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Archive through April 27, 2005

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2005 Jun. ~ Aug.: Free Expressions ARCHIVES: Getting to know your neighbors...: Archive through April 27, 2005 users admin

Author Message
Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 5:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Looking for suggestions on how to get to know neighbors better.
Examples:
a block party
organizing bunco or poker nights
setting up some kind of exchange-recipes, etc.
setting up playdates with kids

I am also looking for ways to do it, putting a flier on mailboxes, doorknobs, mailing postcards, etc.

Any ideas, suggestions, etc. would be so appreciated.

Bob2112
Member

06-12-2002

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:23 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Call the fire department to your house around 10:00 PM tonight. All the neighbors will come out to see what's up.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:29 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Bob, you are too funny--and psychic!

That would work! But I don't think the Fire Department would be too happy. Maybe I could have my dh fake an attack of some sort!

Actually the other night (wed) there was a long power outtage. For well over an hour. And the old man who lives across the street did have a heart attack at the same time. So when three police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck showed up, several people did come out. I met 2 really nice neighbors that I never met before.

So Bob, you are psychic! Cuz it was meeting them that made me want to meet more!!!! But since the old man already used the fire department thing, I don't think I could use it again so soon!

Rslover
Member

11-19-2002

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:33 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
This gives you details on implementing some of your ideas.
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/neighbors/neighbors.html

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We have an official happy hour flag for our street. If it goes out in your yard on Wednesday, that means happy hour at your house on Friday. Everyone brings their beverage of choice and an appetizer. It's always in the front or back yard. The hostess only has to set up tables, have ice, cups and plates. It's been great. alot of our happy hours go from 5:30 till 11!!!!!! LOL we have a real mix of ages on our street too.
I would just send a flier out saying "block party in our yard on such and such date! byob and your favorite appetizer" and then see what happens.

Bob2112
Member

06-12-2002

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:41 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
<...thinks the word Julieboo was really looking for is psychotic...>

Hippyt
Member

06-15-2001

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Gawd,I wish my neighbors would go away! lol There is always some knucklehead knocking on the door.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 6:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Oh jeeze you guys are GREAT! Thank you so much!

Bob, you are a lot of things, but psychotic is not one of them!

LOL Hippy. There is always that "on the other hand' aspect too. I do kind of like being left alone. I only want to be social when I feel like it!!! And the biggest inspiration to do this is for my son to find more playmates.... (see, he goes to a school not nearby)

Escapee
Member

06-15-2004

Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 8:28 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
My neighbors hate me. My dog beats up their dog.

Mocha
Member

08-12-2001

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 7:44 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I have bizarro neighbors so I tried to avoid them as much as possible. When I'm out with the dogs and see them pull up I immediately drag the dogs inside.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 8:09 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
The Sponge is SO psychotic.

Jimmer
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 8:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We have some neighbors who have become good friends but we are always very cautious when meeting neighbors as they are very difficult to get away from if things don't work out right in your relationship with them!

Cher
Member

08-18-2004

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 10:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I enjoyed reading some of the suggestions above - the way I get to know my neighbors is just go over and visit. I have lived in my neighborhood about three years now and have some of the best neighbors (Denecee being one of them) I am at their house alot. I have one neighbor across the street I don't really visit with but - the rest I love to visit with.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 11:03 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Julie, you have the best reason and excuse to get to know your neighbors, your son!

We were slow to get to know our neighbors....took us about a year to get to know the ones closest to us. But it wasn't until Caleb was about 5 that I got to know most the rest that I do know. He was playing out front when I looked out one day to see about 6 kids standing in my yard asking if he could go home with them, lol. Now maybe I was a bit more protective, cuz some of these kids were around the same age as him, but he wasn't allowed to leave the yard. They asked if they could stay and play. My rule is, sure they can stay and play as long as they are playing nice, but first I must meet and talk to their parents. It was amazing how quickly neighbors come running when they realize theres a neighborhood hangout house, LOL.

This year with no bus service has been a great way to get to know the neighbors better as well. Those of us who stay home help out those who don't when it comes to car pooling.

Once we were ready to start making friends with the neighbors, it was really easy. We moved into an older, established neighborhood. Families had been here for years and our neighbors consisted of two types of people. Those who had raised their children here and were settling down to life with them out of the house and those who had been raised in this neighborhood. The three sets of neighbors across the street from us grew up here, they went to school together, either bought or inherited their houses from their parents and had grown up with the older neighbors kids. Everybody knew everybody, so once we got to know one person, we were meeting others who they were friendly with.

