shared apartment house rules
Britt, 19, is from a broken home and is very proud to be living independently. She works in customer service and shares a large apartment with a mixed-sex group of young people. She loves her new life but being required to share expenses with people who don't share her values -- and haven't experienced the broken home experience -- is becoming a big problem for her.
"For one thing, I don’t earn as much money as they do," explains Britt, "and for another I don’t consume as much as they do. Nevertheless, the bills are split equally. It’s the rule of the house."
Britt likes her roommates and doesn’t want to leave, but if she cannot persuade them to change their ways then she’ll have to find a place where she can live in accordance with her values and within her means -- as her mother had raised her to do.
"These guys are getting me into debt," sighs Britt. "They laugh and say that life’s for living and everyone lives on credit these days, but not me. I don’t want to be living on a park bench at 40, and I think our government should do something to stop the banks and stores from getting so many young people into debt."
Debt is something that Britt avoids like the plague. Her father's spending habits had broken up her home, nearly driving them onto the streets in penury, and it is a lesson she will never forget.
"How can anyone be independent if they are in debt to someone else?" asks Britt, "and how can my roommates justify seeing no danger and having no shame in spending more than they earn?"
An important part of being independent for Britt is being a conserver. To her, women who consume rather than conserve are not independent women. Instead, they are dependent upon consumer products for their existence and have been spoilt by their parents.
Independent women like Britt operate on the premise that any sort of dependence - on people or consumer goods - is self-destroying.
"Conserving is smart," says Britt, "not just because depending upon your own resources in order to get by is a basic characteristic of independence, but also because conserving takes care of the environment and benefits all of us."
"I’m really shocked by people who just don’t care about the environment, and think that the earth is going to sustain us forever. It’s not! We’re doing dreadful things to our planet and one day it’s going to do dreadful things to us - it’s going to dry up, or flood, or explode and we’ll all die."
Britt points out that most of us don't need 99% of the stuff we spend our money on, and she has no intention of working her butt off to pay for things that her roommates don’t need - but think they do.
"They leave heaters and lights on 24/7," says Britt, "and they buy the most expensive brands of groceries and household products. Rather than cooking meals, they buy ready made stuff. One of the girls spends about 10 minutes in the shower, twice a day. Another one makes half a dozen telephone calls every night. They throw things away that are still edible or useful. I’m really fed up that I have to pay my share of every bill, whether or not I made a telephone call, ate the pizza or used the heater."
Britt’s roommates aren’t taking advantage of her - on the contrary, they encourage her to hang loose and enjoy herself more. They can’t understand her philosophy about rampant consumerism being an evil, and they laugh when she tells them that they have been seduced by advertisers into being blind and mindless consumers.
They feel that it’s their duty to spend up big because it is only through people buying staff that the economy thrives and jobs are available.
"A thriving economy may create jobs," says Britt, "but the sad fact of the matter is that an economy built upon rampant consumerism creates false values and makes a few entrepreneurs very, very rich and the rest of us very, very poor."
She feels that jobs created by rampant consumerism are neither jobs that last nor jobs that feed the soul.
In Britt’s books, it is advertising that has done the most damage. She went through school with kids who literally forced their parents to starve or walk around in rags in order to buy the cool and trendy things their kids wanted.
She doesn’t blame the kids. She blames the advertisers who said that kids who didn’t have their product were un-cool, unattractive or dumb.
"This is hard stuff for a kid to see through and turn away from," says Britt, "but it’s hard stuff for some adults to see through and turn away from, too."
Britt is doing her best to persuade her roommates to change their ways - to see the light that she does - but she is not having much success. She looks at their possessions and asks: "When was the last time you wore or used something? Do you really need any of those things? Do you realize that you’re giving up your authenticity and independence in order to possess these things? Is it worth it?"
"They just don’t understand how mindlessly they are living," sighs Britt.
One of the guys Britt shares with has a really expensive automobile and Britt is amazed that he slaves away in what is essentially a dead-end job just so that he can pay for it. She tells him that he’s selling his soul. He laughs at her.
One of the girls buys designer labels clothes and throws them away, rather than mending or cleaning them, if they rip or get stained. Britt urges her to give the clothes to Goodwill so that a poor person can use them, but her entreaties fall on deaf ears.
"As you can imagine," sighs Britt, "the garbage bin is overflowing every week, and 90% of what’s in the bin is stuff that’s worth conserving. I know there are kids on the streets who don’t work and exist on stuff they find in rubbish bins, but what does this say about our society?"
Substance abuse is something Britt also avoids like the plague, but all of her roommates are addicted to something - alcohol, drugs or cigarettes.
"Getting people addicted to a product is a terrible advertising trick," says Britt, "and being an addicted consumer is as bad as being a heroin addict. Advertisers and corporations love consumer addicts. They feed off them. They get rich at their expense. They pull their strings. But nobody but advertisers is likely to love you if you’re addict to anything."
Britt reinforces everything she says to her roommates by pinning "Save Yourself, Save the World" notices all over the house exhorting them to:
sell everything you do not need - or have not used for at least 6 months - and save the money
sell your car, walk and save the money
repair everything that breaks, rips or stains
buy consumer goods from second-hand sources
recycle things you normally throw away
buy generic brand food, preferably in bulk, and refuse packaging
live within your means - track everything you spend and cut back on non-essential buying
say NO to the latest fashions and fads
read for free at the local library
walk rather than taking a taxi or public transport
cook food at home rather than buying it ready-made
grow your hair or get a friend to cut it
wean yourself off alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and junk food.
