Everybody In The House

  It’s late and I probably should go to bed. But I’ve been thinking about blogging on house-sharing.. so here it is. Hopefully not too long.

Rachel and I got married about 8 years ago. We lived in a unit in Highgate hill for a couple of years before travelling through Asia and work holidaying for a year in Europe. While we were in London for 8 months we soon discovered that sharing was the only way for us to live in a nice clean place in a funky area. So we did. Fortunately we found a clean, friendly Japanese housemate who cooked us yummy food and watched quirky films with us. It was a great experience sharing a 2-bedroom flat with her.

When we returned to Brisbane, we were determined to try sharing a house. I jokingly suggested to a friend about sharing with hi and his wife.. they said Yes! So we suggested to the local Anglican church that they should find a smaller place for one of the ministers and have 2 couples renting their beautiful 4-bedroom Queenslander with 3 lounge rooms in West End at $520 instead. It was an awesome 18 months paying less than each couple would have in a unit by themselves. We shared all the bills except food. We had parties with common friends and new ones. Downside.. there’s only one toilet and shower. But I think we made it work pretty well. Also it was a bit hard when I was recording an album while my housemate John was trying to study. Sorry about that, dude.

During that time we got to know some awesome people in the area who were also considering house-sharing, or as some call it, intentional/communal living. We met with a few people over a couple of months to form ideas around what we wanted to see happen. We came up with a number of words to describe the values that would be important to us as a household. And so we moved into another property owned by the church.. The Beacon, Highgate Hill. This was a massive place with 3 bathrooms & 3 toilets! Ooh yeah. It also had a pool, massive yard with SO MUCH room for a vegie garden, 5 bedroom upstairs and 2 bedroom downstairs.. plus  garage for 2 cars. We started the household with 2 couples (rachel + myself and an English couple who’ve been living in west end) plus 2 single girls. Times passed. We had short and long term visitors stay.. Then when we were face with 2 empty rooms we asked a friend who had 2 little boys if she might like to move in downstairs! Oh and that was also around the time when Mali (our daughter) came along. So yeah we went from 6 adults to 5 adults + 3 children (and a dog) in a couple of weeks. It was crazy. It was amazing. I could tell you so many priceless stories.. another time. We shared all bills & food. We grew vegies and brewed beer. We dumpster-dived. We played putt-putt in the yard with the boys. We hosted film nights, parties, and charity gigs. We even hosted a dinner with the local MP candidates (K Rudd and the Liberal lady didn’t show, but Emma-Kate Rose from the Greens did). A few more housemate-changes occured, and the house is still going strong today.. without us. We really treasure our time at The Beacon. Everybody who lived there taught us so much about how to live together in close proximity, about compromise and hospitality, but also how to be realistic about what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Okay it’s 1am now. I’m sitting in a smaller house we share with Rachel’s sister and her husband in West End since January this year. It only has one bathroom, but it has a beautiful yard. I think our little girl has missed hanging out with the boys back at The Beacon and I was certainly missing the pool over the summer. In 5 weeks there will be a new baby in the house. He is not ours. But he will be sharing this house with us. So we will get to know what it’s like to put up with other people’s baby crying in the night! Rent is around $280 for each of the 2 families.. and we get the convenience of being just up the road for most of our local friends, Rachel’s folks, daycare, awesome vietnamese food, Orleigh Park, the 199 bus (best bus in inner city brisbane!!!!) and Blackstar. And now we share all the bills, including food. Yes, it also means we each only have to cook twice a week maximum. And no we don’t own a car anymore. Other pluses include a brother-in-law who makes awesome coffee on his machine & appreciates a good single-malt scotch, having someone to entertain Mali while I go to the loo (when Rachel isn’t home), not having to buy half the stuff we needed for the house. And I just love the conversations and laughter we have together around the dinner table and in the kitchen.

What next? I don’t know. All I know is that I don’t think I’d like to go back to living in a little $350 unit somewhere with no yard, and paying for our own everything. And cooking all the time. Anyway I’m off to bed now, just hoping I don’t wake the couple across the hall way up.

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