The holiday season arrived and the traveling began. Adult children hosted their parents, or traveled with the grandchildren to the homes of their parents. We journey great distances to see mom and dad, bothers and sister, or kids and grandchildren. Despite the joy the holiday season brings, travel is not fun. It’s uncomfortable, expensive, and […]
Read More...When Failing Health Forces You to Make Lifestyle Changes
This is about Tasha, my best friend, and her failing health. Tasha was recently diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. This diagnosis has forced her to make major lifestyle changes, and re-evaluate her living situation. Tasha’s Diagnosis ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Prior to […]
Read More...Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Should I stay or should I go? This lyric by The Clash (remember them?) has been sticking with me. For The Clash the question was about a relationship. But it could also be about a house. This week I visited a friend whom I knew when we were much younger. We were in school together, […]
Read More...Safety — The Primal Need
“Safe!” yells the umpire as the runner slides home. Safety. It’s a primal, basic need. We need shelter where we can be free from harm. We need security and stability. These needs are so deeply a part of us that Abraham Maslow, the psychologist, when he constructed his hierarchy of needs, put safety after food […]
Read More...That Man In His Underwear
Back in the day, when I was in my twenties, I had a flatmate whose beau would walk around the apartment in his underwear. I let it slide a few times, but when it came to using my crystal champagne flutes to drink milk I finally had to say something about his cavalier attitude of […]
Read More...Tools for Your Home-Mate Selection Process
She knew she hated dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. It didn’t seem so important when she interviewed to live with others in a large house. She fell in love with the room, the house and the location. She noticed the dirty dishes but internally she shrugged and thought, “I can live with it.” So […]
Read More...Taking the Compatibility Assessment for Sharing Housing
Among the many tools Sharing Housing has to offer in the quest to find the best home-mate is the Compatibility Assessment which, in my opinion, ranks as the number one tool that will help you see more clearly potential issues with a future home-mate. The Compatibility Assessment consists of 16 questions with multiple choice answers […]
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