1st Ever JFRF

I think you're definitely onto something with the JFRF, Grandma. And although I hate to admit it, because your math works to my own family's advantage, I don't know that the exact solution you proposed is completely fair yet.

Seems like a fairer solution would be to have the base rate be maybe more like $16.00 for each of the people you mentioned, with an additional $4.50 for each member of the boys' families (the ones with kids).

This particularly strikes me as more equitable considering that the solution you propose will result in a situation where some of the individual contributors will be sharing rooms or even beds with one or more "roommates" (possibly loud snorers at that!), despite having paid just as much as the families, who'll be eating more food and presumably getting at least their own room (or more than one split rooms, albeit with some of their own loud snorers, too).

I think a "middle-ground" solution that shares the burden but also does take into account family size and still gets us to the same total amount would be a good compromise. The split I have proposed above is only one possible way to split the load...the split could be designed to require either more or less money from the families with kids, depending on the group's perceptions of fairness.

Below follows the math I did. I based my calculation on my best understanding of how Grandma and Grandpa arrived at their original JFRF proposal. The main place where I made an assumption was that I understood from Grandma’s note (and my attempt to re-create Grandma and Grandpa's math seemed to support this conclusion) that Grandma and Grandpa would be contributing a double payment. If I misunderstood, I can easily change my spreadsheet to adjust for any inaccuracies in my assumptions.

Thanks for the good idea, Grandma. What does everyone think of it? The Pittsburgh Johnson are on board as long as everyone agrees and we can find a solution that's just.

Scott