What to do when your neighbors are moving away

Life is very much unpredictable and you have no way of knowing what tomorrow will bring. A house move may be waiting for you just around the corner… or it may have already made an appointment with your neighbors.

The moment you learn that you neighbors are moving away, you may feel a sense of overwhelming sadness or a feeling of sheer joy. As you can guess, how you feel will largely depend on your specific relationships with the folks next door who have decided to move out and become folks next door somewhere else.

So, what should you do when your neighbors are moving away? Should you go to them and offer your assistance (in case of good neighbors) or should you do nothing but rejoice at the thought that those horrible people will soon be gone forever (in case of bad neighbors)?

Here’s what you should do in each house moving scenario: when good neighbors are moving away and when bad neighbors are moving away.

What to do when good neighbors are moving away

When your good neighbors are moving away, then that’s a bad relocation scenario for a number of reasons:

• You may be on friendly terms with these folks, and it’s always a sad day when friends are moving away from you;
• You won’t be able to enjoy the company of your nice neighbors anymore;
• You won’t be able to rely on kind people who you can trust to help you out in emergency situations; and
• You never know what kind of people will move in next door after your neighbors have moved out. The new folks could turn out to be the epitome of Neighbors from Hell.

Regrettably, when your good neighbors have already decided to move away, there’s nothing you can do to change their mind, and you shouldn’t try to do it either. After all, they must have thought it through carefully and it’s unrealistic to think that you can influence their decision in any way.

The best you can do under the circumstances is to accept your neighbors’ decision to move away and try to help them in any way you can.

Recommend your neighbors a good moving company

Without a doubt, one of the best ways to help your neighbors when they are getting ready to move out is to recommend them a reputable moving company they can hire.

Now, if you have recently used a professional mover and you’ve been very happy with their services, then it’s your duty to recommend those professional moving services to your folks next door as well.

Your neighbors may not fully realize it but your recommendation for a moving company will be a huge help to them and will save them tons of valuable time spent in searching and researching different moving companies.

What’s more, your advice may even save them from potential troubles if they happen to pick a not-so-great mover.

Give your neighbors any packing materials you don’t need

Another way you can help when your neighbors are moving away is to give them any packing materials you may have lying around in your home.

Mostly, they will really appreciate any moving boxes in good condition – cardboard containers that you may have kept from your previous house move. And if you do happen to have such boxes, then make sure they are strong, dry, and infestation-free before handing them out to your next-door folks.

Also, in case you keep clean packing paper and/or bubble wrap, your neighbors are surely going to welcome your kind gesture of giving them usable packing supplies free of charge.

Offer your neighbors to help them pack

It’s no secret that packing for a move is the most time-consuming task during a house move. Therefore, one useful thing you can do for your neighbors is to offer to help them with packing.

One extra pair of helping hands may not seem like much, but it does make a difference. And if you and your partner both are willing to help your next-door friends who are going through a very transitional period, then you can be sure that your assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Furthermore, moving days often involve instances of lifting and carrying heavy household items such as furniture and tons of moving boxes. So, unless your thoughtful neighbors have hired full-service movers, they may expect you to offer your moving-labor assistance on the move-out day.

Invite your neighbors to a goodbye party

Your good neighbors are moving away and you may not see them again for a long time… or maybe your paths will never cross again. If the people next-door are also your friends, then their upcoming move is not something to be cheerful about.

And yet, it’s a good idea to throw a farewell party for your friendly neighbors while they are still there. It’s an excellent chance to create even more nice memories by spending an unforgettable evening or night with them shortly before they have to go away.

Don’t forget to ask them for their new address at the farewell get-together in case you happen to pass through their destination town or city sometime in the future and wish to see them in person once more.

Give your neighbors a farewell gift

Yet another thing you can do when your neighbors are moving out is to give them something nice and meaningful as a farewell gift.

The moving away gift for your neighbors can be anything – from something you have created with your own hands (crafting a hand-made article, writing a poem, composing a song, etc.) to more standard gifts such as a book, a painting, a personalized item, or anything else that you know your good neighbors will enjoy and appreciate.

See also: What to do when your best friend is moving away

What to do when bad neighbors are moving away

Sometimes having your neighbors move away is not a bad thing at all – on the contrary, it can be a reason enough for you to start jumping with joy.

If you’ve been unfortunate enough to live next to bad neighbors – nosy, gossipy, noisy, inconsiderate, negligent, suspicious, or even dangerous individuals, then the news of those folks leaving the area will surely be a great relief for you, especially if you have been forced to fight with or put up with those unpleasant people for years.

Don’t even think about helping them out in any way

Besides being glad that those obnoxious neighbors will soon be gone, there isn’t anything special that you need to do.

In case of a feud between you and them, your neighbors won’t normally ask for any kind of help from you. And that’s perfectly fine with you, right? But if they do, then you should do the right thing and do what you think is right under the circumstances. In other words, you should say NO.

And no, you’re not trying to prove that you’re a bad neighbor too, you’re just making a good point and teaching them a valuable lesson to help them realize their mistakes.

Throw a party when they have moved away

Your bad neighbors have finally moved out – you find it hard to believe but what you once thought was impossible had somehow come true. There is justice, after all.

Now, the only thing worth doing is throwing a party to celebrate the fact that your life has one less bad thing in it. The chances are that your other neighbors will feel the same way and join your party uninvited – something that you wouldn’t really mind.

Let’s just hope that the new neighbors who are set to move in soon won’t be even worse than the old ones.

Related: Moving because of bad neighbors