Karen M. Bush - My House Our House: Living Far Better for Far Less in a Cooperative Household

The story of how Karen, Louise and Jean created a successful shared home should encourage everyone who has playfully or seriously said, When we retire, lets live together. Read it, and you may find yourself saying, Why not now?

Annamarie Pluhar, author of
Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates

This wonderful book is a MUST for mature adults interested in responsibly facing the third phase of their lives.

Oz Ragland, retired Executive Director of the Cohousing Association,
and Instigator of the Cohouseholding Project

I am so pleased to see a book that gives practical, real-life examples, information, and encouragement for women who wish to live together in a cooperative household. Thank you, Karen, Louise and Jean, for writing this fine book!

Joan Medlicott, author of The Ladies of Covington novels

Important practical advice for anyone considering a shared living arrangement. Readers are invited to explore the balance between private and public space, personal and social time, independence and interdependence, individual financial well being and shared costs.

Maria Piantanida, Ph.D., member,
Borland Green intentional community, Pittsburgh, PA

Bright, witty, deeply sane this is a wonderful book. I defy anyone who starts reading it to put it down. Even the legal stuff is eminently readable, and that is no small praise. I would be proud to call these marvelous ladies my friends.

Liz Gilbey, journalist, United Kingdom

Men, listen up: Keep this book away from your wives. If they find out how much fun it can be to share a home with their friends, were history. These three women bought a nicer house than any of them could afford separately and they annoy each other by being too helpful. I fear its over for us, boys.

Brian ONeill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist, author of
The Paris of Appalachia: Pittsburgh in the Twenty-First Century

My House Our House combines the best of all worlds in one easy-to-read book for those wanting an alternative housing choice.

Marianne Kilkenny, Founder and Grand Nudge,
Women for Living in Community

A must-read for anyone considering cooperative housing. It could well become the Strunk and White of the shared living movement. The book transcends being a mere how to.

John Armstrong, business writer and
retired Manager of Public Affairs, U.S. Steel Corp.

My House Our House thinks outside the box on living options. An engaging, enlightening and inspiring read. I highly recommend this book.

Nancy Chubb, Ph.D., M.B.A., psychologist and life coach

I love this book! It is loaded with practical ideas and insights about how to make cooperative living work.

Maureen Murray, national speaker, trainer and coach

Together, these three feisty, courageous women have created a unique living arrangement that capitalizes on strengths, compensates for weaknesses, furnishes a greatly enhanced quality of life and serves as a true inspiration for us all!

Rita Levine, reporter/writer, mt. lebanon magazine

MY HOUSE
OUR HOUSE

Living Far Better for Far Less
in a Cooperative Household

My House Our House
Living Far Better for Far Less in a Cooperative Household

Copyright 2013 MHOH, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9855622-4-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013936267
CIP information available upon request

First Edition, 2013

St. Lynns Press POB 18680 Pittsburgh, PA 15236
412.466.0790 www.stlynnspress.com

Book designHolly Rosborough
EditorCatherine Dees
Editorial InternMarguerite Nocchi

Photo credits:
Front and back covers, pages Holly Rosborough
All other photos by MHOH friends and family

Printed in The United States of America
On certified FSC recycled paper using soy-based inks

This title and all of St. Lynns Press books may be purchased for
educational, business, or sales promotional use.
For information please write:
Special Markets Department . St. Lynns Press .
POB 18680 . Pittsburgh, PA 15236

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If I am who I am because I am who I am and you are who you are because you are who you are then I am who I am and you are who you are, but if I am who I am because you are who you are and you are who you are because I am who I am then I am not who I am and you are not who you are.

YASMINA REZA, FROM ART

by Louis Tenenbaum

Ahh, the longevity revolution! Never have there been so many old people in such good shape in any previous generation. When they say 60 is the new 40 (or some variation of this ridiculous phrase), it means the course of our lives is remaining in play longer. Its a whole new game now, and were having to make up the rules as we go along. The good news is, we have more years to try new things, prepare our legacy, enrich our experiences and cultivate relationships that make us wealthy beyond measure.

But as we look forward to this promising phase of life, we start asking ourselves, Where will we live? How will we live? Most of us know we dont want assisted living or independent living or any of the other categories of senior housing we know from caring for our parents. We cant picture ourselves subject to the management, the rules, the institutional-ness. We cant picture ourselves in the lobby of those places listening to the Stones on our iPhone. Yet we cant avoid the questions of where and how, as our needs change because change they will.

Ive spent the last twenty years working at better options, designing ways for people to stay in their own homes longer, if they wish, by making simple structural and other adaptations. Its part of a concept called Aging in Place. My career has focused on making our homes the right places to grow old with dignity. One thing I have learned is that aging with dignity is more complex than just space design. Not only is every house different, but every household, every family, every neighborhood and community is different too. Every factor has an impact on ones quality of life. And not all of us want to or can afford to stay in our home for the long run.

People who know of my work often tell me their later-in-life daydreams, that ideal living arrangement thats out there somewhere. Many describe a compound with their own space but the proximity of friends. On the other hand, they dont want it to be like a group house in college, with little privacy or boundaries. It always comes down to, How can I have my privacy without having to live alone?