Dave - indeed, what joy! Here's more of a nuts and bolts description of how a well organized co-op functioned, in principle and practice:

THE MATRIX

The Matrix! Do you remember the Matrix, tacked on the wall, all columns and rows, household chores on the y-axis (or was it the x-axis?), dates on the other axis, and a CELL for a name, YOUR NAME if so desired. At Rivendell Co-op, our collective household of kindred elves, considerable discussion centered on the relative weights of chores. Preparing and serving the evening dinner for some was creative work, whereas cleaning up afterwards for those same souls was drudgery. Which was worth more or less on the absolute point scale? If these two jobs were done by separate parties then wasn't there a danger of fermenting ANIMOSITY: "You've used practically every pot and pan in the house!"

There was also the principal of strict rotation – no one exempt from particular jobs so that individuals would not become identified with them: "queen of the kitchen" or "bathroom swabbie." Fortunately there were seven of us and seven days of the week so it was possible to lend sanity to our busy lives by signing up to do something, say, every Monday.

It is also true that some were initially better cooks than others, and that some actually improved their culinary skills with practice. All got to better appreciate what it took to cook and to satisfy the appetites of their housemates. Oh, I forgot to mention the DIETARY RESTRICTIONS. Some of us were carnivorous, some vegetarian, some lactose intolerant, one wheat intolerant, and a neighboring 10-year old who hated anything unless it was sugar, salt, or chocolate based. We gradually evolved a practice that the vegetarian cooks cooked vegetarian means for everyone and that the carnivore cooks prepared vegetarian meals with a side dish of dead cooked animal.

Some of the other chores were assigned a weekly schedule, such as cleaning floors and bathrooms. It's amazing looking back on it how much cleaner our co-op household actually was compared to my present apartment with its married resident couple and 2.5 cats. Other chores were done when fortune dictated, when snow fell. There were also collective work week-ends for preparing the garden in the back yard, repainting the house, clearing the basement of whatever had accumulated DOWN THERE. And there were a few specialized jobs such as bookkeeping, food club ordering, and specialized home repair. There are times that I miss the Matrix…