Studio

Our choosing to live in a studio apartment in a wonderful neighborhood in New York City is another example of making a decision that consciously benefits us while also in some small way giving us more of an option to help others, too. We bought a studio, even though we could have afforded a one bedroom, because we wanted there to be a little more room in our budget, not just to enjoy the City, but also to have something left over to support worthy causes. We actually enjoy having a single, relatively large room to sit and read and work and listen to music in. The fact that we have a Murphy bed that must be brought down every night and then put up every morning hardly affects us at all. It is a very comfortable space and with a wall of windows facing East the morning light gladdens our interior every day. Do we regret that only those guests who have little need for personal privacy will be comfortable sleeping in our quarters while we are also present? Sure. Though potential visitors please note you are always welcome as long as you willing to sleep on a couch bed only inches from our own. But, in the end, we decided to make this decision, despite the regret, because the benefits both to ourselves and unknown others overrided everything else. Self-interest? Absolutely. But connected in a modest way to a little old-fashioned altruism as well.