I consider myself to be fairly flexible when it comes to neighborly nuisances; this is a college town and I am surrounded by college kids after-all, but my patience has a limit.

In my living situation, this limit is tested when the guy in the apartment above me stomps so heavily that pens rattle on my desk. And don’t even get me started on the dysfunctional couple next door that holds their all-out yelling wars outside my window.

Although there are times when confronting the issue one-on-one to come to reasonable terms is the best way to handle a problem, this isn’t one of them.

Through trial and error, I’ve found that the best way to solve non-traditional problems like neighborly nuisances is to handle them in non-traditional ways.

Adapting to the various annoyances, I’ve established effective ways to get the message across to the offenders that they’ve over-stepped their acceptable neighborly behavior.

For the lead-foot up top, I throw my soccer ball against the ceiling until they trend more lightly, and when the raging couple takes their personal affairs out in front of my window, I simply open the blinds and peer out, letting them know that they’re performing in front of an audience and some things should remain behind closed doors.

Is this passive-aggression? Without a doubt. But it’s an effective problem-solving method in this case, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Valerie Teegardin can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @vteegardin.