One of the hardest things about communal living is keeping things straight and organized. When you live in a house of thirty people, it’s easy for things to get out of hand — dishes piling up, food spilling out of the fridge, bathrooms that need a thorough cleaning.
Casa de Luz already does a great job of keeping things clean and orderly. But the residents recognized that they could only do so much with the materials they had.
When we met with them to brainstorm ideas about what they wanted, the need to stay more organized came out loud and clear.
To remedy this, we bought a couple of different things…For the kitchen, we bought two tall shelves to house items that were otherwise sitting on the floor in plastic bins. We also bought some whiteboards and whiteboard markers to help them break up different house duties.
When we got back from the store, the shelves went up pretty instantly. Everyone was so excited about the new whiteboards, trying to figure out what part of the house would be the best place to put them.
It’s never easy living with people – especially when you’re just getting to know your roommates. These small changes will make a world of difference as new residents settle in and learn to live together.
Meet Steve! Steve is the Executive Director for ORAM, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration, and member of the Alight family of organizations. Before joining ORAM, Steve served as the Senior Director of Global Initiatives at Out & Equal, the biggest LGBT workplace inclusion non-profit. Steve also launched a non-profit, Alturi, which increases engagement by American donors to organizations improving the lives of LGBT people globally.