Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Cohousing units without basements?

[Harry Pasternak (Harry_Pasternak]

Pablo

c> Don't forget that above-ground storage and utility space takes up
c> valuable  acreage. In our community, we clustered the houses
c> together. Above ground  storage and utility would have meant

I wonder if you and others in your neighborhood have ever done an inventory
of what is being stored in the basements. An interesting exercise (I know
time is tight) would be to evaluate the stuff being stored in all the
basements and decide: which stuff to keep for individual use, which stuff to
keep and share, which stuff  will not likely be used or duplicates what is
available in the community that then can be sold or given away. 
It's the kind of notion that comes from the book "Your Money Or Your Life" on
how to tread lightly on this planet.

I had been renting a space to store tools and other things for the workshops
that I run. After a few years of doing so---I did some quick calculations of
what the annual storage costs were--- I came to realize that the value of the
tools was less than the annual storage charges--- that I could give away the
tools or sell them each year and then next season buy new tools and save
money by avoiding the storage fees (also in my case eliminates insurance
costs). 

Harry

Harry Pasternak
Thousand Islands Institute
The Independent Centre For Housing Research & Education
Harry_Pasternak [at] tvo.org,Internet

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