BM households and communal living

[juliansnail]

I love living with other people. In my current household the whole point was to set up a place where it feels communal and supportive and creative and like a family. A bit like a great burning man camp.

Are there other folks out there who have made a point of setting up communal households? Ever live with a bunch of folks where everybody heads off to Burning Man each year? Have you found ways to make it so your household ends up with some of the magic we feel on the playa? What kind of people do you love to live with?

Oh ya. Here's the self serving part. Our household I'm in is looking for women house mates right now in San Francisco. Here is the ad...
http://www.meerkatmanor.org/wanted.html
And here is the website for the household...
http://MeerkatManor.org

The folks who live here now are all from supersnail camp. We made a burning man book that you can see if you go to the burning man office. The book is partly a result of this...
www.supersnail.com/concept
But I'm getting off track, aren't I. Still, without tons of big juicy yummy collaborations and support from house mates and camp mates this book would still just be a gleam in the eye. Soon the search will start for a publisher (after we have new house mates).

Do you have any thoughts on communal housing or what your attainable dream living situation is/would be? Have you lived in (or do you live in) a house that does the communal thing right? What helps make such households work out well?

Thanks!
-julian snail

[Badger]

What helps make such households work out well?

1) NEVER have an empty liquor cabinet.

2) ALWAYS have toilet paper somewhere.

3) No show tune music allowed in the house.

4) Don't touch my toothpaste.

For starters...

[technopatra]

What helps make such households work out well?

1) NEVER have an empty liquor cabinet.

2) ALWAYS have toilet paper somewhere.

3) No show tune music allowed in the house.

4) Don't touch my toothpaste.

For starters...

5) Never eat the last banana/hot dog/ice cream sandwich/whatever unless you know for a _fact_ that you bought it.

6) Never make your housemates have to ask you twice to keep it down on a weeknight.

7) Talk to each other about the little things - that way they don't become big things.

[Guest]

label stuff if you don't want others to touch it.

communicate.