Happy WEDNESDAY, friends!
Today, I thought we’d combine…
…SHAY’S WAYS with a little WELLNESS WEDNESDAY and chat all things BEING NEIGHBORLY!
Because I feel like having a good relationship with your neighbors has to positively affect your wellness, right?!
Now, you people all know my roots.
Like a good neighbor…
Being “neighborly” is in my blood 😉 .
In May, my dear friend AND neighbor, Lauren…
…texted me and suggested I add “being neighborly” to my blog content. She sent me a few examples of what she meant, and I thought they were all BRILLIANT.
This is a GREAT topic we have yet to chat about.
Let’s remedy that now, shall we?
I truly feel like I’ve only lived directly next door to some amazing neighbors. I know we have been so so blessed because…some of my neighborhood neighbors do not enjoy who they live directly next door to, and I hear about it.
It’s really complicated when you buy your perfect home and put down your roots and really love where you’re planted and…a weed grows right next door.
Me and some of my lovely neighbors 🙂 .
Okay, here are a few “ways” that Lauren and her husband along with Andrew and me think help make us more “neighborly” (and I really, really, really can’t wait to read your thoughts in the comment section too!):
#1: UNTIMELY YARD MAINTENANCE
I think we can all agree that maintaining your yard is as much for your neighbor as it is for yourself. As Andrew says, “It doesn’t have to look like Amen Corner at Augusta, but it can look tidy.”. I think it’s neighborly though not just to maintain it to the best of your ability but to just be a wee bit conscientious of “when” you’re maintaining it. For example, using a leaf blower at 6:00 AM on a Saturday morning is probably not the ideal time.
#2: INCESSANT DOG BARKING
I have four dogs, I get it…sometimes they bark. The solution should never be though to leave them outside to bark their heads off while you go back inside to enjoy some peace and quiet away from said dog.
#3: PARKING, PARKING, PARKING
Any time my neighbors directly next door are having people over/entertaining, they always send a text and/or call in advance to let us know the date and time and to ask if it’s okay if cars are parked in front of our house. Of course, we don’t mind, but I always appreciate the heads up (and we reciprocate). I think it’s just polite to have an overall awareness of where you’re parking and where people coming into your home are parking. For instance, if the plumber is at your house, it’s probably not a good idea that he’s parked blocking the neighbor’s driveway.
#4: LATE NIGHT NOISE
Not all noises are “bad” late at night. The sound of my kids having a late night swim and laughing and being silly is sweet and oh so summery…unless you’re my next door neighbor who is trying to sleep. Then, it’s super annoying.
#5: FENCE SHARING
You know the old saying…good fences make great neighbors. I think this is very accurate, but I also think just being aware of the actual fence and making sure it’s being maintained, shrubs are being trimmed, your tree branches aren’t hanging over the side and dropping stuff into their yard…you know, that kind of thing is important too.
Andrew and Ashby at the Rangers/Yankees game with not one but TWO sets of neighbors 🙂 .
#6: KINDNESS
A friendly wave, a nice smile, bringing mail over that was inadvertently put in your mailbox…kindness between neighbors goes such a long way.
Which I think leads to…
#7: BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT
…I think if there is a problem, it’s probably better to lead with the benefit of the doubt. They might not know that when they leave the house, their typically very quiet dog goes berserk in the backyard and barks incessantly until they return.
#8: RETURN THINGS PROMPTLY AND IN GOOD CONDITION
I don’t know about your ‘hood, but we are constantly borrowing things from each other in ours. We swap pressure washers and edgers and a whole lot of random stuff. When you borrow from your neighbor, I think it’s great to return it in a timely manner, undamaged, with a full tank of gas (if required), and clean.
#9: PICK UP AFTER YOUR PETS
If your dog goes potty outside of your property, be kind and pick it up.
#10: TRULY BE THERE FOR EACH OTHER
Truly, truly, truly, I have seen this play out in real time, and no matter who you think “your people” are, in the event of an actual emergency, your next door neighbor becomes YOUR PEOPLE. Several years ago, we had an actual emergency where I had to leave the house right that minute because of an emergency outside of my home. At the time, Andrew was at work, I had two kids in elementary school and two kids napping upstairs. I called my next door neighbor, and I have no idea what she was doing at the time, but she was in my living room in under a minute. Fast forward a few years later, and one night, she walked into her home only to realize it had been burglarized and she called 911 and then us. You’ve never seen Andrew Shull move so fast. One night, I was making dinner and Andrew’s phone rang, and it was our across the street neighbor screaming that his house was on fire. I legit looked out that big window in my kitchen and holy freaking cow, his house was on fire. Neighbors are your people. Be there for each other.
As a reminder, earlier this year, we discussed Ways to Find Community and one of them was around your own neighborhood. Being neighborly is such an EXCELLENT way to have community.
