GET IT ALL

Is home a haven of retreat from the world? Or is it a place for friends to gather? Is your shared dwelling simply a place to sleep and store clothes? You don't have to be in agreement with your Home-mate(s) on this. One person may simply need a place to sleep and keep clothes, while another may host large dinner parties. This can work very well, provided all are in agreement about how the space is being used. But if one person needs quiet by 9:30 p.m. and the dinner parties usually end at 11:00 pm, with noisy comings and goings, there will be conflict. Think about what you want and need around sociability.

Sources: Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates

Contributors:  Annamarie Pluhar

Recommended Books: Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates

In joining a group, one accepts a personal responsibility to behave with respect, goodwill, and honesty. Each one is expected to recognize that the group's needs have a certain priority over the desires of the individual. Many people participate in group work in a very egocentric way. It is important to accept the shared responsibility for helping to find solutions to other's concerns.

The fishbowl is a special form of small group discussion. Several members representing differing points of view meet in an inner circle to discuss the issue while everyone else forms an outer circle and listens. At the end of a predetermined time, the whole group reconvenes and evaluates the fishbowl discussion. An interesting variation: first, put all the men in the fishbowl, then all the women, and they discuss the same topics.

In the average American household, the television is on for more than four hours a day. Many households have a television in every room in the house. Some don't have a television at all. What are your habits concerning television? What are your preferences for what you watch and when? What can you live with in terms of having television on in the kitchen, living room, and other common areas? What "must you have" concerning television and what would you "like to have" in your living space?

Sources: Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates

Contributors:  Annamarie Pluhar

Recommended Books: Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates