Jordan and I moved into our new HOUSE this month and within moments of arriving, we have been showered with so much love! Neighbor after neighbor as popped by to say hey, welcome us to the neighborhood, and even give us flowers, balloons, and treats 😭 Y’all, we did not even KNOW these people! And they have already gone so far out of their way to make us feel like part of the fam ❤️ It’s been so inspiring and has made me realize how much I want to prioritize being a good neighbor. It’s so important to love our neighbors – both literal and non – and goodness knows the world needs a little extra love right now. Here’s our game plan for being the BEST neighbors we can be!
Be Intentional.
I think this is going to be the most important thing by far. It’s so easy to live our separate lives and to just kind of forget about the people who share your block. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about community, it’s that it TAKES 👏🏻 WORK 👏🏻 None of these sweet neighbors HAD to come welcome us – they thought of it themselves, made a plan, and took action. The first step is to THINK! Jordan and I want to be constantly thinking of our neighbors and how we can bless them. Then, we want to make that thought a reality – it can’t just stop at the nice sentiment. Think it, plan it, do it.
Our neighborhood is full of families who love to have a beer together on the front lawn after work while the kids play! We wanna be in on that and it might mean dedicating some time to intentionally pausing and becoming a part of the really sweet community that’s here ❤️
Take Care of Your Space.
You know in college when you had that roommate who never cleaned up their stuff? Welllll… we don’t wanna be those neighbors! Keeping our yard nice and our space clean isn’t just about US. It’s about respecting the neighborhood and recognizing that the way YOU carry yourself effects everyone around you! We don’t want to just meet regulations – we want to exceed them by taking really good care of the home we’ve been given.
Here are a few super practical things we wanna do:
- Keep our pups on leash – I usually let Hazel run around off leash because she’s really well behaved, but earlier this week she ran over to a neighbor’s yard and peed in it – WHILE they were sitting on the front porch! 😳😅 Even though it’s not a HUGE deal, I want to be mindful and respectful of other people’s yards, so I’m gonna keep her on leash from now on!
- Keep our yard and sidewalk clear – we’ve never had to do our own yard work before since we lived in a townhome! This is a whole new ball game for us 🤪 We’re gonna try to be all over it – keeping the grass cut, the edges trimmed, the flowers watered – the whole shebang.
- Park our cars in the garage – this just helps to keep the street clear! It’s not always possible of course, but whenever we can, we’re trying to not take up extra space.
- Add blinds to avoid awkwardness – my job is a little out of the ordinary LOL, and I don’t want any awkwardness from someone seeing me do a try on haul in my living room! 🤣 We are ordering blinds right now, but in the meantime, we installed some frosted film decals to our windows to protect both our privacy and not make a spectacle of ourselves 🤪
Take Care of Each Other.
2020 has been a YEAR and we’re only halfway through! Everybody’s got stuff going on, and we need to be looking out for each other. Jordan and I want to do our best to welcome our neighbors to the neighborhood with a sweet gift, get to know each other, and to do our best to walk through life together. Maybe it’ll look like hosting a socially distanced neighborhood outing, or getting coffee one on one with my future besties (aka all the ladies I wanna be friends with around here hehe 🤪). We’ve all been exchanging numbers which is so nice! It could even be just picking up litter when we see it, or choosing to fix a problem when we see it rather than complaining. Words are nice – but actions are better!
In the end, it’s about loving each other well, right? In the Austin-Ramirez house, we aren’t gonna have any gossip or rude behavior. No litter in the yard or dogs runnin’ wild. No ma’am! We are going to serve each other and everyone who shares this space. We have been so blown away by the kindness everyone has shown us already, and we are so excited to start giving that back!
How are you a good neighbor? What are we missing? I’d seriously love to hear your experiences!
XOXO Dani