's-home status. One app for the whole household, on iPhone and Android, currently in closed beta. Join now and you're in early, free while we build it, with one account for everyone you live with. Start the house with the system already in place and the month-two fight never gets scheduled.
Frequently asked questions
What should roommates buy together vs separately?
Together: anything the apartment consumes (cleaning supplies, trash bags, toilet paper, dish soap) and genuinely shared appliances like a kettle or vacuum. Separately: food unless you agree otherwise, and anything someone will want to take when they leave. For big shared purchases like a couch, write down who paid what, because "ours" lasts exactly until move-out day.
How do you split move-in costs like a deposit and furniture?
The deposit splits the same way rent does, and each person's share is written down so it comes back to the right people at the end. Furniture is cleaner as "each person owns specific items" rather than splitting everything: it makes leaving simple. For true shared buys, record the split at purchase, not from memory two years later.
Whose name should the bills be in?
Spread them if you can: one person takes electricity, another internet, so no single roommate fronts everything. Whoever holds a bill is owed money every month, which is exactly why a fixed settle-up day and a running balance matter. An app like Homies keeps the who-fronted-what ledger so the name-holder isn't also the house accountant.
What should be on the agenda for the first house meeting?
Five things, thirty minutes: the rent and deposit numbers, whose name takes which bill, the chore rotation and what "done" means, the guest policy (a number of nights, not a vibe), and the exit rules. Write the answers in a one-page agreement and you've covered ninety percent of future arguments.
Is there an app that handles the whole shared-house setup?
Yes. Homies is one app for the whole home: shared expenses with monthly balances and one-tap settle-up, auto-rotating chores with sub-task checklists, a real-time shared shopping list, and an optional who's-home presence. It's in closed beta on iOS and Android. Join now to hop in early while it's free, with a single signup for the whole place.
Let Homies keep score for you
What these guides set up by hand, the app runs on its own: the chore chart fills itself, balances settle in a tap, and the shopping list stays current for everyone. Homies is in closed beta now: join and you're in early, free while we build it.