Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: getting people to wash dishes and do post-meals clean up

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Oct 5, 2015, at 1:13 PM, Cynthia Dettman wrote:

> What solutions might you recommend?  How do you make dish washing 
> interesting, sexy and desirable?  perhaps required?

I wonder if the decline is part of the general decline in cooking at home and 
not being as enamored of the mess of a big meal. Is it a general social issue, 
not a cohousing issue?

I do as little cooking as possible and have become a master at one-pot meals 
and just grazing from the fridge. The idea of voluntarily cooking and doing 
dishes for 30 people is something I sometimes think about but aside from the 
turkey at Thanksgiving I don’t do it.

But we did a counting up of all the kinds of meals we have had at one time or 
another and it really is a lot. It just isn’t a regular schedule. Some have 
been once a month like the Full Moon and Dinner at Eight potlucks. Other annual 
meals like the Pesto Festo and other garden round ups. Brunches and cookouts on 
holidays. And birthdays once a month, plus some individual parties.

It does add up. I would say it takes a leader. Not a cheer leader but someone 
who organizes things and is there to help as well. The Full Moon Dinner person 
cooked a heart pot of soup and others brought bread, salad, etc. 

Remember the mothers and grandmothers who kept the kitchen running three meals 
a day? I think we need them back. We want the meals but don’t have those women 
holding homes together anymore.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org