“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 […]
Read More...Shared Housing For Seniors—Solutions for Income and Companionship
Arnie calls her home “my accordion house” and laughs. It’s a huge Victorian building in the center of Concord, New Hampshire. Arnie inherited it from an aunt who lived on the second floor until her death. When her husband died at an early age, she was suddenly a widow of very limited means. Committed to […]
Read More...Is Stuff Your Barrier?
“I figured it was much easier to clean out two rooms of my stuff than it would be to clean out the entire house. That’s what I’d have to do if I downsized. It was good work. I had kept every single love letter written to me since I was a teenager. I sat down […]
Read More...Why Letting Go of Stuff is the First Step
Stuff. Under my stairs collecting dust I have four boxes of books and CDs. I have no idea what’s in the boxes. They’ve been there three years, ever since I packed them up in order to dismantle the bookcase they were on. My plan is to build a new bookcase for them. But if I […]
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