Communal Living

[Murmer]

I think a mix of apartment style with some individual homes would enable the best of what people would like. I also think that individual kitchens that are small and basic with a large communal kitchen would appeal to me. It think the advantage would be the private space can be smaller basically bedrooms bath kitchen maybe small family room so that people would want to use the communal space for interaction and their homes for privacy.

[Susan in KY]

I have seen a place operating as individual homes with a community kitchen, and it worked like a charm. Here is a link, but the website is not that great.

http://gatehousezim.org/

[Parrothead]

I would have to have my own house. I don't do apartment living well because I don't like noisy neighbors. The person next door vacuuming would make me nuts, and I'd likely only vacuum when I knew the building is empty so as to not annoy the neighbors.

 

I wouldn't mind a quiet community with a public building for things like block parties, holiday get togethers and the like.

 

I'm social but I prefer it on my terms. I don't want someone telling me that I have to be out in the garden from X to Y or that I only have access to the 'fridge at Z time.

[kewb]

I want a separate home (A townhome would be ok) with my own kitchen and the communal kitchen. As an introvert I want to be able to have my own space with the availibility of communal dining.

[ravinlunachick]

elfgivas, it's purely hypothetical for me. I'd love to live in a cohousing situation, but realistically, it won't be possible for us until the kids move out. I just like to look at these communities and dream. :)

 

pqr, can you elaborate on the Soviet comment? I am embarrassed at how little I know about the Soviet culture. What can I say? I was a little kid during the 80s, and am a victim of propaganda. I can't even hear a Russian accent without thinking it's a little bit sinister. ;)

[duckabell]

When my husband was in school we lived in campus family housing which had a very communal feel. It was all apartments with their own kitchen, but there was a shared playground/grassy area in the middle of all the buildings that was fenced in. So you would see a ton of people in the summer outside and make some close friends. It was also easy to trade off babysitting or run next door to borrow an egg.

 

I think we lucked out in that we never had noisy neighbors and only had people under us for a few months and so noise was never an issue to us, but it was to some people. The apartments were also in fairly bad shape and needed lots of maintenance.

 

There was a community building with a large kitchen, meeting rooms, lounge with TV, and a playroom for kids. So a lot of people hosted parties or activities there which was fun. There was also community gardens where you could sign up for a small plot.

 

Overall it was a fun experience for a year, but I am really glad that everyone had their own kitchen and apartment. Even with everyone having their own apartment, sometimes the smell of someone else's dinner might bother you, especially if you weren't used to international cooking.

 

So I think that my vote would be individual houses (condos would work) with a shared outdoor space and a community building.

[Ananda]

I loved the arrangement we had in college, although I would do without the roommate. I would like:

communal bathrooms (with private shower stalls)

communal meals in a dinning hall type setting, buffet style

commons areas for kids to play, people to study quietly, groups to socialize & chit chat

music rooms to practice instruments

community buildings like the student union, the rec and the library

hired people to cook, clean, maintain building & grounds etc.

 

I would want a private room for my little family where we could leave the door open when we wanted to socialize with our neighbors, or close our door when we wanted to sleep or have privacy.

 

Basically, I want a kid/family friendly version of college.

[nono]

Completely separate homes (and kitchens) with a community building that has a sign up for communal meals.

And a small school house for co-oping.

And an organic farm.

And booze must be allowed. ;)

 

+ a hot tub. :)

[beaners]

communal bathrooms (with private shower stalls)

 

Huh. A communal bathroom sounds like a terrible, terrible punishment for me. It sounds even worse after the kind of meals you are likely to be served by people who are interested in communal living. Let's eat our unusual grains and legumes as a group, then we can sit in the bathroom together later and compare sounds and smells. :lol: I'll pass.

 

(I mean this lovingly of course. My crunchiest friends just serve a lot of meals that encourage flatulence...and they also like the idea of communal living.)

