Living in an apartment complex where your flat is located above other tenants, you may get funny looks from your neighbours sometimes when you meet them in the hallway. In other situations, you might have your neighbour openly complain about the noise you make in your apartment.

It seems unfair sometimes, especially, if you consider yourself the really quiet type. But you may not be as silent as you think and could, in fact, be driving your downstairs neighbours crazy with your daily routines and activities. Here are some ways in which you can be a better less noisy upstairs neighbour, especially during this holiday season.

1. Listening to Loud music
   

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   Christmas is a merry-making period and a great time to revel in some great music. However, when you play music with your sub-woofers and other sound enhancing devices on full blast, you might sound to your downstairs neighbours as though there’s a troupe of elephants running through your apartment. That is not a pleasant sensation to experience from above you when you’re at home relaxing; the holiday season or not.

   This goes for pretty much anything with volume control, be it your television, radio, computer, and especially your sound system. Sometimes, you may be pardoned for having the volume raised a bit during the day but doing it at midnight during a work night is just being inconsiderate to your neighbours.

2. Cleaning at odd hours
   

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   Keeping your home spick and span during the holidays is an innocent regularity we don’t put much thought to. You may have a day on which you do your cleaning. That’s an innocent enough activity. And its added benefit is, it keeps your apartment spotless. However, even if this falls on a weekend or any of the holidays, avoid doing it too early in the morning or too late at night.

   The sound of you pulling and pushing things to cause scrapes, scratches and falls is not pleasant for neighbours living downstairs from you. Your vacuum cleaner may be even more dreadful in terms of noise going downstairs to your poor neighbours. For those directly below you, the banging, scraping and squeaking is not the ideal way to be woken nor is it very calming for your neighbours at night when they want to sleep.

3. Wearing High-heels (or loud shoes)
   

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   Ladies, wearing your high-heeled shoes early in the morning while you walk around your apartment (maybe getting ready for work) may seem glamorous to you at the moment, but to your downstairs neighbour it may seem as though a bunch of carpenters were on the roof steadily tapping on it with their hammers periodically. How would you like it if someone did that on your roof at 6 in the morning? That’s essentially what you’re doing to them by wearing high-heels or other loud shoes.

   If you absolutely have to wear stilettos or other hard-soled shoes, at least lay a rug or woollen carpet on the floor to muffle the sound and ease your downstairs neighbours’ woes. It’s not just the morning either. Constantly listening to you walking around in loud shoes at any hour can make a neighbour very irritated.

4. Smoking on your balcony
   

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   If you enjoy the occasional smoke, and cannot do it indoors, you might be tempted to do it out on your balcony while you take in some fresh air. It would be considerate of you if you checked that your downstairs neighbours had their windows shut; that pleasant breeze you’re enjoying is going to blow your smoke right into their apartment. As much as you enjoy the smell of nicotine, it’s not that pleasant for non-smokers.

5. Late night noises
   

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   When you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, there’s no need to announce it to the whole world by making a din about it. For instance, when dropping your toilet seat after you’re done, do it gently. Dropping it hard will make a noise, which, in the dead of night, is sure to carry down to your neighbours keeping them awake for no reason. You won’t win neighbour of the year points doing that. Just set it down gently, will ya?

   Also, try not to use machines that make loud noises late at night or too early in the morning. Appliances like your blender, for instance, are not fun for your neighbours to listen to early in the morning or late at night. Rule of thumb, if the sun is not up, it’s too early or late for that smoothie or other blended things you’re craving. Do not ever slam your doors either during the night. Their squeaks on a regular day are bad enough.

Some of the habits you may have are not directly obviously noisy to you but tone down on those we’ve mentioned above, and you’ll find your relations with neighbours downstairs and even on the same floor as you will greatly improve (Less funny looks and complaints).

Additional tips to keep in mind would be to not express your independence too freely: tone down on the booze over the weekend. Nobody likes a drunk, noisy neighbour. Especially, one who thinks he can sing to sweeten the sleep of everyone in the building. Chances are, you don’t sing that well on a regular day anyway, alcohol isn’t likely to have improved your voice. Keep the drink in check.

Don’t be that guy/gal in the building. Be considerate of how your actions from upstairs are amplified to your neighbours down below. Follow these tips. Your neighbours will thank you and might even gift you an adorable holiday gift. Happy Holidays!