Buzz
Are you dealing with an annoying neighbor and want them to experience the same things you do? Do you want to become an annoying neighbor yourself? This article can help you transform into that type of neighbor no one wants to deal with. If you've decided to wreak havoc on your neighborhood, all you need to do is come up with creative ways to make noise and use clever tricks to disturb your neighbors. The best part is you can drive them crazy without breaking the law – and in some cases, you don’t even need to leave your house.
Steps
Make Noise
Cut the grass very early and very often. Mowing your lawn is your right as a homeowner. If you want to do it at the crack of dawn, even on Saturday and Sunday mornings, no one can stop you – especially not your neighbors. If they ask you to stop the noise or mow at a later time, just explain that you're an early riser and don't have time to mow during regular hours.
- You can make it even more annoying by grinning and cheerfully saying, "What’s so wrong with the rich sleeping in, while I’m up and at 'em?"
- This is a perfect form of harassment because your neighbors won’t be able to accuse you of intentionally making noise. It’s just part of maintaining your property.
Buy lots of wind chimes. One of the most noisy things that every neighbor "loves" is wind chimes. You don’t need to do anything difficult other than hanging them up. Then, just wait for a gust of wind to pass, and enjoy watching your neighbors become increasingly annoyed. If they ask you to take them down, simply tell them this is your house, and you have the right to decorate it however you wish.
- Wind chimes may be illegal in some communities – you should check the local regulations before hanging them up.
Host a backyard party. A great way to annoy your neighbors is to pick a beautiful evening and invite 50 friends over for a garden party. You can set up a bar, play volleyball or other games, and arrange plenty of chairs for your guests. Be sure to host the party as close to your neighbor's house as possible and blast music to keep the guests entertained. Your neighbors will go crazy from repeatedly asking you to turn the music down.
- Of course, make sure to keep the noise within acceptable levels. Neighbors might call the police to complain about the noise, and you won’t want to deal with that.
Sing in your yard. Do you think you have a voice as great as Mỹ Linh or Siu Black? Even if you sing terribly, how will you know unless you try? And what better place than your own garden to let your powerful voice echo? Sing loudly, sing often, and belt out the worst songs you can think of to make your neighbors shudder in their homes.
- To make the situation even worse, you can sing while doing noisy chores or while mowing the lawn with a machine in the morning.
Play music really loud. Music is a wonderful tool to bring people together and connect differences, but it's also a perfect way to annoy your neighbors. Blast music in your garden, car, or bedroom with the windows open. The extreme volume can make your neighbors uncomfortable, and repeatedly playing the same songs will drive them mad.
- If the neighbors insist on you turning the music off, you can happily do so, then immediately start singing the song you just turned off.
Let your dog bark. Neighbors really hate noisy, troublesome dogs. If you have a dog, let it bark and express its personality, especially late at night or early in the morning. Since dogs aren’t people, neighbors will be less likely to complain, but they will still have to sit inside and stew in frustration.
- If your neighbors protest, you can say, "It’s just having fun. Telling a dog not to bark is like telling a person not to breathe."
Set up a basketball hoop in your driveway and play frequently. Another great way to make noise is to install a basketball hoop in your driveway and play as often as possible. If you're playing alone, slam the ball on the ground repeatedly and miss many shots, creating loud noises as the ball bounces off the ground or hits the garage door. If you're playing with friends, scream loudly with every shot you take and generally try to make as much noise as possible.
- If your neighbors ask you to play quietly, just say, 'I need to practice, I'm a professional player!'
- You can invite more friends over to play noisy games.
Cause inconvenience
Sign them up for a ton of junk mail. Another way to annoy your neighbors is by signing them up for junk mail or promotional offers. You can register online or fill in their information at grocery and drug stores, ensuring they receive a lot of marketing material. Just make sure they can't trace where all this junk mail is coming from.
- The more varied and annoying the junk mail, the better. If you can sign them up for pet store ads when they don’t own any pets, or fishing and outdoor gear catalogs when they're not into those hobbies, even better. You might even want to subscribe them to fashion catalogs aimed at teenage girls for extra frustration.
Order pizza for your neighbor. This classic trick never goes out of style. Simply call up a nearby pizza place and order the biggest, most pungent pizza – load it with garlic and caviar – and have it delivered to your neighbor’s house. Then, just sit back and wait. Your neighbor will be frustrated and forced to accept a meal they didn’t order. You can even do this when they aren’t home, so they have no excuse to suspect you.
- Just make sure the pizza shop can’t trace your number or call you if there's a mistake.
Tell charity organizations that your neighbor is very supportive of their cause. If charity solicitors come by your house, tell them that while you're not interested, your neighbor is a huge supporter of their cause, no matter what it is. You can add that your neighbor is a bit shy and might need some encouragement to express his support. Tell them not to waste any more time with you and to go talk to your neighbor as soon as possible.
- You can say, 'My neighbor Mr. Tuân is really passionate about your charity work and would like to contribute.'
Blow leaves onto your neighbor's lawn. This is a simple yet effective trick. After tidying up your own yard by sweeping or using a leaf blower, you can "accidentally" blow the leaves over to your neighbor’s yard, forcing them to clean up the mess. This works especially well if they’ve already spent a lot of time tidying up their garden. Plan carefully though, as this is not something you can do repeatedly without being suspected.
- The angrier your neighbor gets, the more innocent you should act. Smile sheepishly, shrug your shoulders, and say, 'Oops! I’m still getting used to the leaf blower...'