[DawnM]

It gives me hives just to think of living in the same house sharing the kitchen and bathrooms with other families. Maybe this is because I grew up from the age of 8 in boarding school! :lol: We shared far too much! Of course, we are VERY close even now even though we are in a different country than we were there.

 

But that was kids all together, not families. Our mission station was a small group of missionaries though. Separate housing, but we sure did a lot together when I was home from school.

 

I admit I kind of like my anonymity if I want it.

[jenncslp]

My brother, his wife and children live in a Christian community like these. They have several families living in each house. Most of them work in businesses owned by the community as well. They eat their meals together, work together, live together, worship together-everything.

 

I'm far to independent (they will frequently tell each other what they think others are doing wrong in parenting, etc) for it myself...but they love it.

[ocelotmom]

Huh. A communal bathroom sounds like a terrible, terrible punishment for me. It sounds even worse after the kind of meals you are likely to be served by people who are interested in communal living. Let's eat our unusual grains and legumes as a group, then we can sit in the bathroom together later and compare sounds and smells. :lol: I'll pass.

 

(I mean this lovingly of course. My crunchiest friends just serve a lot of meals that encourage flatulence...and they also like the idea of communal living.)

Yeah. I would love a cohousing sort of situation, but sharing bathrooms is really not my preference. I suppose shared private bathrooms would be ok, but stalls would not be something I'd want to live with long-term.

 

My brother lived in a college dorm with co-ed bathrooms. That was... odd.

[AngelBee]

I went with "obligatory other" because I need an individual house/kitchen for breakfast/late night snacks/etc., but a community kitchen for lunch/dinner. And I need a house vs. apartment b/c I have a dd with special needs and sometimes it gets loud. ;)

 

I wouldn't mind sharing living (tv/rec/library) spaces, laundry, etc. as well.

 

LOVE the idea of communal living.

 

This is my thought. :)

[Shamzanne]

I live in a (Christian) community. It is made up of around 20 households (some singles) and we all live in seven houses. The smallest homes are single family houses and the larger homes house between 8 and 12 people. Folks have their own bedrooms but we share the remainder of the houses.

 

Hospitality is important to us, and each house has a designated guest room.

 

Our houses are in two locations around three blocks from one another. One location has five houses and shares a huge backyard (1/4 city block). The other location has two houses, in one of which we meet for worship and meetings.

 

It is NOT in any way a pious community and we have few rules. People live together to create community and to be able to live out the Gospel with one another. Each household decides how it will be run. Some eat together six nights a week, some eat together 3 nights per week. Our entire church shares dinner on Sunday. We do not have a common purse.

 

It is not always easy for me, I especially hate putting on a bra in the morning to go to the kitchen. ;)

 

But I truly love it and sought out a church such as mine before I found it.

[Shellers]

Yuck.

 

Just plain yuck.

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

Here is a "clothing optional" communal living center near me. :blushing:

[attaboygirl]

Do you really? That's awesome. I have always thought that cohousing would be, indeed, kid paradise.

 

It *is* awesome, totally. We have a critical mass of the 10 and unders, ~12 of them, so playtime is almost always good. But even better than than, both of my kids have great opportunities to make relationships with other adults. My daughter is always talking to our neighbors about her interests and theirs, and my son is often getting scooped up for a quick game or a storytime on the common house couch or a trip to feed weeds to the chickens.

 

And no communal bathrooms. Yikes.

[My3Boys]

Separate houses, separate kitchens. I cannot in a million years imagine sharing a kitchen with another woman on a daily basis. I also can't imagine sharing a bathroom with another family. I have a hard enough time sharing one with dh!

 

I also want at least an acre between me and my neighbors.

 

I prefer to make my own choices and own my own property and enjoy the freedom that comes with it.

[The Girls' Mom]

My dh and I have actually tossed around an idea somewhat like that for years. We would like to open a self-sufficient farm with a couple of homes/apartments, and help homeless families/individuals get back on their feet. It would be an earn your room and board by working on the farm type thing. We would also try to teach them skills and give them resources to become self-supporting. That looks to be many years down the road though.