Here we were just this past Friday being neighborly supporting a local event 🙂 .
Alrighty, I want to know your “ways” to be (or not to be!) neighborly. Please, please, please comment and share!
Don’t forget, I have other SHAY’S WAYS you might want to check out today too…
Just look:
25 Keys to a Peaceful Morning
22 Keys to making Fall Cozy
19 Key Fall Kitchen Essentials
18 Keys to Prepping for a Trip
14 Keys to Simplify BACK TO SCHOOL
21 Keys to Savoring Summer
21 Keys for Working at Home {Summer Edition}
25 Keys to Outdoor Summer Entertaining
25 Keys to Maintaining our Yard
17 Keys to my Holiday Prep
11 Keys to a Cozy Winter
9 Keys to Returning from a Trip
12 Keys to Leaving Your Kiddos When You Travel
13 Keys to Meal Planning
8 Keys to Creating Daily Routines You Love
21 Keys to Elevating the Everyday
13 Keys to Managing Jet Lag
9 Keys to a Cozy Halloween Night
19 Keys to Hosting Festive & Easy Holiday Parties
12 Keys to Adding Activity into the Everyday
17 Keys to Working From Home
9 Easy Afternoon Energizers
14 Simple Luxuries
8 Keys to Finding a Gym
21 Ways I Hygge
12 Ways for a Happier Day
7 Keys to Reducing/Avoiding Motion Sickness
8 Ways to Add “Vacation” to the Everyday
10 Keys to Getting Ready to Workout
8 Ways I Stay Healthy When I Travel
7 Ways to Make the Holidays Fun for Teens
9 Things NOT to do at the Gym
7 Ways to Find Community
11 Travel Finds in my Home
18 Ways to be Summer Chic
Happy Wednesday, friends!
I hope you have the BEST day! xx
Elspeth Mizner says
So many great ideas! I didn’t even think of the parking one! Also, sharing food is another idea, made too many cookies? Share some with a neighbor!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Mix and Match Mama says
YES!!!!
Mary Brown says
Great post! Curious question- with 4 dogs, how do you ensure they don’t bark constantly when outside while you are away for several hours? This such a hard thing!
Mix and Match Mama says
My dogs don’t stay outside unattended, so I can’t speak from personal experience…but I think it’s something, as a dog owner, you just have to figure out. People work from home, kids nap at home, people just need to be able to enjoy their home…so if someone has dogs barking all day long while they’re at work, that’s really unfair to the neighbors (and probably the dogs too, all of that barking can’t mean they’re at peace).
Allison says
Dog barking. ‘Nuff said!!
Bonnie Butler says
One of my New Year’s resolutions one year was to get to know my neighbors. I sent out to introduce myself to quite a few of them. It’s still not perfect, but it makes all these tips easier when you maintain a friendship. Or even a mere acquaintance.
Mix and Match Mama says
I love that you took that initiative!! Good for YOU!
Katie Compton says
Every Christmas I give our neighbors our Christmas card and a batch of my homemade chocolate fudge! They tell me they wait for it all year. 🥰 We also all come out and help shovel snow for each other or our elderly neighbors. Well, my husband does most of the shoveling and I provide fresh baked cookies!
Beyond that, just a smile and a good morning/afternoon/evening go a long way!!
Mix and Match Mama says
Oh wow! I love this!
Lisa D says
Oh I love this topic! I’ve had wonderful, lovely neighbors over many years and several homes. Smile, wave, be pleasant and accommodating — that is just basic kindness. Being a “good neighbor” takes effort. Here’s a few ideas:
Help with the trash cans. Sometimes a neighbor can’t put their refuse cans away so we wheel them up to their home for them. And they reciprocate. It’s a small gesture and much appreciated.
Invite the neighbors over for backyard drinks and snacks. It’s super easy and a casual way to get to know your neighbors.
Offer to get mail and/or watch their house when they go on a trip. Easy effort and again, much appreciated.
Pick up random trash in the neighborhood. Keeping our streets cleaned up is pretty easy.
Have a lovely, neighborly day😊
Mix and Match Mama says
Oh thank you, thank YOU, Lisa for sharing!! These are all wonderful additions.
Ashley D says
I love this post and think it’s so important to know your neighbors. Just recently, my husband and I were out of town and our next door neighbor came over and watered my flowers every single day. Plus, a few months ago when they were gone for 3 weeks, we retrieved packages from their porch and kept them until they returned home.
Also, just like you mentioned it’s nice to have a community around if you’re in need. For example, my husband travels for work and I know if I were to need immediate help, I have several neighbors I could go to. Great topic today!
