How to split bills efficiently: Choosing the right split type
Why multiple split types?
SplitMyExpenses supports numerous bill split types. Each split type is applicable to different scenarios, so it's important to understand when and why to use each split type.
The split types are created to remove the math you usually have to do when splitting a bill, so you can focus on enjoying your time with friends and family!
Here's a TLDR on how to choose a split type for your expense:
- Equal: Everyone pays the same amount
- Percentage: Everyone pays a different percentage of the total bill amount
- Shares: Splitting a bill based on number of nights stayed, or number of people in a group
- Adjustment: Equal split but you want to adjust the amount owed by one or more people
- Manual: Manually enter the amount owed by each person
- Itemization: Split the bill based on the items ordered
Want to learn more about each split type? We've got you covered! Keep reading to learn more about each split type, with examples.
Equal split
The Equal split type is the most common split type. It's used when everyone pays the same amount. It's also the default split type when adding an expense!
If the expense is not evenly divisible by the number of people, then the remainder will be added to people in the order they are listed.
Percentage split
The Percentage split type is used when everyone pays a different percentage of the total bill amount. This is useful when you want to split a bill based on how much each person consumed, and it's easily defined as a percentage.
The percentages must add up to 100%, so you are splitting the full amount of the bill to the people listed!
Shares split
The Shares split type is used when splitting a bill based on number of nights stayed another metric of slicing up the costs per unit. For example, if you rent an Airbnb for 3 nights and 5 people are staying, then shares are useful to denote one person, per night.
So if the total cost of the Airbnb is $300, then each share is $20. If one person stayed for 2 nights, then they would have 2 shares, or $40. If another person stayed for 3 nights, then they would have 3 shares, or $60.
Adjustment split
The Adjustment split type is used when you want to adjust the amount owed by one or more people. This is useful when you want to split a bill equally, but one person paid for something extra, or one person didn't pay for something. You can adjust the amount owed by each person to account for this.
Manual split
The Manual split type is used when you want to manually enter the amount owed by each person. It's useful when you have a complicated split type that does not fall into any other type or you're combining multiple calculations into one expense. Simply type out the amount owed by each person, and you're all set!
Itemization split
The Itemization split type is used when you want to split the bill based on the items ordered. It is essentially an expense with sub-splits, very useful for dinner receipts where everyone orders something different! You can even upload your receipt photo and we'll parse it into the Itemization split type for you, so you can get started immediately splitting your bill without typing anything out!
The itemization split supports adding a tax and tip and then splitting the tax & tip per person, weighted by how much that individual ordered!
Conclusion
If you have any ideas for new split types or feedback on the existing split types, please reach out to us. We hope this helps you choose the right split type and reduce mental math when splitting bills!
If you have any questions, or you need some help, please reach out to us: support@splitmyexpenses.com.
Creator of SplitMyExpenses.com