Your housemate works in air conditioning and drives in an air-conditioned car. When he comes home he finds the house unbearably hot. You work outside in the hot sun and love to have the windows open. So what if the house is 80 degrees – it’s summer!
Ooops! You have a disagreement. What do you do? [...]
Posts Tagged ‘housemates’
Turning Down the Heat on Housemate Conflicts
Sex and Your Housemate
One word. Don’t. Don’t even think of it. Do yourself a favor.
For housemates to live together comfortably, it is good to impose a complete and utter taboo on sex with each other. Otherwise things go wonky. The emotions that get stirred up are deep and painful. One person’s fling is another person’s crush and what [...]
Nana Upstairs, Grandpa down the Hall
The title comes from Sharon Aystk’s excellent posting on her experience of having her in-laws live with her and her thoughtful discussion of the benefits of multi-generational households. Go and read it. Also read the comments.
What’s amazing to me is the strong negativity of some of the comments. It shows me how difficult it is [...]
YouTube-Video on Sharing Housing
Sponsored by Griffith University Welfare and Student Liason Office (in Australia), a series of videos teaches about how to share housing. The series is specifically designed for university students in Australia. The first two in the series describe the pitfalls and illegal scams that trip up inexperienced young people. It does this through the stories [...]
Assumptions of “normal”
What do you consider normal behavior in your home? Is leaving the television on in every room simply the way you are used to living? Or is the opposite the case, where there are no media on in common rooms? Is dinner time at 5:30 or at 8? Does it matter? In the morning, is [...]
Sharing Housing – When Its Time to Move
Moving is an effort. From locating a new place to live to informing the bank of the change of address, there are tons of details that cost time and energy. And also money. No wonder people don’t like to do it. No wonder housemates suffer a bad situation way too long!
It’s time to move when [...]
Housemate Wanted – Worksheets
Years ago, I spent an expensive hour with a consultant who helped me list out all my requirements for a house. As I left I was irritated. I thought I knew everything on the list! Why had I spent so much money? Then I went house shopping. The list was extraordinarily helpful. No waffling for [...]
Housemates: “Birds of a Feather Flock Together”?
A friend forwarded to me a link for an article in the Contra Coastal Times, reprinted in the Keene Sentinel, on Roommates: Finding the Right One Can Be Tricky. It starts with an absolutely awful story and is largely full of good advice, similar to advice found here on this blog. The main point of [...]
Nightmare Housemates
A note of warning. Though this blog is dedicated to the idea that there is a good housemate for every person and that sharing housing is a great idea, there are people who are not good housemates. Those housemates I call “nightmare” housemates, because their behavior can make home far from the haven it should [...]
Housing – Beyond the Boomerang Effect
Where do young adults live? Last week, the Pew Research issued a report , “The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household,” drawing on an earlier study of December 2009. One in eight Americans between the ages of 22-29 reported moving in with their parents as a result of the recession. Pew calls this the “Boomerang [...]