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Five's Company

Park Road housemates Jorge Silva-Bañuelos, Susie Armitage, Teresa Svart, Joe Cardosi and Elizabeth Ody, whose personalities find expression in both living room and laundry room. (Ph0tos By James M. Thresher -- The Washington Post)

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There is something touching about the chore chart's detail. It is as though the house might be tottering on the brink of catastrophe, saved only by a spreadsheet and a row of sturdy X marks.

Life's Arithmetic

Homemaking-by-the-numbers at Park Road:

550-600: Approximate rent, in dollars, paid per person, depending on the size of the room.

68: Temperature to which the thermostat is set in the winter, negotiated after a few minor battles.

3: Number of bicycles parked in the foyer.

8: Number of e-mails required to arrange for all housemates to be at home at the same time.

2: Pies baked in one week -- a blueberry by Teresa and a Key lime by Elizabeth.

0: Residents who are only children.

5: Number of times Joe is teased, in one evening, for being a Republican.

365, Mr.: What Jorge's housemates refer to him as because of his love for Whole Foods.

3: Number of times Elizabeth is questioned, in one evening, about her new, sort-of boyfriend.

2: Number of times the "If it's on my shelf in the fridge, I get to eat it" rule is invoked, in one evening.

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