Keeping track of your accounts with your flatmates can be a real headache

Managing expenses with several people is not an easy thing … :-)

You think that you can remember everything but, besides your studies, celebrations and dozens of housewarming parties, it is not easy to remember who paid what, to whom, when and to keep track of refunds…

In short, we forget - some are more amnesic than others - and this sometimes results in tense atmosphere…

We end up loosing the overview on rent management, expenses and all the small costs that are added here and there.

And then there is also the problem of transparency …

- “Lucas, you owe 200 euros to the flat…”.

- “Ah yes, why?”

- … (No answer)

Here is how Tricount can help you and your flatmates

You probably already know, Tricount is a tool that helps you to maintain an overview over group expenses and allows to do a great deal of things.

Tricount is hyper flexible.

Here is how the app can help you in some concrete cases:

- Alex paid last Thursday’s meal, Julia was there with her boyfriend, Brian was wandering around. That happens from time to time… (how to keep track of complex distributions in your accounts ?)

- It’s Brian who pays the electricity bill every month from his personal account (paying rent in shared apartments)

- Common account. Everyone pays their rent in a common roommate account (how to manage a pool in Tricount? (post is only available in French for the moment))

The current tool is not perfect…

We are aware of that! Here are some new features we thought about and on which we would like to have your opinion.

Please respond to the small survey below. This is the best way to influence the development of the app.

Link to our survey: https://goo.gl/forms/lPxhVfW1eTMmQlBr1

Tips for best usage of our app

To ensure a more efficient use of Tricount in your kot*, we advise you:

• that everyone tries to pay the next expense when he/she is in red in the balance of the accounts; this avoids unnecessary repayments;
• to synchronize regularly! To allow other participants to see the changes you have made in your tricount, it is necessary to synchronize the tricount (a small icon reminds you to do it in the app);
• to create a new tricount regularly, at the end of each month for example;
• to create a new tricount if a roommate leaves, in order to avoid that his name is proposed each time when adding a new expense; you will note that it is impossible to remove a participant if he/she is involved in the expenses;
• to get each of your roommates to install Tricount on his/her smartphone! Not only is it more practical because everyone can enter their own expenses, but it is also a guarantee to have the accounts even if the smartphone of the “accountant” of the kot falls into the bathtub (true story!)

Things to avoid!!!

Finally, what we advise you NOT to do:

• Having Tricount on one single smartphone. As we already explained, using Tricount on several devices is not only more practical but it is also safer.
• Making accounts without ever synchronizing them. Sync allows other participants to see your changes, and vice versa … If you do not sync, you do not see the same thing! Not to mention the problem of losing your smartphone …
• Using one single tricount for a very long time. At a certain size, a tricount becomes unreadable because the filtering capacities are limited at the moment. Furthermore, the more “time passes” the more you expose yourself to the risk that a foreigner accesses your account (in practice, the link of a tricount remains in the browser history, even if you access it from a Cyber-cafe for example!)
• Simply deleting a participant who is leaving the flat. We recommend you to close the accounts when a participant leaves. FYI it is impossible to remove a participant if he/she is involved in an expense.

(*) the word “kot” is a Belgian expression which means flat-sharing between students. It’s a bit like the word “schtroumpf” (or “smurf in english) : it’s at the same time a noun, a verb and an adjective … :-)

You have just started your studies and you are looking for roommates in Belgium or you have just installed yourself in your famous flat but you do not know how to manage all the expenses? For the search of flatmates, the website Hellokot can help you, and for the financial aspect, Tricount’s got you covered.