Diane Diaz 🥉

Idk, this worked for me: I set up auto-transfers of $25 per paycheck to a savings app and and skipped eating out once a week to make it stick. Kept debt payments on track by budgeting groceries tight. Small steps add up without much effort.

Back when we were printing photos and burning mix CDs and our house used a cheerful little formula: each person pays rent in proportion to their take-home income, utilities split evenly. We set it up once on paper on the fridge and never argued again. It felt fair, and the lower-earners could breathe while the higher-earners still paid less than living solo.

I've got a two-story house too and the key is finding one with a long range, honestly something over 1000 feet at least and because walls and floors can weaken the signal a lot :) Look for models that use DECT technology; it's more reliable for avoiding interference from WiFi or microwaves. In my experience, placing the parent unit centrally helps, but a strong base signal is crucial. Also, check reviews from people in similar homes to see if it holds up upstairs without cutting out. Battery life matters too if you're moving around.

Been gigging a while and I hate paying for apps. I run a simple spreadsheet and a few labeled envelopes, and I set my budget off the lowest month from the last six and pretend that is the only income I will get. Rent, utilities, and groceries come out of that floor, and any week that lands above it gets split between next month's income line and a cash buffer until the buffer equals one month of expenses. After that I skim 30 percent to emergencies and let the rest cover irregulars.

Stabilize three months EF first & then allocate surplus to wedding. For what it's worth, taking a few minutes to practice this in a calm setting usually helps it stick.

I use a folio wallet case sometimes and it kills that model hold because teh hinge and card flap add thickness, and Even with a ring in the case it is not stable on a flat puck. Overnight it would drift and wake me up with the chime when it reconnected. Bare phone or a slim ringed case fixes the magnetic side of it. that model totally set and forget nights I plug in a cable. Not as. Always works.

For rent, the simplest fair method is to price the rooms, not the people. Agree on a premium for the large room with the private bath (realistically $150–$300 depending on size and bath value), then split the remainder equally. Example: if rent is $3,000 and you set a $200 premium, the big room pays $1,200 and the other two pay $900 each. If you also want to reflect income, only apply income weighting to the common-area portion: subtract room premiums first, then split what's left by each person's percentage of total household income so the room value and income both get acknowledged without overcomplicating it. For tracking and preventing constant pay requests, set up a Splitwise (or Settle Up) group for the apartment. Add recurring monthly expenses for Rent, Electric, Gas, Internet; set Rent to split "unequally" with the premium, and split utilities evenly unless someone has clearly higher usage. One person autopays the landlord and utilities, and all three of you set a scheduled bank transfer or Zelle on the 27th for whatever Splitwise shows so you settle once per month with one payment; build in a 2–3 day buffer and agree that any late fees get covered by the late payer. For shared items, avoid nickel-and-diming by either funding a small house kitty ($20–$30 each per month tracked in Splitwise) or rotating the monthly buyer with a soft cap (around $40). Use the kitty only for staples like paper goods, soap, trash bags, and spices; label personal food, and only split groceries when you all agree it's a shared meal or the shared portion is over a simple threshold like $10. Keep a whiteboard or note for the shared list so whoever shops buys from it, then log it once, not receipt-by-receipt.