Splitting the cost of a house rental

[stazmatic]

For those that have rented a house with other families before, how do you split the cost?
We are renting a 7 bedroom house in Emerald Island. Our family is me, DH, and 6 kids. Joining us is my mom, my mother in law, and a friend with her daughter. 12 people total. Splitting it 4 ways was suggested by the friend joining us and it doesn't seem right since we have so many kids. Any other suggestions from those who have done this before?

 

[JOCAmom]

Just split the total cost of the rental by 12. You and your family would pay 8/12th, your mom 1/12, your MIL 1/12 and your friend 2/12th.

That's what we are doing when we go later in the year with my SIL and her son. There are 5 of us compared to the 2 of them. So we are splitting the cost 7 ways.

 

[dougsmom98]

We go with my parents and my in-laws. Sometimes two of my grown sisters come along and once my sister and brother in-law came too. We split the house costs 3 ways. We pay 1/3, my in-laws pay 1/3, and my parents pay 1/3. We require a home with 3 master en suites for all of the couples regardless of the number of children or extra people that tag along, so we do not charge for my sisters, my sister and brother in law, or our kids. That being said, it looks a little more complicated for the crew going with you, since it isn't just couples going, so you might want to do the 1/12 thing.

 

[oklamomof4boys]

When my kids were younger and we had multiple families and some singles going, we counted the kids as 1/2 a person. Usually the grownups had the better rooms/beds and the kids were on sleeper sofas

 

[dis-happy]

Can you divide it up by the number of bedrooms? That's what we did.

 

[stazmatic]

I thought about the idea of 1/12. But then I thought two of my kids are going to be on the couch while mil has a king size bed to herself. So maybe bedrooms are the way to go. Thanks for the advice!

 

[formill]

We did it by the bedroom.....split cost by how many bedrooms then if my family uses 3 bedrooms I pay more.....but if I have kids sleeping on a sofa bed or in my room I am not paying more. It worked out to be fair for us- I have 4 kids and my sister has 2 so I thought I should pay more as we were using more bedrooms and if we brought mom and dad they only are 2 people needing one bedroom so they should not have to pay the same as the 6 of us.

 

[swilshire]

By bedrooms was my thought also. Hopefully everyone is pretty easy to get along with about money, because there is no way to make everything 100% equitable. Groceries and sundries will have to be split. Some people may want something more expensive like adult beverages. It sounds complicated.

And then there are chores to be divided. I always seem to be stuck with all the laundry and cleanup. DH always seems to get stuck with the cooking. And that's just with my immediate family.

Sheila

 

[elainesj]

Bedrooms sound the most logical and fair. sleeping in the living room should count as "half price".

and yes, it's not going to be 100% fair so make sure everyone expects some give and take. You can assign people to different roles...e.g. one family take one meal a day.

when we go camping with several families, usually one family takes 2 breakfasts , 1 family takes 1 lunch, and the other family takes 1 dinner or something like that. Other times we buy the groceries all together and just split the bill up by # of families. (works because we are all families of 4)

 

[Kim1964]

I think that dividing the cost of the house by bedrooms makes the most sense. If there is going to be a community grocery shopping done, I would split that by person (except for alcohol, I would make that a BYOB).

 

[stazmatic]

Thanks for all the replies! The last time we went with this many people my mom ended up footing the bill for most of it because she wanted to. This time around she can't and it is complicated to split everything equitably.
I haven't even gotten to thinking about the groceries yet. We are driving and plan on bringing our own alcohol, so if someone else wants something I am not going to worry about it.
My thought was to devise a menu based on the meals we will eat at the house (which is probably most breakfasts and a couple dinners and lunches) and just buy all the groceries. I am already cooking for 8 everyday so cooking for 12 won't be that much different. Then if they insist on giving me money for groceries I will take it, otherwise I won't worry about it. I would be buying food at home anyway.
Along the same lines, what do you think about splitting gas costs and van rental? We are driving down no stops and renting a 15 passenger van so there is room for everyone and their stuff. My initial thought on splitting gas is to take turns paying when we fill the tank. Does that seem fair?

 

[Kim1964]

Yes, it sounds fair. It also sounds like it would be good to call a little meeting of everyone who is going (well, the adults anyway) and talk these things over ahead of time. I think having ideas on how you would like to do it (and WHY you want to do it that way) is good, but everyone should know up front what the plan is. It could really put a damper on the trip if everyone isn't on the same page about these things going into it.

 

[momto2js]

With that many people going and staying in a house, I would have at least 2 cars!!! That way you can split and go seperate ways some days. Coordinating everyone to one place could be a nightmare.

If you are going to do the one car thing, I would go to your local rental place and look at at 15 pax van. I don't think you will find much storage room once you have put 12 humans in it. Just a thought

 

[TeresaZ]

Just split the total cost of the rental by 12. You and your family would pay 8/12th, your mom 1/12, your MIL 1/12 and your friend 2/12th.

That's what we are doing when we go later in the year with my SIL and her son. There are 5 of us compared to the 2 of them. So we are splitting the cost 7 ways.

This is exactly how we did! Worked out great and was the most fair way for us to do it.

 

[stazmatic]

Yes, it sounds fair. It also sounds like it would be good to call a little meeting of everyone who is going (well, the adults anyway) and talk these things over ahead of time. I think having ideas on how you would like to do it (and WHY you want to do it that way) is good, but everyone should know up front what the plan is. It could really put a damper on the trip if everyone isn't on the same page about these things going into it.

Thanks - that is a great idea!!! We really have a lot of things to figure out and I need to start writing things down.
As for the one car thing - our family and my mom always go together and stick together for the most part. My mil and my moms friend don't know a lot about Disney and should be fine staying with us. If nothing else we can rent a 4 pass car when we get there.