How Multi-Generational Living Will Work Ep 237

Published: July 13, 2020, noon

If you are living in a multi-generational household or considering it, you must listen to this series. Last week we discussed the pros and cons of multi-generational living. Today, we are talking about tips for living in a multi-generational household.\nMulti-generational living means a single household that includes family members of several generations, grandparents, parents, and children, all under one roof. Was once a cultural phenomenon, has slowly become a national trend. For some families, it\u2019s about caring for aging parents, others have adult children returning home. Also, for some, it\u2019s a cultural expectation. And others have adult children that haven\u2019t left.\nLearn to Deal with Conflict\nIt's tough from the spouse\u2019s point of view. For Tae\u2019s part, you can't be as a direct daughter-in-law it's hard for his wife to talk to her father-in-law like, \u201cHey you two you need to clean this up.\u201d Time\u2019s a little bit different, all of us have to contribute in a multi-generational household. To avoid any kind of conflict down the line, Tae would rather do the work upfront.\nTae\u2019s wife is not living with her parents, she's living with his parents. So, it's very important to recognize, appreciate, listen to her concerns about a multigenerational household, without being judgmental but just kind of hear her out.\nSet Boundaries\nTae\u2019s family shares a community fridge. Everyone shops at their own timeline and then everybody was just kind of stuff their own things in different sections of the refrigerator. There was this time when Tae\u2019s wife was going to cook and couldn\u2019t find the carrots that they just bought. This is one of those items where you know it keeps coming up. So what they did to fix this problem was they labeled parts of the refrigerator saying, okay this my section, this is the grandma section. We don't go into each other\u2019s sections and everyone's got their own section.\nWe have come up with the system of separating parts of the refrigerator and then just reinforce it on a regular basis.\nEven Though You're In a Multi-Generational Living, You Still Need to Prioritize Privacy\n\nIt is recognizing that everyone has their own personal space in the house and one of the things that helped out was having separate spaces within the house. Tae\u2019s family has their own little community area where they can have their television and just sit on their couch. They lay out the things that they want, not getting into each other\u2019s space as regards to like who left the newspaper here or who left tissues here. It\u2019s a place where we can create our own mess, they can create their own mess, and we're not getting into each other\u2019s space. That was very important for them.\nSplit Expenses, Where Possible\nWhen Tae\u2019s family decided to cohabitate, Tae would take over the mortgage a majority of the utility expense. His parents thankfully said they would take care of the electric bill and the phone bill. So, to clear things up, they said they would take care of the gas bill, the water bill, the mortgage, and then you guys can get take care of the phone bill and the electric bill. Food is a little interesting because they don't have clear agreements. Tae and his wife would go and do their own shopping at Costco for what they want and then for his parents they would purchase what they want.\nIn a Multi-Generational Living, Going with the Flow\nConflicts are going to happen on a weekly basis just because when you have four adults living in the house.