Is sharing your home with your Mother in law worth the environmental benefits?

Question

Imagine the benefits to the environment if we reduced housing needs by three generational living. What are they?

Would the benefits be worth sharing your home with your Mother in Law?

Answer 1

I cared for my M-I-L at our home for the last three years of her life; I built an addition to care for my adult disabled son at our home for the last 10 years of his life; I remodeled the addition for my mother to live in ... who knows how many years that will be?

I can't count the dollars or tons of coal, but both of the mothers sold huge rural homes before coming to live at our house (which is also huge). Instead of "running" two homes with the basic heat, water, cooling, lighting, cooking, etc. this is done at one home with decreased use of fossil fuels. Adding one person to a three person household does increase laundry but it is fewer loads per week in the combined household than it would be in two separate households, and there will occasionally be two televisions rather than one, but the increased costs at this home no where comes close to the cost of running two homes.

Instead of having two cars on the road to do marketing and other errands, most trips are accomplished with one car ... reducing the miles driven by almost half.

On those rare occasions when we wish to go out without our young child, she can stay home with Grandma, relieving the necessity of transportation for a babysitter (either one coming here or driving out of our way to take her to a sitter);

Now that Grandma lives here, I have a backup when I try to instill "conservation" in my daughter. (No, we do not use expensive paper towels to clean windows, that's what newspapers are for. No, we do not drive in to town to buy that ice cream you want, we can eat what's in the house and put ice cream on the list for our once a week marketing trip. Yes, we can save your outgrown clothes to hand down to younger cousins, and yes, you can wear your older cousin's coat from last year. Let's turn off the computer games and play real cards with Grandma while your mother is taking care of business. What do you mean, buy another book? Why don't you borrow it from the library? And so forth.

I can't even begin to calculate the savings in fossil fuel and tons of carbon; although we have never calculated the financial benefits, I know they are plenty. Except for a few months, there have always been "extra" generations in this house, so it is hard for me to calculate $$ savings by having one dwelling rather than two, but I'm sure someone else has done the study.

Answer 2

We did share our home with my mother-in-law and I can guarantee!! it did not have any environmental benefits, moneytary benefits, or emotional benefits for me OR my wife. The only benefit was to my M-i-L. She had an audience to ***** to.

Answer 3

No for me, it wouldn't be! She and I do not exatly see eye to eye. Actually I have already lived with her for 9 months.

My husband bought our house from his parents. His Dad built the house in the 1970's.

My MIL keeps the house around 78-80 degrees. We keep it set at 65-67. It is a HUGE difference. She'd freeze her hiney off.

She also loves to run about using all kinds of poison...see a weed? Dump poison on it! See a fly, or a whasp? Out comes the poison! She's an R.N. too, so understands perfectly well what poisons do.

Her household cleansers were the toxic kind too.

I was SO relieved when their new house was completed and they moved out! My asthma had been going nuts until after they moved.

Since this was her house for so many years (heck they built it themselves!) it would revert back to being "her" house if she ever moved back in.

MIL would have a stroke on the spot if she ever saw baby goats in the bathtub, "fingerpainting" with their own poo, because it was too cold outside for them, and they had been rejected by their mother.

My MIL likes everything to be white...not just kinda white, REALLY white. White paint, white carpet, white tile floors, white counters, white couches, white chairs, white drapes ect.

I am VERY country type gal. I walk around with alfalfa in my hair, and my clothes might even be dirty! I want my home to be warm and inviting. She wants a house to look sterile, and be spotless at all moments.

It would bring a whole new meaning to "global warming" if she and I tried to live together again.

My own mother, on the other hand...that's another story. We are actually making plans (myself, hubby, and my Mom) to own property together, and share a house. Fortunatly, my Mom thinks my hubby is wonderful, and he likes her too. My husband's friends have commented to him more than once, that, "Your so lucky you got a cool MIL."

My Mom and I do/enjoy the same sort of permaculture farm, earth friendly way of living. We also both keep our house thermostates turned way down. My Mom is ok with a little good clean dirt, and will HELP me with baby animals, instead of freaking out about them.

So, yes, we are deffinatly planning to make our home multi generational.

I'm afraid my MIL will have to go live with one of hubbies sisters. His middle sister is EXACTLY like his Mom. They could live quiet happily together.

I will say this. Both sides of our family have a strong tradition of moving grandparents into the homes of adult children, if they are unable to care for themselves. Our families do not send the elderly off to nursing homes. We care for our own.

I am the only child, of an only child. Good thing my Mom and I get along, as we are the only two remaining members of our side of the family.

My hubby has 5 syblings, as well as the nieces, nephews, ect. Thank heavens for that, since MIL and I are like "mixing" oil and water.

~Garnet

Answer 4

The only person to benefit would be the attorneys as I would end of divorced if she moved in.

Answer 5

do not say something to her. She likely did not say something on objective or perhaps with if she did, do not enable her understand you're dissatisfied. enable this be a studying lesson that attempt to be careful now to not tell her too a lot. Say not something for your boyfriend about it both. you would purely factor out that you will be more desirable careful now to not tell her a lot at destiny lunches.

Answer 6

Only you can answer that question.

It would also save on rent/mortgage, council tax, bills, food, transport, phone bills, child care?......

In the old days you would have appreciated her life experience and support.

Let environmentalism inform your decisions, not rule them.
.

Answer 7

yes and allow homeless to live in her home

Answer 8

are you mad!! there are no benefits

Answer 9

no no no no no!!!