Discover the Joys of House SharingOne of the best ways to save on housing and build your network is to try house sharing with another single mom. When I got divorced, I bought a tiny town home for me and my girls. It was in a good neighborhood where kids could play outside all day, and the schools were great...but our house was so cramped. So, I set out to find what my kids called a “real house”. I found the perfect house for us in a quiet neighborhood in the same town. This house was twice the size of our little town home. Once we moved in, I realized we had more than enough room for our family- room to spare, even. A close friend got divorced right about the same time, and I invited her and her two boys to stay with us until they got on their feet. What a terrific experience that was! We spent the summer together, and our kids still talk about how fun it was living together. Now This is Getting Good!House sharing with another single mom meant that we had someone to talk to and hang out with after putting the kids to bed. We took turns doing the grocery shopping, meal planning and cooking. We enrolled our kids in the same summer day camp and traded off packing their lunches and driving them to camp. We even bought season tickets to a local amusement park with a group discount, and spent many a summer day there together.Financially speaking, house sharing makes a lot of sense. It works just like a roommate situation, where you agree on how much each mom will pay toward the rent or mortgage, and split the utilities as well. In our case, we also saved money on food because we were able to buy groceries in bulk. It was easy to lessen the workload for both of us by house sharing. We saved each other time and stress by taking turns with the cooking and driving kids places. It was great because doing these things didn't take any additional time when it was my turn, and I did them only half the time! Also, with another mom in the house, I only had to clean half of the house. We also babysat for each other on occasion so we could get out of the house. Many Happy ReturnsMy girls and I so much enjoyed house sharing with our friends, that we did it with a few other single moms over the years. My kids gained so much by having more “siblings” at home to pal around with, and I enjoyed the companionship and financial benefits.If this sounds good to you, there are a few ways to go about it. If you are blessed to have a house that is big enough to share, put out the word that you would like to live with a like-minded single mom. You can check your local online message boards or make your own post to find other single moms. You can also go to a fabulous website called www.co-abode.com , which acts like a matchmaking service to help you find someone to house share with you. A few things that made my house sharing experiences run smoothly:
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