Settle shared fixed costs

What it's about

In the Fixed costs area (under Finances), you settle shared contracts fairly – for example, electricity you split 50-50 with your partner. You settle up per month; the shares flow automatically into your balances and into settling up. That way, everyone pays exactly their own share, without you having to work out every contract by hand.

Before you start

• The Finances module needs to be turned on under Manage → Modules (admins only).
• You've added contracts under Contracts and made them shared (50-50, proportional, or whole household). Contracts that belong to you alone don't appear here.
• You'll then find this area via the Finances overview (Fixed costs tile).

Settling a month

For each month, you see all shared contracts with each person's share. Settle month makes patchio create the monthly settlement for each of these contracts – the shares become entries that flow into your balances. From then on, “Settle up” under Finances shows who still owes what from the fixed costs.

If you made a mistake, or settled a month too early, use Undo to take it back. The settlements are removed and the balances corrected accordingly.

Smoothed by month

patchio converts every contract to a monthly amount. An annual contract of €1.200 counts as €100 a month, a quarterly contract of €300 also as €100 a month. That way, everyone carries exactly the same share throughout the year – regardless of which month the contract is actually debited in. Over twelve months, that adds up to the full contract amount.

If you'd rather see in Insights which bill is due in which month, switch Fixed costs there to By due date: an annual bill then counts all at once in the month it's due. Settling up here isn't affected – it always uses the monthly smoothed amounts.

Children count towards the owner

Shares belonging to children and profiles without their own login are added to the contract's owner. Children never appear in the balances – the adults settle up among themselves. That keeps settling up simple, and nobody has to transfer money to a child's account.

Where the actual settling happens

The Fixed costs page creates the settlements – you'll find who owes whom how much, and settling up itself, in the Balances on Finances. There, patchio combines mutual debts into as few transfers as possible, and you mark them as settled. Expenses and contracts come together there in one shared settlement.

Related topics

• Finances: shared expenses
• Contracts & notice periods
• Accounts
• Recurring expenses