Split expenses spreadsheet for couples: free, with formulas

The split expenses spreadsheet

Everything below is editable. Change the pays, edit a cost, add or remove a row, and switch between a 50/50 split and a split by income. The share columns and the bottom line update as you type. The numbers are made up.

Press Download CSV to get the same rows as a file. The share columns are real formulas, not typed numbers, so the file works when you open it in Google Sheets or Excel. Press Print for paper. Your browser leaves out the rest of the page. If it runs onto a second page, turn off headers and footers in the print window.

Nothing you type here is sent anywhere. The file is built in your browser.

How the example works

Take-home pay is $5,200 and $3,400, so $8,600 together. Your share is $5,200 ÷ $8,600, or 60.5%. Your partner's is 39.5%. Each of the five costs is multiplied by those shares.

You paid $3,040 and owe $2,004.42, so you paid $1,035.58 more than your part. Your partner sends you that. On a 50/50 split the same month works out to $1,657.50 each, and your partner owes you $1,382.50. That is the whole reason to pick a method first: the same bills move the number a lot. See how to split bills based on income for the case for each.

How to set it up yourself in Google Sheets

You can build this in ten minutes. These are the steps, with the formulas to type. Excel uses the same ones.

1. Put the pays at the top. In A1 write "Your take-home" and put your monthly amount in B1. In A2 write "Partner take-home" and the amount in B2. Use take-home, not gross.
2. Add a switch for the method. In A3 write "Method". In B3 type either income or even.
3. Work out your share. In B4 type =IF(B3="even",0.5,B1/(B1+B2)). That is half for an even split, or your pay over the two pays added together.
4. Work out your partner's share. In B5 type =1-B4. The two shares always add to 100%.
5. Make the cost table. In row 7, write the headings Cost, Amount, Your share, Partner share and Who paid. List each shared cost from row 8: rent, utilities, groceries, internet, insurance.
6. Multiply each cost by a share. In C8 type =B8*$B$4 and in D8 type =B8*$B$5. The dollar signs lock the share cell. Drag both formulas down the column.
7. Add the totals. Under the last cost (say row 12), type =SUM(B8:B12) in B13, and the same for columns C and D.
8. Add up who paid what. Write "You" or "Partner" in column E for each cost. Then, with your partner's name spelled the same each time, type =SUMIF(E8:E12,"You",B8:B12) for what you paid.
9. Write the bottom line. Take what you paid and subtract your total share. With what you paid in B14, type =B14-C13 in B16. If it is above zero, your partner owes you that much. Below zero, you owe them. To make it say so in words, use =IF(ROUND(B16,2)>0,"Partner owes you "&TEXT(B16,"$#,##0.00"),IF(ROUND(B16,2)<0,"You owe partner "&TEXT(-B16,"$#,##0.00"),"Even")).
10. Share it. In Google Sheets choose Share and add your partner, so you both type into the same file.

To skip all that, press Download CSV above and choose File, Import in Google Sheets. The file already has these formulas in these cells.

Pick the method before you fill it in

The switch is the one decision that changes everything else. An even split is simplest and fits two people with similar pay. A split by income puts the same share of each pay into the shared costs, which matters when pay is far apart. Our guide to splitting bills by income works it through, and the fair split calculator gives you the shares in seconds. If the shares come out on the calculator and not in your head, put them in B4 once and leave them.

Tips for a sheet that stays up to date

• Redo the pays when they change. A split by income is only fair while the pays behind it are current.
• Log a cost the day it happens. A cost remembered on the 30th is a cost half-remembered.
• Settle on a day. Pick one day a month to send the difference, then start the next month from zero. The paying a partner back guide has ways to do that without it feeling like a bill.
• Keep one sheet for shared costs only. Your own spending goes on a monthly budget, not here.

Where a spreadsheet runs out

A spreadsheet is free and you can see how every number is made. It also has limits. You type every cost in by hand, every month. It does not read your bank, so a missed row is a wrong total. It does not know which charges are shared and which are yours. And a running total over many months is yours to build and keep tidy.

If you split a handful of bills and you both like a sheet, this is enough. If the typing is what stops you, an app does the typing. See the apps to split bills with a partner for how they compare.

When Wonderful is the wrong pick

Wonderful is built for couples who keep their own money, and for one person. It splits shared costs evenly, by income or any way you choose, and keeps a running total of who owes whom. It runs in the browser, with no phone app yet, and it is not free after a free week: $14.99 a month or $99 a year for the household. If a sheet you both open already works, or you are splitting a lease with roommates, a simpler tool or the sheet above is the better fit.