Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Moving in

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

Hearing about the Arcadia Cohousing group moving in brings to mind a 
couple of good ideas I have heard about moving in.

Moving in represents a golden community building opportunity. This 
might be especially useful if things have gotten kind of hectic and 
ragged at the end, which they tend to do.  Get started on the right 
foot.  Several suggestions:

1. Help each other move.  Form move teams, stagger the moves so 
everyone helps each other pack and move.
2. Share rental moving vehicles and set up a schedule.
3. Help each other sell homes.  Paint parties, yard clean ups, etc. to 
fix up the old place for sale.
4. Hold a giant, cohousing garage sale to get rid of all the stuff you 
don't want.  Use the proceeds to buy homey things for the commonhouse 
such as lamps, end tables, area rugs, etc.
5.  Do a move in ceremony of some sort. Bless each home somehow.
6. Set a standard for community dinner behavior the first time out.  
Think ahead to find ways to encourage kids to eat and maintain decorum 
around the tables, adults to keep the conversations low, etc.
7. Make a pool of all the magazine subscriptions people are willing to 
share  and cancel duplicates.  This also works for newspapers.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood.