Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

How many of you know most of your neighbors by name (first and last)?

Honestly, i know 2 by first and last name and 2 others by first names only. One couple we are very friendly with (socialize, dinners, etc.) and the rest is a wave, or chatting while landscaping, etc.

I think that as a CF person, I find it harder to meet people in my neighborhood b/c most of them have children and I'm not at the bus stop, school events, etc. I would like to be more social, I guess my best bet would be to chit chat while gardening/landscaping, etc. on the weekends, b/c I don't see them otherwise.

Anyone else have the same situation?

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

I talk to anyone and everyone. I visit my one elderly neighbor often since she lost her husband of 50 years last year. A bunch of neighbors stood in our driveway when an ambulance came to get him when he first fell ill. I stop in my car and chat with another neighbor who is also always on the go. Then there are the rare 'we lost our power, wonder what happened, let's all go meet up in the street and lament' days.

Whether it's just 2 minutes or a 45 minute visit, I always chat with my neighbors. And I only rent.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

I live in a garden co-op, and know most of my neighbors by name. A lot are elderly and those of us that are younger tend to look out for the older folks. Same thing happens here - chitchat in the laundry room, while I'm out gardening, or on our way in and out of our apartments.
We just don't socialize with any of our neighbors.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

I live in a building so you would think being in such close quarters I would know people but I don't. Think Jamie Buchman from Mad About You...LOL I will chat with about 5 people, know another 5-10 by name, say hi to some others but that's about it. People aren't too friendly so I stopped trying.


I think kids help you get to know other parents but are not necessary to get to know your neighbors. My BIL is one of those talk to anyone people - my sister says it can take him half an hour to walk up the street. Strike up conversations when you are out front or over the fence - wave as you go by that sort of thing.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

We don't socialize much with them - then again we're not social butterflies at all.

The way our block is setup, the block next to us narrows down to a single house so we're looking at someone's backyard - so there is no neighbor there really.

We are one house from the end so it's really only the 2 neighbors directly to our sides that we would have any contact with.

The one couple next door are odd - sometimes they will wave, other times they ignore us. (We're outside landscaping often.) So we've given up on them for the most part.

The other side is an older lady, husband died and she spends most of the time inside. Only time we will see her is when she is hanging her laundry out on the line, so we'll only see her once every few months as timings need to work out perfectly.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

Right after we moved in, three of my fellow corner house neighbors approached us, all in the same day. We were raking leaves on the front lawn. Since there was never a for sale sign on the lawn, they never knew the prev owners had moved out!

Yardwork and gardening has absolutely been the biggest connector. Even if they just stop by when I'm gardening to talk about this flower or that, it's nice to have that. I'll stop to chat when I'm walking Brinkley. We get each other little presents each Christmas. Two brothers are in a band so they invite us to go to their gigs.

I know what you mean though, I do feel like there are less opportunities to casually socialize because you're not hanging out at games or school events together or having playdates. So we just have to take each opportunity we have when we are outdoors to make that happen.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

we just closed in november, we had met the people behind us who are retiring and probably going to sell but they are nice, the people next to us we met while outside cleaning the house (near retirement age) and we called the cops on the neighbor across the street's wife so we are not friends with them LoL!

But the other neighbors i just met last night, they closed on the house in dec and they have two kids. Wife came over to drop off mail exchanged hello's and that was about it. I hope in the summer to really interact with them more since they are the closest to our age group on our block. Perhaps i can earn extra money babysitting as well.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

On one side of us is an older couple. We talk to the husband but the wife is very sick and never leaves the house. so inviting them for BBQs is out of the question.

the couple on the other side have 2 grown children and we dont have anything in common with them. We rarely see them out also,

One neighbor across the street has 2 children ranging in age from 18-4 and she is the yenta of the neighborhood. I limit my interaction with her to hi and bye....thats about it.

the other ones across the street, the wife is nice, say hi to her but the husband will turn his back when we wave hello....whatever!

so to answer your question...no we arent close to any of our neighbors.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

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Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

Message edited 9/17/2011 2:12:01 AM.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

we lucked out & have great neighbors. actually, they greeted us on our first night with a bottle of champagne. seems like they didn't get along with the sellers & couldn't wait for them to leave.

there are 2 couples who are currently CF & 2 that have children. we have been invited to barbeques by both sets CF and not CF. we aren't that close. we talk more in the summer. we barely see anybody now.

all are neighbors get along & look out for each other. but i don't think they socialize outside of barbeques. we don't make plans to go out for dinner etc.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

My closest neighbor is a single mom who is always mentioning we should come over for drinks and neighbor gossip. She's on good terms with her DS's dad, and we've met him too when he picks him up. The guy across the way is a smile and wave guy. We had a young couple on our other side but they moved. The guy was really nice but the girl was a wench. There aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

Posted by Lisa

On one side of us is an older couple. We talk to the husband but the wife is very sick and never leaves the house. so inviting them for BBQs is out of the question.

the couple on the other side have 2 grown children and we dont have anything in common with them. We rarely see them out also,

One neighbor across the street has 2 children ranging in age from 18-4 and she is the yenta of the neighborhood. I limit my interaction with her to hi and bye....thats about it.

the other ones across the street, the wife is nice, say hi to her but the husband will turn his back when we wave hello....whatever!

so to answer your question...no we arent close to any of our neighbors.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

We just bought our house and moved in last month. We have met a few of our neighbors some with the snow just before the holiday. We live across from a park so I think we will get to know them when it gets warmer.
We rented the house we were in before this and we were very close with all of our surrounding neighbors.

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

We don't know anyone by name, but will smile and wave. The lady next door is nice, she rents, and when I asked her for her land lords# about their tree coming into our yard, she had her brother take care of it for us! That was nice. :)

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

I don't know any of my neighbors actually...

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

I know all my neighbors by name, and have been inside all their homes at some point, i even invited my neighbors and their son over to my pool for 4th of July

Yes all my neighbors have kids, but I always talk to them regardless, the kids are cute, and the parents are very nice too!

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

I met most of the people in my neighborhood by walking our dogs...sadly i usually remember their dog's names before the owners name

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

Posted by KittyKatCopper

I met most of the people in my neighborhood by walking our dogs...sadly i usually remember their dog's names before the owners name

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

Posted by munchkinfacemama
Well, in the past you used to just look for insane people who poured lighter fluid in their indoor fireplaces

Re: Meeting your neighbors when you don't have kids..

Posted by KittyKatCopper

Posted by munchkinfacemama
Well, in the past you used to just look for insane people who poured lighter fluid in their indoor fireplaces

haha...no i met those freaks on an internet chat forum My dogs would've warned me to steer clear!