Are you cohousing curious? Letter Number Three from a Cohousing Newbie

What is it like to join a cohousing community? In the Spring of 2022, I jumped into that uncertainty in Sonoma County, California. Periodically I’ll try to share the experience and answer questions via a series of “Letters from FrogSong.”

Maybe you’ve said to your friends or yourself: it’s a cool idea, but…how does it actually work? I know that before I arrived, my enthusiasm was great – but my understanding of day-to day life in community was vague.

Today I see that because the community is a collection of individual households in discreet homes, lots of home life is familiar – but maybe with a twist.

For example, I turn out the lights and go to bed when I want to! But there’s an informal agreement to leave our porch lights on at night. It’s easy to do and improves community safety, so I do my best to remember.

Below are some other examples of daily cohousing life.

Laundry

Starving students and city dwellers: what’s the worst part of going to the corner laundromat? Is it the bill changing machine that’s always broken? The enormous dust bunnies tumbling across the floor? The fear of having your favorite tee shirt stolen when you step out for a cup of coffee?

Froggies share a laundry with none of those problems. The energy-efficient washers have names (and personalities – Mrs. Whoozit is s-l-o-w). Because the community built a drought-fighting gray water system, biodegradable laundry soap is required, and there appears to be a consensus or an unspoken rule that only unscented products be used, which is a huge relief for asthmatic me.

What’s more: dry-erase 5 x 8 cards are available to indicate to others how to handle your wet things in the event that you haven’t returned before they need to use the washer. With trust in your fellow Froggies, you may place the card atop your machine and select options:

• Transfer to dryer? Y / N
• Please Dry My Clothes:  
• heat options
• duration options

Some of us have washers and dryers in our homes, but use of the shared facility is financially incentivized. Plus, “solar dryers,” aka clotheslines, beckon us under the northern California skies immediately outside the laundry room door.

How virtuous I feel, hanging up my wet things (still no undies, but maybe next time!)

Recycling

Although many Froggies are exquisitely – even professionally – attuned to best practices in green living, we “take out the trash” just like everybody else. Under contract with the local vendor Recology, the community has a commercial - sized recycling bin at the edge of the property.

Apparently Recology sets its rules based on their regional ability to process compost, paper, plastic and glass. Adhering to those rules keeps recycling efficient and prevents “wishcycling.”

I learned this the embarrassing way, when I put something in the wrong bin! A Froggie observer noticed and circulated the picture, above, with a list of local recycling rules. It turns out the local rules are different from those in my former home.

Although said Froggie was initially a little scolding in tone, when I confessed to my crime – and confusion – they later apologized, and the whole community had a teachable moment.

Upcycling and sharing: further reducing the landfill

Household items, new and used, are often shared informally. For example, a few weeks ago an apparently distracted warehouse worker packed an extraneous plastic kitchen gadget into the box with my ordered item. “Keep it!” the company said when I called to report the error. I didn’t want or need the extra item, but another grateful Froggie did, and within an hour it was off my hands.

Art supplies, camping gear, bicycle parts and computer peripherals are just some of the things I’ve observed fit the aphorism: “One Froggie’s trash is another Froggie’s treasure!”

I got rid of a disliked jar of pickles yesterday. Who knows what lies ahead?