None of Britt’s "Save Yourself, Save the World" notices have been torn down yet, so she’s hoping that her conservation message is sinking in and will eventually show results. If not, then Britt will start looking around for a more compatible group of people to share with - or she may decide to live alone.
"For one thing, I don’t earn as much money as they do," explains Britt, "and for another I don’t consume as much as they do. Nevertheless, the bills are split equally. It’s the rule of the house."
Britt likes her roommates and doesn’t want to leave, but if she cannot persuade them to change their ways then she’ll have to find a place where she can live in accordance with her values and within her means -- as her mother had raised her to do.
"These guys are getting me into debt," sighs Britt. "They laugh and say that life’s for living and everyone lives on credit these days, but not me. I don’t want to be living on a park bench at 40, and I think our government should do something to stop the banks and stores from getting so many young people into debt."
Debt is something that Britt avoids like the plague. Her father's spending habits had broken up her home, nearly driving them onto the streets in penury, and it is a lesson she will never forget.
"How can anyone be independent if they are in debt to someone else?" asks Britt, "and how can my roommates justify seeing no danger and having no shame in spending more than they earn?"
An important part of being independent for Britt is being a conserver. To her, women who consume rather than conserve are not independent women. Instead, they are dependent upon consumer products for their existence and have been spoilt by their parents.
Independent women like Britt operate on the premise that any sort of dependence - on people or consumer goods - is self-destroying.
"Conserving is smart," says Britt, "not just because depending upon your own resources in order to get by is a basic characteristic of independence, but also because conserving takes care of the environment and benefits all of us."
"I’m really shocked by people who just don’t care about the environment, and think that the earth is going to sustain us forever. It’s not! We’re doing dreadful things to our planet and one day it’s going to do dreadful things to us - it’s going to dry up, or flood, or explode and we’ll all die."
Britt points out that most of us don't need 99% of the stuff we spend our money on, and she has no intention of working her butt off to pay for things that her roommates don’t need - but think they do.
"They leave heaters and lights on 24/7," says Britt, "and they buy the most expensive brands of groceries and household products. Rather than cooking meals, they buy ready made stuff. One of the girls spends about 10 minutes in the shower, twice a day. Another one makes half a dozen telephone calls every night. They throw things away that are still edible or useful. I’m really fed up that I have to pay my share of every bill, whether or not I made a telephone call, ate the pizza or used the heater."
Britt’s roommates aren’t taking advantage of her - on the contrary, they encourage her to hang loose and enjoy herself more. They can’t understand her philosophy about rampant consumerism being an evil, and they laugh when she tells them that they have been seduced by advertisers into being blind and mindless consumers.
They feel that it’s their duty to spend up big because it is only through people buying staff that the economy thrives and jobs are available.
"A thriving economy may create jobs," says Britt, "but the sad fact of the matter is that an economy built upon rampant consumerism creates false values and makes a few entrepreneurs very, very rich and the rest of us very, very poor."
She feels that jobs created by rampant consumerism are neither jobs that last nor jobs that feed the soul.
In Britt’s books, it is advertising that has done the most damage. She went through school with kids who literally forced their parents to starve or walk around in rags in order to buy the cool and trendy things their kids wanted.
She doesn’t blame the kids. She blames the advertisers who said that kids who didn’t have their product were un-cool, unattractive or dumb.
"This is hard stuff for a kid to see through and turn away from," says Britt, "but it’s hard stuff for some adults to see through and turn away from, too."
Britt is doing her best to persuade her roommates to change their ways - to see the light that she does - but she is not having much success. She looks at their possessions and asks: "When was the last time you wore or used something? Do you really need any of those things? Do you realize that you’re giving up your authenticity and independence in order to possess these things? Is it worth it?"
"They just don’t understand how mindlessly they are living," sighs Britt.
One of the guys Britt shares with has a really expensive automobile and Britt is amazed that he slaves away in what is essentially a dead-end job just so that he can pay for it. She tells him that he’s selling his soul. He laughs at her.
One of the girls buys designer labels clothes and throws them away, rather than mending or cleaning them, if they rip or get stained. Britt urges her to give the clothes to Goodwill so that a poor person can use them, but her entreaties fall on deaf ears.
"As you can imagine," sighs Britt, "the garbage bin is overflowing every week, and 90% of what’s in the bin is stuff that’s worth conserving. I know there are kids on the streets who don’t work and exist on stuff they find in rubbish bins, but what does this say about our society?"
Substance abuse is something Britt also avoids like the plague, but all of her roommates are addicted to something - alcohol, drugs or cigarettes.
"Getting people addicted to a product is a terrible advertising trick," says Britt, "and being an addicted consumer is as bad as being a heroin addict. Advertisers and corporations love consumer addicts. They feed off them. They get rich at their expense. They pull their strings. But nobody but advertisers is likely to love you if you’re addict to anything."
Britt reinforces everything she says to her roommates by pinning "Save Yourself, Save the World" notices all over the house exhorting them to:
sell everything you do not need - or have not used for at least 6 months - and save the money
sell your car, walk and save the money
repair everything that breaks, rips or stains
buy consumer goods from second-hand sources
recycle things you normally throw away
buy generic brand food, preferably in bulk, and refuse packaging
live within your means - track everything you spend and cut back on non-essential buying
say NO to the latest fashions and fads
read for free at the local library
walk rather than taking a taxi or public transport
cook food at home rather than buying it ready-made
grow your hair or get a friend to cut it
wean yourself off alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and junk food.
None of Britt’s "Save Yourself, Save the World" notices have been torn down yet, so she’s hoping that her conservation message is sinking in and will eventually show results. If not, then Britt will start looking around for a more compatible group of people to share with - or she may decide to live alone.
<< Home