A Thank You Note With the Rent Check And How To Say Thank You Over The Holidays

In the Cure, Maxwell suggests always including a Thank You note with your rent check. We've never thought to do this during the year, but around the holidays we like to include a special thank you for the people that help us in everyday ways: the mailman, the neighbor that waters while we're on vacation, the delivery guy at the office. Saying thank you helps to spread good will and a sense of real abundance in a season when many will be feeling that perhaps they don't have enough. Here are some ideas for how to say thank you:

• Cash: Especially this year a small cash thank you would be appreciated and appropriate for the the gardener, delivery man, handyman or a housekeeper.

• Thoughtful note: Now is the time to say a heartfelt thank you to those people that helped throughout the year. Maybe you had an emergency and a neighbor helped out. You might have thanked them at the time, but it's worth another note. People appreciate handwritten thank you's and around the holidays it helps to spread good cheer and abundance. Did someone help you out with career advice? Give you a great recommendation for a reliable handyman?

• Something Homemade: We brought our mechanic some homemade cookies for christmas one year and they looked at us like we were nuts. Apparently people didn't often come by and say thank you so the gesture was that much more appreciated.

• Fresh Fruit: Right now satsumas and winter citrus are abundant at the farmers market. Drop off a sack of yummy tangerines to people you want to say thank you to, but that you don't necessarily need to give a gift to. Fruit will get enjoyed and won't take up space past the holidays.

How do you say thank you?

[Thank You Notes from Yee Haw Industries, Satsumas from Dancing Girl, cookies from Monastery, cash from yahoo]

Comments (16)

As much as I love to send and receive thank you notes, my tennant thanks me indirectly each and every day by being a truly sincere and thoughtful person, not to mention by paying the rent on time.

Here's a question though...how do you give anote and a small thank you gift for the 3 trashman who deal with your trash, green waste and recyclables every week? Do I leave the gifts on top of each can?Help!

i agree that it may be nice and thoughtful, but.... a week too late, don't you think? if you're sending out december's rent check now you're late!

Matt.M:
Is December the only month you pay rent?
Apply the advice to January's rent check.

I think my landlord owes ME a thank-you note with my receipt for the rent.

i actually send a note with every rent check. i am very hands-on in my 3 unit building and i am constantly updating my landlords on projects and stuff...I always write them a little something to let them know how much i appreciate them being involved and willing to let me make my living space exactly what I want!

but yeah, I always send a little gift to them for xmas. always good to have them on your side :)

My landlord needs to be thanking me for always being on time or fricking early - even two months or so - with the rent, for being quiet, non-complaining, and generally just an easy tenant to have. A management company runs the complex I live in, and they forget that this is in the end a merchant-client relationship. They are not doing me a favor letting me live here. I am doing THEM a favor living here.

What a rant. Sounds as if I need to move or buy!

Cash only feels appropriate if you can give a significant amount - $20 or more. I'm poor, so I leave small gifts. A little box of chocolate for the mailman and papergirl, a trinket for the building manager. And the landlord gives us little somethings too. It may not be much, but it seems appreciated.

I make treats for the guys in the printing department who make my job SO much easier. I might leave a small gift for our building's janitor/maintenance man, but I don't know where or what. Maybe cookies or some warm gloves.

My rent check goes to a big corporation and my super is a terrible and lazy person. "Thank you for overcharging me! Thank you for raising my rent $200/month last year!"

Like those of a few post-ers above, my rent check also goes to a big corporation. They are definitely not getting a thank-you note!

But the supers and various other sometimes-employed-by-the-super people who live in my building and help make it "our building" where we have our homes are definitely appreciated. Cookies to come, and thanks for the reminder!

Remember your postal worker cannot accept cash, but small ($20 value) gifts can go a long way twoard good will if you get alot of packages or live in a far flung rural area where you're dependent on them. Baked goods are perfect.

What do people do for their hair stylist?

When I had a dog walker she got an extra weeks pay, and a bottle of wine. If you can afford services I think its really important to thank the service people you rely on.

I always give my landlord a big selection of homemade cookies for Christmas and the first year I lived in the building I gave her a vase for Chinese New Year (they're Chinese, obviously) and now every year at CNY I give her flowers to put in it.

I also used to make cookies for my regular UPS man Lenny as he always goes above and beyond (if you're not home the first time he drops by, he'll call before he ends his shift to see if he can swing by and drop it then), but I hear he's on disability this year. I've never been able to figure out where to leave a gift for the mailman as we have no table in the hallway and the mailboxes are flush with the wall. Any ideas?

Oh, and Dahlia ... I send my stylist cookies or a bottle of wine (she prefers cookies since she has kids!) and if I get my hair done around Christmas time I always double her tip for that appointment.

I give money to my charming super each holiday season, but I wouldn't dream of including a thank you card with my rent check. Thank you for what? For overcharging me for a tiny, rundown apartment?

ridge-van-winkle: I don't know how big your hallway is, but you can leave something (wrapped) on the ground and then put a note on your mailbox that says "Mail Carrier- look down!" Or something along those lines appropriate to where you live. I assume there is not a place for you to leave outgoing mail?

I'd give the mail carrier a card with cash. You could tape it to the inside of your closed mailbox and when he/she opens it they'll see the envelope. Write 'mail carrier' on the outside on the envelope. (I've known quite a few mail men/women and they DO take cash.) My DH was a mailman for 6 months when he was young. It was the worst job he ever had. The PO managers are very nasty to the carriers.