HOW TO AVOID A NOSY NEIGHBOR PART III
How to Get Privacy From Nosy Neighbors
I am about maintaining a peaceful home involving feng shui landscaping that brings joy, song birds, bees, and butterflies to my flower and vegetable garden.
It may be tempting to call it a day and put up an 8 foot fence, but that won’t necessarily stop them from watching you, especially if you live in close proximity of one another and have a deck that can look down on your backyard.
Last resort would be to move, but why move if you’re not the problem?
1. Talk to Them
Depending on how long the nosy neighbor has been living in the neighborhood, they may have a sense of entitlement that it is within their right to know the daily going ons around them.
Or they were so used to living around the same people for so long, changes in the neighborhood are difficult to accept.
Unless you’re engaging in illegal acitivity, your neighbor has no business inserting themselves in your life or in the privacy of your hom. You pay the rent, mortgage, property taxes, etc., they don’t.
Sure you can tell your nosy neighbor to go away, but that may not end well.
In fact, they may not even know they are being nosy. Perhaps there has been an increase of criminal activity in the area and your neighbor is simply being hypervigilant. You won’t know until you engage in conversation.
2. Create a Privacy Living Barrier
Create a barrier between you and your neighbor with a “living fence” by planting shrubs, trees, and tall ornamental grasses for privacy. Add some solar lights in between the plants and you’ll have a beautiful backdrop of soft light.
In my case, I planted cherry bushes, dwarf spiral Alberta trees, boxwood bushes, lavender, and cat mint.
3. Invest in Soundproof Curtains
Put up soundproof thermal curtains. 3-in-1 soundproof curtain block light, provide insulation, and reduce outside noise (noisy road, dogs barking, lawn mowers, etc.). Alternatively, privacy film on the windows can add a new dimension by bringing soft light in while keeping outside heat out.
4. Add Solar Lights
Add solar lights versus the harshness of flood lights. Solar lights bring a bit of romanticism and backyard ambiance while adding security and outdoor illumination.
5. Add Security Cameras
Outdoor security cameras are handy for receiving notifications for delivery of packages and deterring suspicious activity.
By adding security cameras, you don’t want to turn into the nosy neighbor you are trying to avoid by watching them from your smartphone.
If you feel adding a real security camera would be intrusive, add a fake security camera. Include a notice on the property notifying individuals activities are being monitored 24/7.
I installed security cameras to monitor a female feral cat’s movements to get her daily routine so I could trap, neuter, and release (TNR) her.
I leave them up to monitor any new strays or feral cats coming into the yard.
6. Give Them Something to Talk About
Starting a victory garden, indulging in outdoor home improvement projects will defintely get people talking in a good way.
You may inspire others to roll up their sleeves and indulge in some DIY projects of their own.
Who doesn’t appreciate a good home improvement project?
Be Prepared for Some Type of Retaliation
With the new privacy barriers, your busy-body neighbor may turn into a not so pleasant neighbor, eventually figuring out that you know they are being “too observant”.
Do not be surprised if the tables get turned with you getting accused of being nosy. They are trying to save face here.
Tit for tat behavior, setting up motion sensors, followed by dogs coming out and barking in the front or backyard can give the impression to other neighbors you are one being nosy and up to no good.
Running out of the house and acting like they are responding to some illegal activity everytime you’re outside can give the impression you’re attempting to trespass on their property when you’re staying on your side of the fence, YOUR fence.
Here is a funny one. Clapping at squirrels on your fence when you are outside. Are they clapping at the squirrels, or are they clapping at you?
They may choose to install their own security cameras, pointing them directly at your house from their property. Depending on the state you live in, this may be completely legal.
They may decide they don’t like your outdoor security cameras and deliberately flash lights at them to get a reaction in order to get you to engage in conversation with them.
These behaviors are not nosy neighbor behavior but bordeline acts of intimidation and harassment.
If all fails, get the last word in by telling them to mind their own business. Ignore your nosy neighbor and no matter what, don’t engage in conversation.
Keep a diary and collect video evidence.
The neighborhood bully may decide to become bold by trespassing and causing damage on your property.
Examples include, keying your car, putting a spike under your tire, or messing with your flowers or trees.
It’s time to contact and consult with your lawyer.
What Happened with My Nosy Neighbor?
Enough sharing strategies for dealing with nosy neighbors. You might be wondering how I dealt with my nosy neighbor. Swift and firm.
One night, Anna decided she wanted to talk and thought the best way to accomplish this and get a reaction was to hang her lights on my fence to get a reaction.
The whole backyard was lit up like a Christmas tree. It was clever, funny, but not funny.
Previous temper tantrums she performed (too many to list), didn’t get a reaction, just radio silence.
It would be the first and last conversation we would ever have.
I promptly asked her to remove them while making it clear I did not want to engage in converation with her and told her to leave me alone.
I made sure everyone in the neighborhood heard me just in case anyone else got any ideas about replacing her as a nosy neighbor.
I know Ms. Busy-Body is still watching, but it’s less obvious. No more running down the stairs to greet me or standing over me while I work my flower garden.
As long as she doesn’t cross the threshold, I am happy co-existing while maintaing a proper distance.
Not deterred, I continue to do my yard work in peace. Trees and bushes making up my living fence are growing and flourishing.
If I had to redo it all again, upon being ambushed, I would have made it clear right away I was not interested in conversing while doing yard work or at all.
Perhaps years of drama could have been avoided or not. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Oh well, you live and learn right?
What are some of your experiences with nosy neighbors, and what strategies did you use for dealing with them?