Saving Time and Money and Building Community

Saving Time & Money and Making Food & Friends in a Golden Girls Dream House

I moved to Chicago a week after finishing college to live in a large and well-organized house with 20 other people.

Sharing a home with so many people gave us the opportunity to share resources like bills and chores and food -- and that helped save each of us a bunch of money — as well as hours and hours every single week.

The food system was one of the main reasons a lot of people chose to live there and since I moved out, I have thought about and missed this approach to food nearly every day.

Each person contributed $100 a month to our shared food fund -- so we had a $2100 food budget every single month!

Cooking for 21 People

Each night of the week (except Saturday) we had a huge, healthy dinner on the table for all 21 of us at 7:30 (19:30) as well as brunch on Sundays at 10:30.

Everyone who lived there committed to preparing one meal for the whole house once every cycle -- once every three weeks!

Cooking for 21 is a big endeavor. But it wasn't like a restaurant where you were taking orders from and making 21 different meals. You just make a lot of whatever you chose to make. 

On your cook day, you were supposed to spend 3 hours making the delicious feast of your choosing for your housemates. That may sound like a lot but everyone knew this before moving in and since it was only once every three weeks, it worked out to an average of one hour per week — think how much time you spend making food now — or spend money you spend to have someone else do it for you. This was a deal all around!

The three hour “rule” gave people enough time to prepare a well-rounded meal without rushing and ensured that no one was just phoning it in. And you didn’t even have to go to the store for the ingredients — someone else did the shopping! So you just had to show up and make the meal you picked. 

Thanks to the house’s impressive collection of cauldron-like pots and pans, our restaurant-sized refrigerator, and oven the size of a cottage, it was a breeze to adjust recipes from 1 or 2 or 4 to 21 people.

Positive Peer Pressure

The whole time I lived there, the meals were incredible because no one wanted to be the jerk who didn't put in effort or present a bland dish to the rest of the house.

A positive peer pressure kept people striving to impress again and again. Since we had to make food so infrequently (and we shared a house with our potential critics), it was motivating to go the extra mile -- or marathon -- and make something truly mouth-watering.

Send Your Brain on Vacation

Food takes a significant amount of time, money, and energy to think about and get and make and eat and clean up. 

But when I lived in that amazing house, I was able to put food responsibility out of my mind almost entirely. Life was so relaxing when that crucial part of staying alive was taken care of and I didn’t have to waste time or brain space thinking about planning meals except every three weeks. 

Sharing Food on a Smaller Scale

If we had more food systems like this  -- more of a culture of sharing and community -- this could solve so many problems for so many people (and the planet, if you like that sort of thing/place).

Sharing food, groceries, and / or meals could save so many people so much money, so much time, reduce stress, help eliminate food waste, and help solve the epidemic of loneliness!

You don't have to live with 21 people to make this happen -- you could share meals with your friends, coworkers, neighbors and get many of the same benefits without the giant house!

Golden Girls Lifestyle for the Childless Cat Ladies!

I would love to have this type of communal food back in my life but, like a lot of people, I don't want to live with 20 other people in a single house.

…I mean unless it’s some block-long mansion where we each have our own apartment but are connected with a massive kitchen and other common space. (Anyone wanna fund that? Let’s talk! Tunnels and hallways and mysterious passageways please!)

This should be an option for more people -- but perhaps not in groups of 20! Single family homes are not the answer for every life — why don’t we create beautiful homes together, intentionally?

What about groups of 4 or 5?

Let's Make Golden Girls Houses for Childless Cat Ladies!

Have you lived in any fabulous shared housing arrangements?

What worked best? What elements would you like to experience again?

Would you like to live in the sort of house where people share more things? 

Let’s do the Sharing Economy for real!