Splitting groceries in a Swiss flatshare (WG): what goes in the kitty, and how much

Sources, read on 28 September 2026: Dachverband Budgetberatung Schweiz, the Swiss umbrella association for budget counselling, "Richtwerte Studierende, Wohnen in WG" (reference values for students living in a flatshare), version 2025/2026, on budgetberatung.ch; TWINT, instructions for splitting an amount, on twint.ch. Offer data comes from Rappn: the promotions of seven chains, updated daily, no regular shelf prices.

Rappn is an independent grocery price comparison app in Switzerland, with no commercial agreements with any retailer.

What goes in the WG kitty?

A WG (Wohngemeinschaft) is a Swiss flatshare: several people share one flat and its kitchen. Before you talk about amounts, agree what is shared at all. Three groups are enough.

Shared, paid from the kitty: everything that everyone uses at roughly the same rate and nobody insists on a particular brand for. Mainly that is what Budgetberatung Schweiz calls household running costs: detergent and cleaning products, general toiletries and waste disposal. In practice: toilet paper, kitchen roll, washing-up liquid, dishwasher tabs, sponges, cleaning products and bin bags, which many Swiss municipalities charge a fee on. The basics of the shared kitchen fit here too: salt, oil, vinegar, sugar, flour.

Personal: meat and fish, snacks, alcohol, brands someone insists on, diet and sports products, and anything only one person eats or drinks.

Grey zone: bread, butter, milk, eggs, coffee, spices and vegetables for cooking together. There is no right answer here. Decide once and write it down, ideally when you move in or when someone new joins. Left open, the grey zone turns into a running argument.

Write the shared list down item by item, not just "basics". In Rappn you can set up a shared cart for it: everyone in the flat sees and edits it in real time, so whoever goes shopping has the current list.

How much per person? The official Swiss reference values

Budgetberatung Schweiz publishes reference values for students who live in a WG (version 2025/2026). Two lines concern groceries, both in francs per person per month:

• Household running costs: CHF 30 to 50. This covers detergent and cleaning products, general toiletries and waste disposal, which are exactly the items that are easiest to buy together in a flatshare.
• Food and drinks including the canteen: CHF 370 to 590. Most of this is personal. Only what the flat agreed to share goes into the kitty.

These are reference values for a student budget, not a measurement of your flat. According to Budgetberatung Schweiz, they are based on Swiss averages from federal statistics and comparison portals and on the association's own experience, and they do not replace your own budget. For other household types, see our pages on the single grocery budget and the couples grocery budget; the full monthly budget of a student is on the student grocery budget page.

Your own figure comes from your receipts. Add up the receipts of the shared shopping over two to three months and divide the total by the number of people and by the number of months: that is the monthly contribution per person. Until you have your own numbers, the CHF 30 to 50 reference value works as a starting point. If you scan receipts in Rappn, you see your spending per month and can export it as CSV; more on that in tracking grocery spending.

Shared basics on offer: what Rappn shows

Rappn reads the promotions of seven chains every day, as the chains publish them. For eight typical WG basics there is one page each with the current promotions and the price per unit:

• Toilet paper on offer, price per roll
• Laundry detergent on offer, price per wash
• Cleaning products and washing-up liquid on offer
• Cooking oil on offer, price per litre
• Pasta on offer, price per kilo
• Coffee on offer, price per kilo
• Milk and cheese on offer
• Eggs on offer, price per egg

Two things to keep in mind. First, Rappn shows promotional prices, not regular shelf prices. Second, with multi-buy promotions such as "from 2 items", the promotional price only applies if you buy the minimum quantity. For the kitty, a multi-buy only makes sense for things you will certainly use up and can store, such as toilet paper, detergent, oil, pasta or coffee. With milk and eggs, the use-by date matters more than the price per item.

If you buy the same product again and again, mark it as a monitored product in Rappn: the app lets you know as soon as it is on offer at one of the chains.

Four ways to split the kitty

1. One kitty for everything. Everyone pays the same amount in each month, and all shopping is paid from the kitty. This suits a flat that often cooks together and eats in a similar way. It breaks down as soon as someone eats clearly more or differently, for example goes vegan or is rarely at home.

2. Fully separate. Everyone buys everything for themselves. There is nothing to settle, but supplies double up: three open bottles of oil, three started packs of toilet paper. It makes sense when you hardly meet in the kitchen.

3. Mixed: a kitty for the basics, the rest separate. The shared list is paid from the kitty, and everyone buys the rest themselves. This model absorbs different diets and schedules and needs only a short list and one monthly amount, for which the Budgetberatung reference value is a sensible starting point.

4. Taking turns. Each week a different person buys the basics and pays for them. This works in small flats with similar consumption. The weak spot: not every week costs the same. Whoever gets the expensive week pays more, unless you still compare the receipts.

Which model you choose matters less than everyone knowing it. When someone moves out, settle the kitty before they leave, not afterwards.

Settling up with TWINT, planning with one shared list

Rappn does not split amounts or transfer money. For settling up, TWINT has a split function built in. According to the instructions on twint.ch (read on 28 September 2026), it works like this:

1. On the home screen, tap "Request and split" (in the ZKB TWINT app the button is called "Split"), or select the payment in the transaction overview.
2. Select or enter the amount and tap "Split amount".
3. Split evenly or set individual amounts, select your flatmates, add a title and tap "Request money".

Each selected person receives a payment request for their share. If you prefer a running tab over several weeks, use a bill-splitting app; what matters is that the whole flat uses the same tool, otherwise expenses get counted twice.

For the shopping itself, one shared list is enough: the shared cart in Rappn shows everyone in real time what is already on it. More on our page about the shared shopping list.

Five rules that prevent arguments

1. Agree before you move in, not after the first argument: the model, the shared list, the monthly amount. It is the same conversation as the cleaning rota.
2. Make "shared" concrete. Olive oil yes, one particular brand of expensive olive oil no. Toilet paper yes, a favourite brand only if everyone agrees.
3. One tool, small amounts. Settle up regularly, for example every week or every two weeks. A small amount is paid back in seconds; a large amount at the end of the month turns into a negotiation.
4. Talk openly about guests. If a partner regularly eats with you, agree together on a flat contribution to the kitty. That conversation is easier than silent resentment.
5. Do not trade one issue against another. "I clean more" does not cancel out "you eat more cheese". Solve each question on its own, or both get bigger.

For equipping the shared kitchen, see our guide to the first-apartment kitchen and its starter costs; for general tips, saving money on groceries in Switzerland.