Splitting the maid’s and cook’s salary between flatmates
Domestic help is one of the biggest shared costs in an Indian flat, and the one where usage differs the most. Some eat every meal at home; some are never in. Here’s how to keep it fair, and keep paying your help on time.
Pay on time, whatever you decide
Before the splitting: your help shouldn’t wait because flatmates haven’t settled among themselves. Make one person responsible for paying them on a fixed date (the 1st, or whatever you agreed with them), and settle with each other afterwards. Recording it in ttmm the moment it’s paid makes that easy.
Cleaning help: split equally
Sweeping, mopping, dishes and bathrooms benefit everyone in the flat roughly equally, even if one person is messier. Split the cleaning salary equally. If one person has a much bigger room that gets cleaned too, use the same ratio as rent instead.
The cook: split by who eats
Cooking is different: if you never eat dinner at home, paying a third of the cook feels unfair. Two methods work well:
Method 1: Meals plan
Agree on who is “in” for which meals. If the cook makes lunch and dinner, and A and B eat both while C only eats dinner, split by meals per day:
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meals a day | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Share of ₹6,000 cook | ₹2,400 | ₹2,400 | ₹1,200 |
In ttmm, that’s the Shares split: 2 : 2 : 1.
Method 2: Base + per meal
Split half the salary equally (the cook comes either way, the kitchen is shared) and the other half by meals eaten. It’s fairer when someone eats at home only occasionally but still benefits from a stocked kitchen.
When someone is away
Going home for two weeks? Common flat rules:
- Less than a week: no change. It evens out over the year.
- A week or more: the person away pays only the cleaning share and their cook share is split among those at home, or the cook gets fewer days if they’re paid per day.
- Always tell the flat in advance, not after.
Leave days, advances and the festival bonus
- Paid leave: most helpers get a few days off a month without a pay cut. Don’t split hairs over them.
- Advances: if your help asks for an advance, agree as a flat before giving it, record it, and deduct it from future salaries the same way the salary is split.
- Diwali (or festival) bonus: commonly about one month’s salary. Split it like the salary. If someone has only been in the flat for a few months, prorate their share by months.
Groceries for the cook
Ingredients the cook uses are part of the kitchen cost. Split them the same way as the cook (by meals), or keep a shared kitty. See splitting groceries.
Set it up once
Add each salary as a recurring bill with its split (equal for cleaning, shares for the cook). ttmm adds them every month; just edit the shares when someone’s away.
Questions
How do flatmates split a cook’s salary fairly?
By meals: if two people eat lunch and dinner and one eats only dinner, split 2 : 2 : 1.
Should the maid’s salary be split equally?
Usually yes. Cleaning benefits everyone about the same.
How is the Diwali bonus split?
Like the salary, prorated for anyone who joined the flat part-way through the year.
