Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Giving or Taking-childcare

[Judy Baxter (BAXTER]

Liz wrote:

<I'm curious. How many other built coousing groups are out there that pay for
childcare as a whole? It seems to me that this is a growing pain thing,
since it's really not a big expense-a few bucks/month. It's a small price to
pay for peace at meetings and attracting new members. It seems hypocritical
to pay before, but not after, move-in. >

we (Monterey Cohousing, Minneapolis MN) have always budgeted for child care -
less and  less as the kids grew older, but it is still in our budget and
available to be used - of course, lots fewer meetings too.  I feel it is part
of our commitment to having parents able to participate in meetings, etc.
And I agree with Liz about before, not after.

I wonder if some of the feeling of not wanting to be 'forced ' to pay for
childcare comes from  cost overruns (not uncommon) and concern about having
committed to pay more than seems appropriate?

I know for me that if I start down the path of 'why should I pay for...' I
could make myself miserable.  Lots of things are part of the package called
cohousing, and adapting is worth it to me.

I agree, it gets easier.

re: Giving and Taking / Donations

We just adopted a severely-cut (maintenance, not improvements) landscaping
budget as part of dealing with huge increases in insurance and utilities. Since
we have a wide wide range of incomes, we try to keep our mandatory fees from
increasing rapidly.  As part of the discussion, we agreed to implement a system
of voluntary additional contributions to the landscaping, probably monthly.  I
have no idea how it will go. I have concerns as expressed by other postings.

Judy

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Judy Baxter, Monterey Cohousing Community,(MoCoCo) Twin Cities Area, Mpls.,MN
A studio-size coop apt is for sale, a 3 BR townhous is
currently  rented, maybe for sale.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-- e-mail:      baxter [at] epi.umn.edu
15 homes - 7 new townhomes plus 
        8 coop apartments       in the Mansion (a rehab Georgian building)
(built as a retirement home in 1924 -) which also serves as our Common House
coops moved in 1993, townhomes in 1996
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Voice Mail for Monterey Cohousing - 952-930-7554
 web page: http://www.jimn.org/mococo/ 

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