Writing on LiveCheap, Karl Wolf put together a sad-but-funny list of signs that reveal the poverty of those who live near you.

Here are a couple of the telltale indicators:

5 Pounds of Mail, Every Day

Take a minute and watch your neighbor grab his or her mail one day. If they come away with stacks of paper and it’s not the holidays, you’ll know something is up. Miss a few mortgage postalpayments or property taxes and everyone and their cousin starts to flood your mailbox and they’re not sending you love letters. And if your neighbors are late making payments on their credit card bills, they’ll get notices piled high. If you see the Joneses with wheel barrow or duffel bag each day to grab their mail, it’s a sure sign that there’s no love lost between them and their creditors.

Landscape Me Not:

Spring time usually ushers in the new round of flowers, plants, and typical landscaping improvements. But if your neighbor’s yard doesn’t change a bit after years of top of the line grooming, it might be because the credit cards are maxed out and the checking account is more than a little light this year. Lots of people are skipping landscaping in this the third real year of the Great Recession.

Notice any of these giveaways and you know some neighborly financial kindness might be in order. Do you have any other signs to add?

7 Telltale Signs That Your Neighbors Are Broke [LiveCheap]

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