Walk around the yard in your swimsuit. If you want to annoy your neighbors, wear your swimsuit even if you're not going swimming. You have the right to wear whatever you want in your own yard. Wear a swimsuit while sitting outside on the porch, gardening, or even playing basketball in the driveway. This is a great trick because your neighbors will feel embarrassed if they have to ask you to put more clothes on.
- If your neighbors have guests over, you should walk out into the front yard, greet them loudly, and start chatting with their guests without hesitation.
Phone prank your neighbors. Phone pranking is still a classic, and if you want to annoy your neighbors, try impersonating someone else and harassing them for a few minutes. The best time to do this is when they’re about to relax or have dinner with their family, so the call disrupts their evening. You can pretend to be a telemarketer or a charity worker, insisting on speaking to someone who doesn’t live there or telling them they've won the 'Loser of the Year' award at city hall.
- Make sure to practice with friends first so you don’t burst out laughing or accidentally expose yourself.
- Of course, you can block your number before making the call.
Sprinkle sugar on their porch. This action could get you into trouble, but if you truly dislike your neighbors and want to cause them a big problem, wait until they go out and sprinkle sugar from the lawn to their porch. Sugar will attract ants, bees, and other insects, causing them to swarm to the door of your neighbor’s house.
- When you sprinkle the sugar, make sure your neighbors will be gone for the entire day, so the insects can cause some minor damage before they return home.
Steal your neighbor's newspaper. Your neighbor might be looking forward to a relaxing Sunday morning with their family, sipping coffee, and reading the paper. To spoil this, wake up earlier than they do and sneak over to their door to steal their newspaper. This will ruin their day, and as long as you’re discreet, they won’t be able to blame you.
- If you get caught in the act, pretend it was a mistake and say you thought it was your own paper.
- This will be even more annoying if your neighbors know you also receive the same paper, as they’ll have fewer reasons to suspect you. You can take their paper, and then politely offer to lend them yours.
Annoying your neighbors when living in an apartment complex
Take their parking spot. If your apartment complex has assigned parking spaces, one of the most frustrating things you can do is park in your neighbor’s spot. This is incredibly irritating, especially when there are only a few available spaces left and they’ll have to park far away on the street. Even though your neighbor will know it’s you, it will definitely make them mad, particularly if you do it so boldly. It works even better if someone else has already taken your spot.
- If your spaces are next to each other, you can escalate things by parking over the line and taking both spots. Of course, the building management won’t be happy about this.
Play ball or tennis and hit it against the wall between the apartments. If you literally live right next door to them, it’s time to start practicing to become the next Rafael Nadal. Grab a tennis ball and racket and spend time hitting the ball against the wall. Do this when you’re certain your neighbors are at home. You must be persistent and stubborn. When your neighbors ask you to stop, act serious and say you need to practice for the upcoming Grand Slam – or any tournament near you.
- If your neighbors try to get you to stop by tapping on the wall, act confused and pretend you think it’s part of the game. Hit the wall back just like they did, laugh loudly, and continue with your sports activities.
Cook strongly-scented food. If you live really close to your neighbor, and they can smell what you’re cooking, you can prepare dishes with strong smells to grab their attention. You could cook something entirely with garlic or any aromatic dish, and leave the window open so they know what you’re doing. The downside is you’ll also smell like it. You can reduce this by cooking and then leaving the house for a few hours.
- If you see your neighbors hosting a date at home, when better to cook an entire pot of garlic?
Leave your clothes in the shared washing machine. One of the most annoying things in apartment living is when someone leaves their laundry in the washer or dryer, preventing others from using it. Stuff as many clothes as you can into the machines and leave them there for hours, so your neighbors can get irritated. To make sure your clothes aren’t ruined, you can leave them in the washer without starting it; if your neighbors really need to do laundry, they’ll have to touch your dirty clothes.
- If your neighbors remove your clothes and know you're the culprit, act upset that they invaded your privacy and shout at them.
Turn up the TV really loud. Another classic way to annoy your neighbors is by cranking up the volume on your TV. You can blast the sound to the max and then go take a shower, so your neighbors can’t immediately ask you to turn it down. Play an old movie you enjoy and happily shout the character's lines, giving your neighbors the chance to join in on the fun. You could also watch TV late at night, making sure to laugh loudly so they know what you're watching.
- If they ask you to turn it down, you can say, "What? What did you say? Sorry, I’m deaf in one ear!" Your neighbors will feel guilty for asking you to lower the volume.
Rub petroleum jelly on their doorknob. Apply some Vaseline to your neighbor’s doorknob so they’ll get an unpleasant surprise when they try to open the door. The sensation of touching the greasy substance is disturbing, and it also makes it more difficult to turn the knob. This trick works especially well if they’ve just returned from a long trip or are struggling with bags of groceries.
- Make sure you don’t actually jam the door with the petroleum jelly, or you might end up paying for repairs if you’re caught.
Knock on their door at odd hours and ask to borrow things. This is another surefire way to drive your neighbors crazy. You can knock on their door at 7 AM and ask if they have any flour for baking, or tell them you're starving! Alternatively, you could show up late at night and ask if they have any bacon. Don’t let them realize you’re just messing with them—act like you genuinely need those items.
- If your neighbors look confused, you can make them feel more guilty by saying, "You don’t have any bacon? That’s odd."
Warning
- Be aware that annoying your neighbors in the ways suggested above could lead to retaliation, legal consequences, or police involvement.