Wapland
Member

08-01-2000

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 11:40 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Well I tend to do the old fashioned thing. I buy a small plant, usually a vine that you have to work hard to kill. I just go to the door, knock and say "welcome to the neighbourhood". This of course only works if they are new to the neighbourhood. When we moved to our new neighourhood, it was around the corner from the house I grew up in. I went to each of my neighbours with a small brown bag with some spring bulbs in them. Tacked on the outside was our name, address and phone number. I greeted each of them with the small gift and said we were new to the neighbourhood and just wanted to say hello. People seemed to appreciate the gesture. We definately got Christmas cards.

Now last year we had a flood. 13 of 16 homes flooded. Everyone got QUICKLY reaquainted that night and the days that followed. Nothing like a tradegy and fighting city hall to get your neighbourhood rallied. I wouldn't suggest it as a strategy that's for sure.

This week, I have had to knock on my neighbour's door to use their toilet. They didn't seem to mind seeing me with roll and air freshner in hand, so this might be a possibility....fake bathroom renovations!!!

Fondly
Wappy

Hereiam
Member

03-29-2002

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 11:57 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
One idea is to host a neighborhood emergency planning meeting. The fire department by us will go out quite happily and talk to groups about various emergency stuff including earth quakes, fires and such. Also, the police department is happy to come by and talk about neighborhood watches and the like. Plan on having cookies and coffee for after and I bet you meet a lot of folks.

Wargod
Moderator

07-16-2001

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 12:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Ha, we've done that too Wappy, with our plumbing problems, lol. Always fun to run across the street with a filthy kid, a towel, soap, and clean clothes. Last year they rennovated their kitchen and since they did most the work themselves it took about six months. They started using a lot of paper and plastic ware, but still had pots and pans to wash. The first few months she'd go out front with her bucket and dishes but then it started to get cold. So she'd knock on my door carrying her bucket, lol.

How about a spring cleaning get together. Maybe planting flowers in a community lot or stretch of road, sweeping up leaves, branches or trees, that kind of stuff. A few years ago one of the neighbor kids had to do a project for his boy scout community sevice. He selected our elderly neighbors, then spent the summer doing yard work, replacing light bulbs in outdoor light fixtures, cleaning rain gutters, etc. When the project got too big for him alone, he enlisted the aid of the rest of the neighbors. That was another great way for us to meet some of the older neighbors who didn't have kids.

Springer
Member

03-12-2004

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 1:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
When I moved into my new townhouse three years ago it seemed quite unfriendly to me around here. People didn't seem to come outside at all. They would just pull up to their driveway...use the remote...and go in their garage and close the door. Never really saw them.

I wanted to get to know some of my neighbors....so I had to make myself available to them. One summer day, I just put out a couple of lawn chairs on my shady driveway....got a good book...sat down and started to read. Before I could read two pages people started coming over to introduce themselves. This became a summer habit for me.....and a very rewarding one.

I guess others were feeling the same way as I was and were just waiting to see a neighbor outside once and a while.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 1:47 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
You guys are great. These are all great ideas!!!! Thank you all so much!

Twiggyish
Member

08-14-2000

Monday, March 07, 2005 - 2:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Love these ideas! I like joining the neighborhood watch or planning committees. We take a walk in the afternoon. There are always neighbors outside in the afternoons working on their lawns, washing cars or watching their kids play. We usually say hi as we pass and sometimes just chat with them.

Secretsmile
Member

08-19-2002

Tuesday, March 08, 2005 - 7:07 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I have enjoyed all the suggestions you've gotten here Julieboo. I've had to reach back in my memory to remember when we first moved here and how we got to know everyone. There were two ways that really stuck out in my mind.

1. I offered to collect signatures for some local candidates to run for office, I was able to walk the surrounding blocks and talk to all sorts of people I normally wouldn't have met.

2. I started a new garden in my front yard. Just being in the front of the house encouraged people to stop and chat, and even two brought me bulbs they had thinned out of their gardens.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Tuesday, March 08, 2005 - 7:15 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thank you secretsmile! And everyone! These are so great!

Cablejockey
Member

12-27-2001

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - 9:33 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
So, does anyone have any neighbours who still have Christmas decorations up on their front lawn? I don't mean lights, that i hardly notice, but Santas, bows, and garland still festooning doors front lawns and what not. It seems to me--and I could be oh so wrong--that folks used to get their Christmas decorations down and out by end of January--tops. Over the years it takes longer and longer. i am surprised they don't notice how ridiculous it looks. On my street there are a few homes with the full Christmas monty going on. And I wouldn't dream of complaining, they don't take kindly to complaints in these here parts.

Julieboo
Member

02-05-2002

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - 9:39 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
What about an anonymous (lighthearted) letter? Or just an anonymous (nice) letter? It'll only cost you the price of a stamp...

Cablejockey
Member

12-27-2001

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - 9:43 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Thanks, that's something I'll try. Are there homes like this in your neighbourhood Julieboo?