Mix and Match Mama says
And you never mind helping a neighbor either, right? It just feels good to grab their mail for them or bring their trash bins back in, etc. It blesses everyone.
Paula Hobbs says
I love all of these tips! We are currently in the process of moving from a farmhouse & land into an HOA gated community and I’m so stinking excited about all of the neighborhood things. One of my biggest prayers is for nice neighbors. Thank you for sharing what works for you guys!
Lauren Palmer says
Such a good post and love seeing all the pictures of us over the years. 🩷 Thanks for being my neighbor!
Mix and Match Mama says
Thank YOU for the blog post suggestion 🙂 .
Sheaffer says
All great tips, and MY GOODNESS I loved Mr. Rodgers.
Lori says
I love these suggestions. We live in the country with at least 6-10 acres of land between neighbors but we always look out for each other.
Susan P Fitzpatrick says
We are so blessed with the best neighbors. We try to do many of the things you listed to be neighborly. My parents actually moved in small part due to a neighbor they had good relations with but frequently had up to 10 Cairn terriers at their house!! If you google “Cairn terriers” you will find that they are barkers 😬 They bark ALL the time!!! Anyway, I can’t recommend getting to know your neighbors enough. You never know when you might need them and vice versa.
Gail says
I love this topic! YES to all the things you mentioned. We have an annual potluck BBQ in one of the culdesacs with games for the kids….its a great way for new people to get to know each other. We had a neighbor that had a mental health emergency and our neighbor hood took up a collection to pay her rent for the month she was gone. We share the extra space in our yard waste bins with each other. Drive each other to cancer appointments when needed. Gather mail and packages when someone is out of town. Let me tell you, the dog walkers are the ones that really know what is going on! They let us know (in a good way) when someone has a need. I love our neighborhood!
Lisa says
I’d add helping our elderly neighbors! My husband goes out and snow blows/shovels/cleans off the car of our widowed neighbor across the street. And she bakes him a pie with gratitude. 🙂 It’s the sweetest. One of our other neighbors is a fire fighter and is often out snow blowing for the fire department/the town, so while he’s out doing that my husband will clear off his driveway/sidewalk so it’s one less thing to do when he gets home from hours of plowing for other people.
Mix and Match Mama says
YES! I love this!! Thank YOU for this, Lisa!
Beth Valenta says
It has been difficult, as my neighbors are a lot older so they simply aren’t out as much. So to meet and be friendly, I walk every day and try to make some new connections. I have done cards, and my hubby does any yard issue, as we live next to a common area. My biggest connections come around the holidays…walking in the parade for July 4th, walking around on Halloween, Christmas lights…
Kathryn Story says
I love this post! We are so fortunate to have two amazing families as our next-door neighbors, and the fact that our kids are all around the same ages makes it even more fun. We’ve always been close, but after Hurricane Helene devastated our town, we grew even closer as we spent months helping each other clean up, rebuild, and get our homes and yards back in shape. ❤️
Jenny N says
We live in S. Texas and get hurricanes from time to time. After a hurricane most of the neighbors will get together with chain saws, rakes, etc. and go house to house helping to clean up yards and downed trees. Last year we just got a good wind one day and one neighbor had a very large tree limb go down. We got home and they were out cleaning it and we quickly changed clothes, put on our gloves and ran over to help them cut it up and haul it to the curb.
We let the neighbors know when we are going out of town so they can keep an eye on our house and vice versa. I walk a lot in the evenings and if one of the neighbors has their trash can still out I will always wheel it up to their garage. It just takes me a minute and it is one less thing they have to mess with once they get home.
Our neighbors will often tell us if they are having gatherings at their house. We usually offer our driveway if they need extra parking.
We live on a cul-de-sac and have a great group of neighbors! We got very lucky and are so thankful!
Mix and Match Mama says
Thank YOU so much for sharing this, Jenny! xx
Kay says
I have the funniest neighbor story! We are lucky enough to be friends with a few families in our neighborhood and we’ve raised our kids together. I have a text thread with a few other moms and one day, my husband was using a new power tool and I jokingly said “I’ll let you know if he saws an arm off.” Well, my poor sweet friend read the text too quickly and though he HAD sawed his arm…so moments later, my doorbell rang and she had sent her husband over to be there for our “emergency.” We straightened it all out and had a good laugh and still to this day mention in! But point is, yes, in an emergency the fact that my neighbor just jumped in and sent her husband to help was amazing!!!
K.K. says
We love doing treats for all our neighbors at Christmas too! And we’ve had some over for a meal. There’s something about sharing food. The other thing that came to mind is just sit or working in the front yard and looking around as we do it. Greeting people out walking. Helping someone get there stuff in from the store (or offering) just because once every couple of weeks, we are purposefully working or drinking tea/coffee in the front so we can see each other. Simple but works!