Irish people now split grocery bills more than any other expense
If your group chat has become a never-ending thread of "who paid for the Tesco run?" and "I'll get you back for the petrol", you're not alone. Turns out, Irish people are now splitting the cost of basically everything, and groceries have officially become our most commonly shared expense.
New data from tricount by bunq shows that the weekly shop has overtaken nights out and holidays as the thing we're most likely to divvy up. According to their Wrapped 2025 report, groceries account for 26% of all shared expenses in Ireland. That's significantly higher than France (22.1%), the Netherlands (21.4%), Spain (19.4%) and the UK (17.5%).
So while our European neighbours are splitting restaurant bills and holiday accommodation, we're over here meticulously dividing up the cost of milk, bread and whatever random stuff ended up in the trolley at Lidl.
Shared spending is up 55%
The figures suggest a pretty clear shift in how we're managing money. Overall, shared spending in Ireland hit €31.4 million last year, representing a 55% surge from the previous year. There was also a 32.6% rise in new Irish tricount accounts, which basically means more couples, housemates and friends are using digital tools to manage the cost of living together.
And honestly, it makes sense. With rent, utilities and the general cost of existing at an all-time high, people aren't just casually splitting brunch bills anymore. They're splitting everything.
Dining out is still a thing (just less of a thing)
Before you think we've all become boring and stopped going out entirely, dining and drinks still accounts for 20.7% of shared costs, with the average split coming in at €37.87. That figure has dropped slightly from 23.3% in 2024, but it's still a major category.
Transport makes up 12.5% of shared expenses, which probably reflects all those fuel splits where someone drives three hours across the country for a long weekend and everyone else chips in for petrol. Fair's fair.
Housing costs, while making up just under 4% of total transactions, carry the highest average shared payment at €335.58. Not exactly shocking when you consider what rent and utilities look like in Ireland right now.
When are we settling up?
Seasonal trends show that Irish people really do want to start the year with a clean slate. December 30th was the busiest day globally for shared costs in the app, with nearly 98,000 accounts set up as people finalised Christmas spending. Nationally, there were also spikes around the May and August bank holidays, as groups sorted out festival and long weekend costs.
"Year after year, we see the same thing: people want to enjoy the moment with the people they love and not spend time worrying about who owes what," says Joe Wilson, Chief Evangelist at bunq. "Every spend is different, but behind each one there's a story of friends, couples or housemates choosing to do things in a simple and practical way, so money never overshadows the memories they're creating together".
So if you've been feeling slightly awkward about asking your housemate to pay you back for their share of the shopping, don't. Apparently everyone's doing it. And if the data's anything to go by, we're actually leading the charge in Europe when it comes to making shared spending less… weird.
Who knew splitting the Aldi bill could be so progressive?
