Wyatt Baldwin

We* had our first house meeting this evening. It was quite possibly one of the best house meetings I’ve ever been a part of. Without discussing it formally (until near the end), we used consensus to make our decisions. Everyone listened and everyone got a chance to speak, and we stayed fairly well on track.

It’s all the more interesting considering our lifestyle differences, but none of that mattered as far as our ability to communicate respectfully and make decisions that everyone was comfortable with. One of our decisions was to try to have “family game night” once a week or so.

Afterwards, we got into some furniture arranging. That was fun too. There’s a lot left to do, but I’m looking forward to it. This weekend will include mowing the lawn (with the push mower), moving the Internet connection to a more public location, and installing the cat door (which is now in my window). Domestic chores! Yay!

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*I was living by myself (with a cat) in a four bedroom house for two months. It was nice in a lot of ways but was too much space for one person (and a cat), and it was draining me financially. Now I have three house mates. Things won’t always be perfect, but living alone isn’t always ideal either. It’s all about balance, clear and direct communication, creating and maintaining personal space, and mutual respect.