<prompt> Human: After an internship away from campus, Im moving back into my old apartment with a few new people. When I lived there before, we payed for everything out of a family bank account a joint bank account between myself and another roommate: gas, electric, internetcable, and groceries. The bank account worked well because it was free to get used a local bank and gave us a both checks and a Visa debit card. We could all deposit money into it using cash or check, which was convenient. We basically tried to add equal amounts around the same time, and kept a list of contributions to the account where we could all see it.Now that Im moving back in, Im wondering if theres a better way. How do you manage bills with your roommates? Right now the folks living there fell back to the IOU method eg. Person A pays electric, B pays gas, C pays cableinternet, and then you figure out who owes who how much at the end and theyre not very happy, since some people have put a lot more money out than others.Is a bank account the simplest and cheapest way to go about this? Note: the bank I used and could use has totally free checking, so it doesnt cost anything more than time to get the account set up.Thanks!Edit: Just to be clear, we split the groceries and were fine with it. Were all students of the same major theres 5 of us, so we make dinners together rotating assignments; its a little work but it makes sense for us. Also, I should add that I will only be in this situation for 6 months, max, before I and 2 others move out.  <response>: Basically what everyone here said. I just want to add that having a joint bank account is not a very good idea, no matter how much you trust them. It may be more convenient, but in general Id say to avoid it. 