Would You Split a Big Buy with a Friend?

Just like you share custody of a kid or a book, you can share tech with your besties. In fact, having a parter going into making a big, fun purchase—like a Video Game Console—makes it immediately more fun to play because you've only shelled out for one half of the price...

My boyfriend and I recently decided to cave in and split a Nintendo Wii, with all the Rock-Band-, Mario-Kart-, and 2-player-trimmings.

Now, we don't live together, but since we spend most of our free time together at his place, the Wii custody agreement has been a breeze. We both get to enjoy all the Wii Tennis we can handle and still hang on to a couple extra hundred that we wouldn't have if we each bought one (a situation that was likely to happen since we were both feeling the itch to get it).

Have any of you split a tech purchase with someone you didn't live with? Was 'sharing custody' difficult for you? How about splitting the bill?

If you're considering going in on something like this, make sure you decide where the gadget's home base will be and also set up an online tool to help you manage the bill and make sure everything is split down the middle. We love Billshare or good old Google Docs!

Image from: Taryn

Comments (3)

I had friends that did this with a Dreamcast back in the 90's. The custody arrangement worked out perfectly until the two of them went away to college....in different provinces. The dreamcast went with one guy, half the games ended up getting forgotten with the other guy, and the whole arrangement just kind of fell apart. Good thing the system was obsolete by then, or there may have been some fights. ;)

posted by Speakaboo on August 25th 2009 at 10:30am
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my boyfriend and I were gonna split on a wii too but that year my mom got me one for my birthday and that dream kinda faded.

I don't think I could split it with just any friend... I'd have to know they wouldn't damage the thing or scratch all the game discs.

posted by witchbaby on August 25th 2009 at 8:21pm
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What happens if you break up? Do you pre-arrange that or do you cross that bridge if/when you come to that point? Just curious how people would arrange that. I know so many friends of mine have been in lalaland thinking that they will never break up with their boy/girlfriend and aren't even capable of thinking of the possibility (and generally, the odds are fairly high that they could break up at some point--especially if they haven't been together that long).

posted by sauceykat on August 27th 2009 at 7:48pm
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