House Rules – Activersity

The house mates communicate via Signal messenger groups, and it is vital for your integration that you check the groups regularly, at least twice per day to stay up to date.
If you don’t have a smartphone, Signal has a desktop version. We will help you set it up.

Do not scratch the floor, always get help to lift furniture, no matter if it’s newly renovated or old floor
Add felt pads below furniture
No tape on lacquered floors (the acid in the glue damages the lacquer)
Living room: no shoes or dirty feet/socks on furniture. Bare feet (with or without socks) walking in the apartment count as dirty.
If you must vacuum ashes, uses the ash filter. The fine dust otherwise damages the vacuum’s motor.

We abide by the cleaning standards of whoever has currently the highest in the house. At the moment it means: Leave no evidence – clean all table and counter surfaces. Put all your dishes in the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is running or full, clean the dishes by hand; don’t leave them waiting for the dishwasher, nor take them to wait in your own room.
Dishwasher: No sharp knives, wooden stuff, or non-sticky stuff
Fruit-shaped cutting boards: No smelly food such as garlic and onion family on cutting boards for fruits.
The obviously special super sharp “Japanese” knives can’t air dry in the drying rack, please hand dry them and place them back where they belong
Dinners: If it’s your turn and you can’t provide dinner to the usual time (19:00), or if you must cancel, please announce it in the chat group so people can plan.

There are five categories of trash in Germany:

Please be aware that we have a money-back deposit system for some bottles.

We use the doorbell to broadcast simple messages throughout the house:

3 rings for dinner, which is as 19:00, unless otherwise stated.
4 rings for events, including a shopper asking for help bringing groceries upstairs
storm ring (persistent chaotic ringing) for emergencies, such as a fire
normal ringing – we have no buzzer, please go down to open the door, it could be the post office or delivery!

Do not put our address on your key ring.
Don’t leave your keys lying around. Unattended keys shall be confiscated.
If you lose your house keys, announce it immediately so that we may conduct a group search. Otherwise the front door lock must be changed.

The communal food budget includes vegan/vegetarian items, general hygiene products, and currently excludes:
- cheese, meat, fish
- pop sodas, juice, alcohol
- personal hygiene items
- fast-food, sweets
You must present a receipt get reimbursed for an expense.
Reimbursement for house food expenses are balanced via the cospending app; please ask for a login and instructions
Items in pantry, fridge, and freezer are communal unless labeled with a name
Please label non-vegan food
Sweets/fast-food are permitted if they are made from scratch and are available to everyone, for example, cookies, cakes, and pies.

Tag your bath towel with your name, otherwise, it might be removed by the laundry team.
Communal laundry (towels, linens) are part of task auction.

Community fund collects 5 EUR per month per person. This is to replace broken appliances, etc.
The activersity pays this fee for its interns/stipend holders.

Guests staying overnight must be posted in the group chat to notify other residents
One-night-stands, who will be accompanied the host, need not be announced.
If you see someone running around in the house who has not been announced, ask who they are, to whom they belong or what they want. Make sure to take them to the person to whom they claim they belong to/are visiting.