Got one for ya... (Community Dilema)

[Didymus]

I live in a small religious community of volunteers. 5 of us share a house and volunteer full time at various non-profits in the area. We receive housing, a small personal stipend, and a food allowance. We have been purchasing food together and then splitting up whatever money is left over so that we can spend it on snacks and other things we might want for lunch etc.

Here's the (collective goods) problem:
Some people in the house are vegetarian, so there has been some discussion about whether or not the collective funds should be used to buy meat. But as it turns out, the vegetarians are ok with using the collective grocery money to buy meat. The issue is that some of us don't want to use the collective funds to buy fruit. The reasoning is that we should all pay for dinners together and divide the rest of the money to buy lunches ourselves so we have more flexibility in what we get to eat for lunch. Since the meat will be for dinners and fruit will be for lunches, fruit should not be purchased with the collective money (unless it's for a dinner dish that we will all share).

Does this sound reasonable?

 

[DamnYankee]

You'll forgive me for pointing out the obvious, won't you?

A family "food allowance", or budget, either includes ALL the items that every family member wants/likes for every meal/snack, or they ALL must sacrifice/compromise because the budget can't support it.

Perfectly reasonable.

 

[Dis]

...and you had to join a political board (this one, specifically) today JUST to ask for help in figuring this out?

No offense, but I'm going out on a limb here, and saying you're full of shit, and you're looking to troll.

 

[DamnYankee]

I had the day off and was bored, Dis. Uncovering "intelligence" is usually good for a laugh.

 

[Didymus]

You'll forgive me for pointing out the obvious, won't you?

A family "food allowance", or budget, either includes ALL the items that every family member wants/likes for every meal/snack, or they ALL must sacrifice/compromise because the budget can't support it.

Perfectly reasonable.

Unfortunately, not quite obvious enough for me. (Go easy on me, it's Monday.)

You're saying that it's reasonable, but which of your 2 scenarios does it fit into?

 

[Didymus]

...and you had to join a political board (this one, specifically) today JUST to ask for help in figuring this out?

Yep.

The description I was looking at said religion/philosophy and that seemed to fit. I want input on this from objective outsiders. But I'm definitely open to other suggestions too. If you know a better place for this discussion please let me know.

 

[Didymus]

...and you had to join a political board (this one, specifically) today JUST to ask for help in figuring this out?

No offense, but I'm going out on a limb here, and saying you're full of shit, and you're looking to troll.

Ok, fine. I'm trying to trick you into thinking about apples and chicken because the invisible ray machine that I use to control the people in the Whitehouse is powered by your brainwaves, but only while you are contemplating either fruit or poultry. There you go, master conspiracy theorist, you win.

So does anyone have an opinion on this? I've never had such trouble getting opinions out of opinionated people in my life. C'mon. Anyone? I need to get that ray powered up.

 

[Kalam]

Does this sound reasonable?

Yes.

 

[gcomeau]

It's hardly a dilemna. If you can't reach consensus on what to buy when you pool your money, then don't do that. Each of you keep your own share of the stipend and buy what you want to eat with it. There's no particular reason dinners are different than lunches which you're apparently already fine with buying sperately. Problem avoided.

(As a side note, who the heck isn't going to eat fruit anyway? It's difficult to believe anyone actually objected to fruit being an item that was appropriate for a collective grocery purchase... but whatever.)

 

[Big Black Dog]

You living in a commune or something? Sounds pretty much like a cult to me. Why can't you buy your own food with the money you receive? That way the veggie heads can buy all the rabbit food they want and everybody else can chow down on hot dogs or whatever. Volunteer work is a noble thing but I've never heard of anybody performing the service like you described. Seems a bit odd to me... So why can't you live somewhere on your own and volunteer as your time and personal needs allow? Are you supporting yourself only on this volunteer work or do you have other income? How come you don't have a regular 9 to 5 like most folks? What's the real story here, hondo?

 

[Dis]

...and you had to join a political board (this one, specifically) today JUST to ask for help in figuring this out?

No offense, but I'm going out on a limb here, and saying you're full of shit, and you're looking to troll.

Ok, fine. I'm trying to trick you into thinking about apples and chicken because the invisible ray machine that I use to control the people in the Whitehouse is powered by your brainwaves, but only while you are contemplating either fruit or poultry. There you go, master conspiracy theorist, you win.

So does anyone have an opinion on this? I've never had such trouble getting opinions out of opinionated people in my life. C'mon. Anyone? I need to get that ray powered up.

Ok, fine.. You want an answer?

Stop pooling your shit. If you want steak, buy steak. If you want an apple, buy a friggen apple.

If the vegetarians don't mind buying meat they're never going to touch, why's it such a big deal for you to buy a bag of oranges?

 

[Didymus]

Well, it's kind of a cult, yeah. But it's a pretty old and well established one. More info on that here. The Kennedys are in it. They call it Catholicism. I'm to new for postin url's but you can google the Jesuit volunteer corps if you're curious. It's also an americorps program but I don't want to get too far into explainations here.

Point taken on not pooling the money. Believe me, I'm tempted. But that would kind of defeat the whole community thing we're trying to do here. It's not bad advice, but it's the nuclear option in this situation and I should only be a last resort.

