Getting To Know Your Neighbors Can Save You Money

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post written by Kara Lee, for www.theflawedconsumer.com

In today’s modern world, having established, positive relationships with your neighbors might seem like a concept from a time gone by.

These days it seems as though a positive relationship with your neighbors consists of a smile, or a wave if you’re lucky, when you see each other coming home from work, or bump into each other in the hallway of your apartment complex.

For most of us, this suits fine. But, have you ever thought of what you might be missing out on by not getting to know your neighbors?

As I discovered when my wife and I moved into our first home of our own last year, making an effort to get to know your neighbors can be hugely beneficial… Especially, for your wallet.

The Ability To Borrow Tools

When you’re renting, there’s plenty of occasions you might need to use a tool or two to fix something simple, rather than waiting for your landlord to call in a handyman. And, if you own your own home, chances are you’re going to be doing a whole lot of DIY fix-it and remodelling projects.

However, how many of us actually have all the tools we need for all of the projects around the place? Sure, you might have the bare essentials, but chances are your tool box isn’t fit for all purposes.

This is where you’re neighbors can come in handy. Say you’re in the middle of changing a tap spindle and you realize you don’t have a long enough socket for the job… Do you really want to head off to the hardware store to buy a tool you’ll barely use, or would you rather skip next door to your neighbor’s place and see what they’ve got?

If you’ve got a good relationship with your neighbors, the ability to borrow, rather than buy, tools could save you hundreds.

Fresh Produce

Ever looked at your neighbors yard or patio and thought “Wow, that’s a great food garden. Those tomatoes look delicious”?

This is something I think to myself almost everyday. Fortunately for me, my neighbors produce more than enough for themselves and share their excess produce with us.

Over the last year, they’ve given us about 5 pounds of zucchini, 5 pounds of lemons, 3 pounds of squash, 4 pounds of tomatoes and a pound of sweet corn. In return, we’ve given them some homebrewed beer and baked a cake for them using their lemons as the star ingredient.

If you’re lucky enough to have green thumb neighbors, reaping the rewards of their harvest can save you time and money, as well as improve your intake of fresh, nutritious fruit and vegetables.

Free Pet Sitting

When we first moved into our house, our dog freaked out. She was two-and-a-half at the time and had only ever lived in the one house. She didn’t understand that her home had changed and kept trying to escape from her new yard. Every day we went to work, she would continuously howl and bark in protest.

Feeling worried that our new neighbors might get sick of it and report her to our local Council, we marched next door to apologize. As it turns out, our neighbors love dogs and understood that she was just struggling to adjust, so they offered to talk to her through the fence and try to calm her down when she was barking and/or howling.

Over time, my neighbors developed a relationship with our dog and started to come over to hit the ball for her in our yard or take her for a walk while we were at work. They have also offered to take care of both our dog and cat when we go away on vacation.

Having established this relationship with our neighbors has saved us money and a whole lot of stress. Not only that, but our dog is much happier for our efforts too!

Free House Sitting

One of the greatest things about establishing a positive relationship with your neighbors is having them keep an eye on your place when you’re away.

Utilizing your neighbors for house sitting can save you hundreds, especially if your lawn needs mowing, your mail collecting or your plants watering; and you happen to have neighbors who are kind enough to do these things for you in your absence.

In addition to saving money on these services, having your neighbors keep an eye on your place while you’re away is hugely beneficial from a security perspective. Just simply having people coming and going from your house regularly can be enough to deter any lurking thieves who are ready to take advantage of your well-earned getaway.

Local knowledge

If you’ve recently moved into an area or bought your first house or apartment, trying to figure out which local businesses to use for trades or services can be difficult.

Firstly, you have to figure out what your options are. And then you’ll want to know whether those options are reputable and affordable. Researching the internet can be helpful in discerning this information, but you’ll likely miss some of your available options by researching this way. Unfortunately, even though it’s the 21st century, not all businesses have well established online platforms or reviews.

However, If you have established positive relationships with your neighbors, you can ask them if they have any recommendations for trades people or local businesses. In doing so, you’ll likely get an honest, first-hand review and a good idea of pricing. Even better, you may receive referral rates from the business for your neighbors’ efforts in securing a new customer!

Summary

If you’re like most people and haven’t taken the time to get to know your neighbors, you might want to reconsider your approach. Whilst all neighbors may not be as friendly and helpful as mine, you’ll never know if you don’t make the effort to reach out and try to get to know yours. All it takes is a few simple words to strike up a conversation here and there, and you might just lay the foundations for a fruitful relationship that’ll pay off for many years to come.