Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Costs for Shared Services

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

Ha!  Katie, I feel exactly the same about my time.

I am the bookkeeper here at Mosaic Commons.  Whenever discussion comes up
that involves whether we should charge money for this, that or the other, I
groan, because more charges = more work for me...and often the amount of
money is so trivial that it would be frustrating to have to spend my time
on it.

I have sometimes thought of saying, but have never said: hey you guys, if I
charged you all by the hour like a professional bookkeeper or accountant
would, it would cost you four times as much to track (say) laundry usage as
the charges would actually total.  So...really?!

Happily, I haven't had to say that, because usually these discussions go in
the direction Eris talks about: we mostly just let the money stuff go,
figuring we all have stuff we take advantage of, and stuff we don't, and
we'd rather live in a welcoming and generous community than try to
nickel-and-dime people.

We are currently engaged in a very long lasting conversation about how and
when members' use of common resources infringes on other members' use, and
what, if anything, should be done about it.  This large conversation was
actually started by a somewhat smaller conversation about our policies
about who PAYS for usage, when and how much.  It quickly became apparent
(to me, and others too I believe) that money was really standing in for a
way to make people not overuse/unfairly dominate an area or resource.    As
in "I worry that if anyone can use the CH anytime they want for anything
they want, we will suddenly find there's a yoga class this night and a ping
pong tournament the next night, and a boy scout meeting after that, and
I'll never get to use the CH for MY thing!"  (This concern for overusage is
mostly hypothetical, but there are occasional clashes.)  I was VERY happy
when we recognized that money was serving more of a symbolic function than
actually affecting our budget, so we stop focusing on that and turned our
attention to the *real* issue.

In the context of our nearly $200,000 per year budget, the idea of adding a
hot tub charge or laundry charge to bring in $100 a year just makes me, the
bookkeeper, want to go postal on someone's ass!

Diana








On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 1:49 PM, Kathryn McCamant <
kmccamant [at] cohousingpartners.com> wrote:

>
> Eris's post reminded me of a experience I had years ago living at Doyle
> Street Cohousing (In Emeryville, CA)
> (where their is only common laundry--no one has laundry in their own
> house).
>
> We had one community wide water meter, but had put in submeters at
> construction so we could figure out who used how much if we wanted to.
> Some 3-4 years after move in, I wondered if anyone had every tracked the
> submeters and suggested we might want to do that...to which my neighbor
> said...if its important to you, feel free... But when I thought about my
> time and how important that was to do....well I do believe that in 21
> years of people living at Doyle Street Cohousing...nobody has ever tracked
> those submeters....
>
> Katie
>
> --
> Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect
> CoHousing Partners, LLC
> 241 Commercial Street
> Nevada City, CA 95959
> T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
> www.cohousingpartners.com
>
>
>
>
>
> On 4/2/14 10:37 AM, "Eris Weaver" <eris [at] erisweaver.info> wrote:
>
> >
> >Our experience at FrogSong is more like what Katie describes. (Although
> >practically no one in our community has their own washer/dryer...maybe one
> >or two households out of thirty.)
> >We don't charge for laundry (including shared soap), guest room, Internet,
> >gas, water, etc.  Everyone uses different amounts of things, and tracking
> >exacts its own costs. We have, I believe, a culture of generosity. (Of
> >course, we are fairly well-off financially, too.) Yes, every now and then
> >I
> >get annoyed at a neighbor who wastes gas by leaving her front door open,
> >or
> >does small loads of laundry, or uses the guest rooms a lot...but I'm sure
> >I
> >annoy people too. I get everything I need, and our dues are reasonable, so
> >why quibble about details? I think when someone gets upset about others
> >using more of something - nonparents about money spent on kids stuff,
> >folks
> >who don't use the hot tub, whatever - it's important to look at how
> >much/whether THAT person's needs/wants are being met. If I get what I
> >need,
> >I'm less likely to be annoyed about YOU getting something.
> >
> >------------------------------
> >Eris Weaver, Graphic Facilitator & Group Process Consultant
> >eris [at] erisweaver.info ? 707-338-8589 ? http://www.erisweaver.info
> >
> >"On days when you have no ideas at all, the best thing you can do is start
> >doodling." Charles M. Schulz
> >
> >
> >
> >fa cil i t?t: to make easier
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
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> >
> >
>
>
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