Couple expense tracker template (who paid, who owes)

How to use this template

This is a ledger, not a budget. It records who paid for what and what each person owes the other, and it does not plan your spending (that is the couple budget template). Print it, or copy the tables into Excel or Google Sheets.

1. Write the share rule first. Set your share percent for each kind of cost before you log anything. How to split bills as a couple covers how to pick the percent.
2. Log each purchase the day it happens: date, what it was, who paid and the total.
3. Fill in the shares. Your share $ is the total times your share percent. Partner share $ is the total minus your share $.
4. Fill in Owed. If you paid, Owed is your partner’s share $. If your partner paid, Owed is minus your share $, because it is what you owe on that row.
5. Close the month. Add up the Owed column. Or take what you paid minus your share of the total. Both give the same number, and positive means you are owed.
6. Settle on the date you set, write down the amount, and start the next month at zero. Carry over anything left unpaid.

The ledger is split into two tables so it fits a phone, and the # column lines the rows up across both. In a sheet, the eight columns after # make one table.

The template

The rules

Rule	Example	Yours
Your share on rent and utilities	60% (your take-home pay is $3,000 of $5,000)
Your share on everything else	50%
Settle up on	The 1st of each month

The ledger, part 1: what happened

#	Date	What	Paid by	Total
1
2
3

The ledger, part 2: who owes

#	Your share %	Your share $	Partner share $	Owed
1
2
3

The month-end line

Line	Amount
What you paid
Your share of the total
Paid minus share (positive means your partner owes you)
Settled on (date and amount)

A filled month: eight rows

Say the rule above applies: 60 percent for rent and utilities, 50 for everything else. The Owed column is positive when your partner owes you on that row.

#	Date	What	Paid by	Total
1	Mar 1	Rent	You	$1,800.00
2	Mar 3	Internet	Partner	$70.00
3	Mar 6	Groceries	You	$84.50
4	Mar 9	Electricity	Partner	$96.00
5	Mar 13	Groceries	Partner	$61.30
6	Mar 16	Streaming plan	You	$18.00
7	Mar 20	Groceries	You	$97.20
8	Mar 23	Dinner out	Partner	$64.00
		Month total		$2,291.00

#	Your share %	Your share $	Partner share $	Owed
1	60%	$1,080.00	$720.00	+$720.00
2	60%	$42.00	$28.00	-$42.00
3	50%	$42.25	$42.25	+$42.25
4	60%	$57.60	$38.40	-$57.60
5	50%	$30.65	$30.65	-$30.65
6	50%	$9.00	$9.00	+$9.00
7	50%	$48.60	$48.60	+$48.60
8	50%	$32.00	$32.00	-$32.00
	Month total	$1,342.10	$948.90	+$657.60

In plain words, you paid $1,999.70 (rows 1, 3, 6 and 7) and your share of the total is $1,342.10. That is $1,999.70 minus $1,342.10, or $657.60, and a positive number means you are owed. Your partner paid $291.30 against a share of $948.90, so the sheet says the same thing from their side: they owe $657.60.

What to agree on

• The percent for each kind of cost. A fixed 50 percent is one answer, and it has limits. Rent and utilities are the usual place for a different percent.
• What goes on the sheet. Costs one of you pays for both. Bills paid from a joint account are already shared, and a joint bills account covers how much each partner puts in.
• The settle-up date. Pick a day and keep it, so the balance never has time to grow.

If you would rather use an app

EvenOut keeps the same columns and does the arithmetic for you. Splitting is free, with no daily expense limit on the free plan and no ads, and percent splits, monthly repeats, charts and search are free too. Add your partner under “Add a friend”, then open “Add expense” with them and each column has a place:

On the sheet	In EvenOut
Date	The date chip (“Today”, “Yesterday” or a date)
What	“What was this for?”
Paid by	“Paid by you” or “Paid by {name}”
Total	The amount, with a currency chip
Your share %	“Percent” in the split picker, or “Equally” for 50 percent
Your share $ and Partner share $	The dollar amount shown under each name when you split by percent
A spare cent on an odd total	Shared out for you, so the two shares always add up to the total
Owed	“{name} owes you” or “You owe {name}” on the expense page and on your friend page

“Settle up” records the payment, and EvenOut does not move the money. Rent can repeat monthly so it adds itself with the same payer and split, and you can add expenses without signal, because they sync when you reconnect.