Unless your nearest neighbor lives five miles away up in the hills, your neighbors are going to be impacted on moving day. And we know you want to be a good neighbor on both ends of your move to your new home. Here are a few tips to make that happen.
The day of the week and time of day that you move is going to have an impact on your neighbors. While you obviously have to work around your schedule and the moving company’s calendar, you can still pick days and times that will cause the least amount of disruption to your neighbors.
For example, the hours between 9 and 4 are usually the best time to move because you’re least likely to disturb people with noise, mess with their parking, or just plain get in their way. You might want to change these hours a little if you have nearby neighbors with new babies. Check in with those neighbors to see when nap time is so you can cause the least disruption possible.
To keep being a good neighbor, let your neighbors know what’s going on with your moving day. That means both sets of neighbors: the ones you’re leaving behind, and the ones you’re moving towards. If your moving truck is going to be blocking their driveways, garages, or parking spaces, they need to know.
It’s also good to let your neighbors know what’s going on in case there are other people in your neighborhood who will be moving in or out on the same day. You know what they say, the neighborhood that moves together, grooves together.
Between movers traipsing in and out, boxes, plastic sheeting, mountains of packing tape, and bunched up paper to keep breakables unbroken, there’s a lot of trash that can accumulate on moving day.
Keep your status as a good neighbor by picking up all your trash, plus a little extra that maybe laying around. We like the rule of thumb: pick up all your trash, plus five more.
Say your goodbyes and hellos before moving day so that the day itself is less stressful. Your good-byes could be held at a party, where you can have all your old neighbors jot down their contact info in your address book so you can keep in touch after your move.
You should also have a housewarming party for all of your new neighbors. This way they get to know you a little bit, and suddenly you’re not the crazy cat lady, you’re just a lady named Kat who’s a little bit crazy. It’s also an opportunity for you to find out about kids around the age of your kids, or pets who might get along well with yours. Here are more ideas for meeting your new neighbors.
Keep the golden rule in mind while you’re moving, and treat others the way you would want to be treated. If you’d like to know there’s going to be a bunch of sweaty guys hauling crap across your yard to get to the moving truck that’s blocking in your driveway, let your neighbors know ahead of time that’s going to be the case on your moving day. Try to keep the disruptions, noise, and trash to a bare minimum. Remember, good fences don’t make good neighbors; good neighbors make good neighbors.