Life with roommates can be… interesting. Depending on who you room with, it can either be an absolute blast or an absolute nightmare–hopefully not the latter. If you've set the rules and everyone abides by them, chances are you'll enjoy your roommates' company.

Aside from having rules, technology can make co-habitation easier. Here are some helpful ways you can use technology to improve your roommate experience.

1. Finding the Right Roommate

1 finding roommates

If you've ever had a bad roommate, you know how important this step is. But how do you find the right one? First, you can try contacting people you know, instead of finding complete strangers to live with. If you've been to college, see if you can find someone from your alumni network.

If you are a member of a Facebook group or a Subreddit consisting of people you know locally or through a certain organization, you can try posting there.

You can also try putting a status on your social profiles that could get the attention of someone who may be looking for a roommate or perhaps know someone who is.

For those who don't have a large social circle, there are tons of websites for finding roommates. These sites use matching algorithms to help you find a like-minded roommate. Most of these have some kind of vetting and fraud detection features to keep you safe.

Lastly, let's not forget Craigslist. Though not the most user-friendly site, Craigslist has hundreds of thousands of visitors. If you promote your post on Craigslist the right way, you'll likely find a suitable roommate.

2. Tracking Shared Expenses and Splitting Bills

2 Ledger

When it comes to who paid what, it's important to keep records. There's rent, utilities, electricity, as well as household items and any other shared things, such as food.

The best way to keep track of all of this is a shared spreadsheet for expenses. There are multiple sites where you can find free spreadsheet templates for such sheets and use Google Sheets to track expenses.

While splitting bills for a dinner meal, exchanging money can be another tricky thing. Though you can use tools like What Do I Owe You?, you'll have to transfer the amount using PayPal, any other payment service, or a direct bank transfer.

However, a much more convenient way is to use an expense-tracking app like Splitwise or Settle Up. This not only saves you the hassle of manually updating the spreadsheet, but also provides a simplified way of splitting the bills. You can set up recurring expenses or scan receipts to add them to these apps.

These tools sync automatically, categorize and split your expenses, offset debts, and show any remaining balances to be paid. Splitwise even allows payment integrations, making your job easier.

3. Tracking Groceries Items and Shopping Lists

wooden shelves with glass jars

Keeping track of what shared grocery items are available is another issue you might face while living with your roommates. However, if you want to avoid buying multiple things (or running out of essential items), you should try using the various pantry management apps available.

Besides providing a quick way to check available supplies, these can also help you make and share grocery lists with your roommates. A few of these apps include Pantry Check, My Pantry Tracker, and OurGroceries Shopping List, with plenty more available.

Download: OurGroceries Shopping List for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases)

4. Creating a Digital Community and Shared Calendars

5 community

Everyone has different workloads, schedules, classes, hobbies, and friends, and therefore, it's rare for everyone to be home at the same time. Even then, they could be busy, and you don't want to interrupt them. So, even if you live with several roommates, getting in touch with everyone together can be difficult.

There are a couple of solid solutions to this problem. The most obvious way to create a WhatsApp group, which is good for everyday chatting. However, just don't settle for a single, boring WhatsApp group.

If you share any specific interests, it is better to create separate groups for each interest/activity. You can start a book club, a sports group, or even a music community. And of course, WhatsApp isn't the only option. There are tons of tools out there, like Discord and Signal.

Similarly, if you need to schedule some fun time with your roommates, shared calendars like TimeTree can help you find a time slot that is convenient for everyone. Also, knowing the schedule of your roommates can help you plan your own day accordingly, especially if you have quite different routines.

5. Dividing and Scheduling Chores

person washing sink

One of the most challenging parts of living with roommates is dividing chores between them.

Luckily, there are apps that help you split household chores, so you can keep track of who did what. These apps can also create a schedule after splitting the chores. They then send notifications reminding you to do your tasks.

Most of these apps gamify the experience by awarding points for every task completed and showing the statistics of all roommates. Though you can find tons of such apps, Nipto, Flatify, and Tody are pretty decent ones.

Download: Flatify for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases)

6. Owning a Good Router

A photograph of the Ethernet ports available on a internet router

If there's one thing that gets people agitated, it's the lack of a solid Internet connection. If you're living with several roommates and share an internet connection, a good router is a must-have.

Especially when working online, playing games, or streaming your favorite movies, having a fast, stable internet connection is even more important–which simply isn't possible without a good router. Searching for a good router, and internet service provider, for that matter, is an investment that will pay off.

With a great router, you'll be able to take advantage of more advanced features, such as dual-band connections, DLNA media sharing, or a public access point. If you're not sure how to choose a router, asking these questions will help you to pick a router that meets your needs.

Live in Peace With Your Roommates

Certainly, these technology tips won't always make the seas calm when rooming with others–no one is perfect, and we're bound to have conflicts from time to time. The most important thing is to do your best to keep the peace, even when the sea is rough. But these tips and tech should definitely help.

Now that you have some ideas about how to use technology to make living with roommates simpler, it's time to choose the apps that work the best for you and your roommates.