So If that's not on the table, and I'm keeping score right that's one yes and probably one no if I'm understanding Dis correctly. Still not sure if allbiz was really a yes or no on the fairness of the arrangement in question.

An thanks to everyone for actually taking a minute to read this and respond. It really is helpful.

 

[manu1959]

if the pooled money is to buy dinner then it should only be used for that.....anything left over you said you all split up and people can use it to buy whatever they want.....

 

[gcomeau]

Well, it's kind of a cult, yeah. But it's a pretty old and well established one. More info on that here. The Kennedys are in it. They call it Catholicism. I'm to new for postin url's but you can google the Jesuit volunteer corps if you're curious. It's also an americorps program but I don't want to get too far into explainations here.

Point taken on not pooling the money. Believe me, I'm tempted. But that would kind of defeat the whole community thing we're trying to do here. It's not bad advice, but it's the nuclear option in this situation and I should only be a last resort.

So If that's not on the table, and I'm keeping score right that's one yes and probably one no if I'm understanding Dis correctly. Still not sure if allbiz was really a yes or no on the fairness of the arrangement in question.

An thanks to everyone for actually taking a minute to read this and respond. It really is helpful.

If you say it defeats the purpose of the exercise I'll take your word for it, but that makes very little sense. I was under the impression the point of trying to form a community was to, you know, co-exist. Not to try to figure out how to spend your money on the same food for everyone for no apparent particular reason.

If not pooling the food money defuses the source of conflict and lets you all get along better, mission accomplished... no?

If that's not on the table... well, somebody just needs to learn to live with eating what someone else wants because that's your only other alternative.

 

[JBeukema]

I live in a small religious community of volunteers. 5 of us share a house and volunteer full time at various non-profits in the area. We receive housing, a small personal stipend, and a food allowance. We have been purchasing food together and then splitting up whatever money is left over so that we can spend it on snacks and other things we might want for lunch etc.

Here's the (collective goods) problem:
Some people in the house are vegetarian, so there has been some discussion about whether or not the collective funds should be used to buy meat. But as it turns out, the vegetarians are ok with using the collective grocery money to buy meat. The issue is that some of us don't want to use the collective funds to buy fruit. The reasoning is that we should all pay for dinners together and divide the rest of the money to buy lunches ourselves so we have more flexibility in what we get to eat for lunch. Since the meat will be for dinners and fruit will be for lunches, fruit should not be purchased with the collective money (unless it's for a dinner dish that we will all share).

Does this sound reasonable?

Use the money to buy fruits to make sauces and sides for when you eat the vegetarians


problem solved

 

[RetiredGySgt]

IF and it is a BIG IF, the fruits are only used for lunch then you would be right. I fail to see how they would not be eating fruit later in the day. And if they eat up all the fruit they starve for dinner.

Tell them you will agree to buy the fruit but only if it is only consumed for dinner, or rather that once the fruit is gone they get no more till the next scheduled purchase.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I live in a small religious community of volunteers. 5 of us share a house and volunteer full time at various non-profits in the area. We receive housing, a small personal stipend, and a food allowance. We have been purchasing food together and then splitting up whatever money is left over so that we can spend it on snacks and other things we might want for lunch etc.

Here's the (collective goods) problem:
Some people in the house are vegetarian, so there has been some discussion about whether or not the collective funds should be used to buy meat. But as it turns out, the vegetarians are ok with using the collective grocery money to buy meat. The issue is that some of us don't want to use the collective funds to buy fruit. The reasoning is that we should all pay for dinners together and divide the rest of the money to buy lunches ourselves so we have more flexibility in what we get to eat for lunch. Since the meat will be for dinners and fruit will be for lunches, fruit should not be purchased with the collective money (unless it's for a dinner dish that we will all share).

Does this sound reasonable?

Within the confine of a five-person coop, your decisions should work OK. However, one, that is not the only decision possible, and, two, it is not a legal charter. In a country of more than 300 million people, direct democracy cannot work.

 

[editec]

I live in a small religious community of volunteers. 5 of us share a house and volunteer full time at various non-profits in the area. We receive housing, a small personal stipend, and a food allowance. We have been purchasing food together and then splitting up whatever money is left over so that we can spend it on snacks and other things we might want for lunch etc.

Here's the (collective goods) problem:
Some people in the house are vegetarian, so there has been some discussion about whether or not the collective funds should be used to buy meat. But as it turns out, the vegetarians are ok with using the collective grocery money to buy meat. The issue is that some of us don't want to use the collective funds to buy fruit. The reasoning is that we should all pay for dinners together and divide the rest of the money to buy lunches ourselves so we have more flexibility in what we get to eat for lunch. Since the meat will be for dinners and fruit will be for lunches, fruit should not be purchased with the collective money (unless it's for a dinner dish that we will all share).

Does this sound reasonable?

No it doesn't.

 

[BigBarry]

You all some like a bunch of greedy selfish bastards, which make you perfect candidates for the catholic church.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Buy foods that everyone likes/eats w/the common funds. Divvy the rest of the money up between the five of you and buy whatever you want.