We recommend gathering important decisions/agreements into a single document for easy reference. In Radical Routes co-ops we tend to call these “secondary rules”
The secondary rules are a living document that can be changed (by agreement of the members!) as and when you need to. Some co-ops review theirs annually or when a new member joins.
Secondary rules can cover things like
- work commitment (how much time people should spend on co-op work)
- authorising spending
- shared meals
- pets
- meetings
- membership restrictions eg. Is your co-op open only to a specific minority group?
- vegan/non-vegan spaces
- how you use communal spaces (TV? Loud music?)
- joining procedures
Some groups like to have lots of rules, some just a few. There is no right or wrong about this so long as the intention behind them is that the group can get along together with respect and understanding.
The discussion and agreement of these rules can be really useful for new groups when they are imagining living together and very informative for new people thinking of joining a group.
Looking at other co-ops' secondary rules might be a useful place to start thinking about what you would like your own to be. Radical Routes' member co-ops have their secondary rules on the members area of the RR website so you can look there for ideas if you are part of the network.