I've been living communally since I started college, and I really love it. I don't want a nuclear family, I want a chosen family, and it's what I got :)
Of course, not everyone that I live with is accumulating like I am. We all pay very cheap rent since there are so many of us, but I make about 2 to 4 times what my housemates do. Some of them spend too much and plan to be poor forever, some of them can't control their spending due to medical issues. All of them have student loan debts.
As a result, I am always paying rent a month or more ahead of when people pay me back for it -- and some of them owe me a lot of money. I don't really expect to ever get any of it back. At least these days, everyone is getting their monthly checks in most of the time, so I don't really mind. I get to live in a great place with great people for $270/ month. That's good in my book, and I'm not one to hold a grudge.
During the past year of debt annihilation, my bank balance has bounced around a lot. I've moved a lot too, as my friends were finishing up their degrees and shifting with the seasons. Deposits, first months rent checks, most of it gone, some of it reimbursed.
I know that it sounds like I am complaining about people mooching off of me, but what I really want to say is, I love them, I care about them, even if I don't always agree with them, and the debts are definitely not all their fault.
The point of this post is; it's possible to live the FI life without becoming a heartless capitalist and adopting a borderline fascist "survival of the fittest" mindset. I take care of my house and my house takes care of me. It's a good relationship, and it's getting better all the time. Through all of this, I've maintained a minimum %50 savings rate, and I can now crank it up to high gear after settling in and getting a couple big raises. I would definitely not be the person I am today or be as content as I am if I had chosen a lonelier path... I was really afraid when I was younger that I would never have any friends, never be able to create meaning for my life, and never find comfort at home. Well, I'm happy to say that I've made it for the most part, and while it's never perfect, I'm proud of what I've done.
I just wanted to share this, I think that a lot of the time MMM readers come off as a bit self centered and overly passionate about individualism. It definitely turned me off of the community at first. But there's more than one way to slice it.
