Getting along well with your neighbors is something that can really help you feel more comfortable in your home. For many, this is something that comes very naturally and relationships can be built across the fences without much effort. For others however, getting along with those who live next door, is not always something that is easy and this has the potential to cause problems.
I have friends for example who have had to get help with a boundary dispute, others who have neighbors which they have had arguments with and some who’s neighbors seem to genuinely wish to make their lives difficult. If you want to have a great relationship with your neighbor, here are some steps to do so.
Olive Branch
The first to creating a better relationship with your neighbor is to extend a hand of kindness and invite them over for a drink or something to eat. For example, if the sun is shining and you are having a barbecue, why not invite them over for a hamburger or a beer, you may not like each other, this is a bonus not a requirement, but if you can break bread together and maintain some kind of friendly relationship, this can help you both.
Talking
Just talking to you neighbor can help greatly, many feel shy or unwilling to chat to their neighbors and the longer that this goes on for, the more difficult it will make it. You cannot judge a book by its cover and you may find that just having a chat with your neighbor, can open up a healthy dialogue which could help you both a great deal in the future. This is often the first step to creating a bond between your neighbors and yourself, simple, yet very effective.
Offering Help
The area which you live in should be a community which helps each other out and in order to be a part of creating this, you should make the effort to offer some help where possible. This could be something as simple as mowing someone’s lawn when you do yours, dropping their kids off if they go to the same school as yours or even offering some help carrying shopping into the house. Don’t wait for your neighbors to offer you help, take that first step and be the one who starts it.
Consideration
One of the keys to having a better relationship with your neighbor is to be considerate of their space and their way of life. This may not sound like much but it can really make a big difference. If you have a party for example then keeping the noise down is something that you should be thinking about, equally if you have pets then you should try and make sure that they stay within the boundaries of your home and that they don’t cause problems for your neighbors. This respectfulness of the space and the boundaries of your home and that of your neighbor can really help you to improve the relationship which you have with them.