$945
Hello!
We have a room opening in our cozy co-op house in Palo Alto just blocks away from Stanford campus starting on September 22nd. We are looking for a new housemate to come and join our lovely home! The available room is on the first floor; it has hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and many windows. Over the years, couples and singles have lived in this room.
If you are interested in joining our house, read on to find out more about the process and fill out our google form!
Application (copy/paste url): https://forms.gle/113RqdPTkpTRmVA57
A little about us:
• We currently have 9 people in 8 rooms, but we've had up to 12 people (including 4 couples) at once in the past.
• Some of us have been part of this community for years, and some of us are new, but folks usually stay a year or more.
• Some of us have jobby jobs, some are grad students, and some are looking for what’s next. Some of us work from home, and some of us go to the office/lab most days. Hybrid work is common. Current residents include:
A: 25yo he/him. Likes to bake sourdough bread and cook food. Makes music. Likes to play basketball, spike ball, board games and other games. Works on conversation and climate things.
E: 31yo she/her. Loves running/hiking/cycle touring long distances, preferably in the mountains. Researcher-advocate finishing a PhD on climate relocation, always down to chat about ideas of “home”. Ashtanga yogi and plant momma, for whom vegetarian feasts are a love language.
C: 24yo he/him. Loves playing boardgames, frisbee, and spikeball and is a talented juggler and pianist. Sofware engineer who loves solving problems.
S: 30yo he/him. Loves to ride bicycles, motorcycles, unicycles, and anything that has wheels. Works from home and spends his day thinking about construction technologies. Loves to go camping and backpacking, will almost always say “YES!” to dancing, and is a novice practitioner of laughter yoga.
M: 29 y/o she/her. Loves being outdoors, especially around the ocean. Fascinated by fishes and researches them for work. Also enjoys playing chess, cooking and reading. C's mom.
C: 3 y/o female cat. Shy but loving and playful when she warms up. Favorite activities include watching critters out the window, getting belly rubs, and eating churu treats
M: 26 y/o she/they. Psychedelics researcher, incoming PsyD student, musician, meditator, reality tv aficionado, enthusiastic dancer. Lover of big soups, coastal hikes, and cool rocks. L’s mom.
L: 8 y/o female dachshund-ish mutt. Loves running through the forest, snuggling on laps, and licking peanut butter off a spoon. Hypoallergenic, adorable, mostly hangs in M’s room or the backyard.
J: 24, he/him. Analyst at a fund of funds. Reader of books, taker of naps, eater of eggs. Loves the ocean and movies about conspiracies.
C: 22 y/o she/her. Landscape designer. Love electronic music, dancing, and making art.
• Our larger community includes significant others, friends, families, and a few eating associates (EAs) who share our food with us.
• Sometimes the house is dark on Saturday night, sometimes we're all home hanging out, singing songs and playing instruments or board games.
• We support each other when we're low or sick.
• We celebrate each other's accomplishments.
• Parties are rare but we do 'em right.
• In general, alcohol and drug consumption is minimal (but present).
• Our house is cozy and sound travels. Quiet hours on week nights are 10:30pm-7:30am.
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Responsibilities and commitments of the Box life:
• Teams of 2-3 cook vegetarian meals for the house 4 nights a week (each resident once/week) and clean the kitchen after dinner. Our food is yummy, folks. Whole Foods is 2 blocks away and Trader Joe’s is equally convenient via bicycle or on foot. There are two nearby farmers markets on the weekends. We share responsibility to pick up our CSA box and shop at Costco for shared food.
• 3 people thoroughly clean the house for 2.5 hours/person each weekend - this is probably our most solemn responsibility. Each person does this ~ once every three weeks.
• We work hard to make our house beautiful, clean, and moderately classy by hosting house work days every quarter. Everyone is expected to participate in work day as we collaborate in making house improvements.
• We have a house meeting once a month.
• We have a dog and a cat. We are open to accommodating pet allergies.
• We are also open to accommodating people whose disabilities prevent them from sharing chores, such as cleaning and cooking, in the ways described above.
• We absolutely do not tolerate racism, sexism, hate speech, or other discriminatory language or behavior.
The Room
The available room is on the first floor; it has hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and many windows. It has a large window and gets a lot of natural light. Over the years, couples and singles have lived in this room.
How much does it cost?
Rent & Security Deposit
• Right now, rent for the entire house is $7750/month. If we had 8 singles this would be split to $969 per month. However, this number fluctuates depending on the total rent and how many singles vs. doubles live in the house. Since we currently have one double, rent for this room is currently $945 per month.
• A deposit is held equal to 1.5*(your monthly rent). Because monthly rent is subject to change depending on how many people live in the house, the deposit can fluctuate.
• Utilities average $70 - 120 per month, and are more expensive in the winter months.
Monthly House Dues
• We have monthly house dues that contribute to a social fund ($10/month) and a home improvement fund ($15/month). We decide how to spend this money, whether it is for hosting an event/party or building something around the house.
• We also contribute monthly to a bulk food fund for those bigger bulk food orders (flour, sugar, grains, dried beans, etc. that we get from a bulk supplier) ($15/month).
Food & House Items
• We also share the costs of house supplies (laundry detergent, TP, internet, etc). This fluctuates widely from month to month but averages to about $15/month/person
• We share the cost of food as a house. We get our produce through a community supported agriculture (CSA) box from Full Belly Farm and other items such as eggs/oat milk/tortillas/breads/cheese/etc. from a roughly biweekly Costco run. This shared food comes out to about $150-225 total per month. This however excludes some items which residents may decide to buy for themselves (alcohols, meat, special teas/coffee, ice cream treats that you may want to keep for yourself!)
TLDR: Right now, a single person in the available room would pay around $1,100 - 1,300/month which includes utilities, shared food, and house supplies.
Here is the process we will use to fill the spot:
• Notify our immediate community of the spot, seeking interest, and describe our process. (This is that!)
• Get to know you. If you seem like a good fit, we will reach out to schedule a call with one or two housemates.
• House vist. We plan to host an open house in early September. Finalists can come over and get to know all of the housemates, the room, and the shared spaces.
• The residents will meet shortly after the open house with a list of names and the intention of finishing the process.
• Without discussion, individual names may be non-anonymously removed from the list by any resident.
• Each resident then has the opportunity to silently and anonymously write down zero to three names on pieces of paper and place them in a "hat".
• Up to 3 names will be drawn at random from the hat, and the spot will be offered to those individuals in that order until it is filled.
If you are interested in the spot, let us know by filling out the application form linked above!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Box of Rain