Living in peace without "drama"

When signing up a new tenant I often summarize the 20 or so pages of information supplied that are part of the Lease application process with -

          1.  Pay your rent

          2.  Keep your residence clean

          3.  Live in peace

1.  The payment of rent should be obvious.  The cost of providing housing is expensive and incurs continuous expenses like utilities, maintenance, insurance, and mortgage payments.  Housing simply cannot be provided without collecting the rent. 

2.  Keeping your place clean may not be that obvious.  When tenants complain of insects & rodents I often explain why they are there. 

Both insects & rodents are not coming to make friends.  They come to eat and have their children - just like you.  By keeping your place neat & clean they have nothing to eat and fewer places to hide.  Clean up after every meal.  Wipe the table, clean up anything spilled and use the dishwasher rather than stacking things up in the sink.  Leaving dishes in the sink is like setting the table for insects & rodents. 

Once you have invited the critters inside sometimes it's hard to get them to leave and that's when we have to kill them.  But remember, they will keep coming as long as there is food for them to eat.

3.  Living in peace reduces stress for you, your family and everyone you come in contact with.  You could spend forever going to church to learn how to do this but it really comes down to observing the hundreds of years old "Golden Rule".

The "Golden Rule" is simply the act of treating others just like you would want them to treat you.  Before doing anything that involves interaction with others, stop and think - how would you like to be treated in the same situation. 

If you teach everyone in your household to live by the "Golden Rule" all will be happier and live in peace.  

You can get a lot of history and specific examples by doing an internet search for the "Golden Rule".   A good site is:  http://www.harryhiker.com/goldrule.htm