Wendy, now I am really curious about where your front door is, hmmm ;0(.

One day I was on the side yard almost in back yard, and this sales man comes walking back there, I look up and here he is, I'm like, "excuse me, why are you back here, go away, because I am not interested!!" JEEEEEZ!!!

I have cameras that show all 4 entry doors . I look at my monitor screen and make decisions from there. I never want to willingly open a door to a home intruder. . . He can knock on the door while I grab my gun. Inexpensive and easy to install.

I had a guy once that were going from door to door to sell 'No Solicitation' stickers. I bought one and he never came back :))
It still not enough to keep solicitors away. I usually let them tell what they want for 5 seconds and then tell them I am not interested.

@Wendy Christensen, you made my day!

My boys like to give them a good look at these:

Total nuisance. Perimeter gate with a call box works great.

This is not about solicitors knocking on your door but my brother-in-law used to give the phone to his 2 years old boy when he had a phone call from a saleperson. That little boy did not mind to stay on the line and talk.

I put a no soliciting sign I bought at my local large home blue home store. It's in one of the side windows that frames the door. Has been great for eliminating door to door sales.

Suzanne M; I've heard a version of that approach, where the toddler is told it's Santa on the phone. Regardless of whether or not that is the appropriate approach, just imagining the conversation causes me to chuckle over my morning coffee. ;)

I will answer the door if it's daytime and my husband is around. Otherwise I let people know I'm there, and don't answer. As for the people trying to share their religious beliefs, I just politely say, "I'm a born again Christian, and I don't accept witnessing from anyone outside my own church." Then I smile and shut the door.

I'm told by my family that I have an authoritative, sometimes intimidating presence, and I think that helps discourage any arguing. (Thank you, I worked hard to develop it!) I believe women would be well served by developing what law enforcement professionals call "command presence." This principle doesn't mean being rude or aggressive; it means you have an air of confidence and authority that gives off an "I'm in charge here" vibe. Watch any police officer or any successful school teacher, and you'll see an example of command presence.

@specklecat

Well said!

I agree with speckledcat, that projecting a presence can help a lot. I have worked as a teacher, and been military law enforcement in a previous life, and some people tell me I still have an air of authority. Military and LEO are taught to project a certain body language to either calm, or defuse different types of "customers" without getting physical with them, so I'm not exactly surprised, that those jobs are where it comes in handy. The military body language and a certain lack of putting up with nonsense was really helpful with kids, who were testing the limits of a new substitute teacher (I had some, but usually the kids didn't try pushing my buttons after a few minutes. The kids called me "Lieutenant", and some of the class clowns thought I was cool. ;) )

The teacher part... I can't really shut it off. The Mormon missionaries that have caught me in the garden usually get a very specific answer (usually one they're truly not interested in), if they ask "so what you up to?" It might be a lesson on the science of pruning trees to increase yield, or DIY bug spray recipes for the garden, or an in-depth look at permaculture vs. traditional agriculture methods, or me observing the interaction of horses in pasture and narrating what is going on... I have started thinking of myself as victorious, if the guys excuse themselves, as I'm clearly occupied.

Lots of solicitors in my neighborhood. I was thinking of putting out a small sign. But now I'm reminded of a guy I used to know who told me his tactic, when, one time too many, a church person came knocking. His reply to her, "Lady, I'm up to my ass in religion!" I always think of that but never had the nerve to use his line.

Mine is more so phone calls- especially the cell. Annoying.

Lori, for unsolicited phone calls, you can put your number on the national no call registry. I did that immediately after I got my phone number, as I was getting calls from telemarketers. A lot. After I tracked down who was giving my number out to hospice patients (long story short, a hospice caregiver used to have my number, and the number was on old contact information lists at nursing homes), and called them to ask to take me off their contact list, I don't get unsolicited calls anymore. The occasional wrong number calls, but mistakes happen. https://www.donotcall.gov/

how do you know they're not your neighbor you never met?

Penny, you're lucky. Both my phones are on the Do Not Call list yet I am still bombarded daily with unsolicited phone calls. There are some unscrupulous people out there who have ways of getting around the Do Not Call list. They only thing that helps me is blocking those numbers on both my phones.

Shars 55, great idea about blocking, but how do you do it on your home phone?

Aaron, I have five neighbors, so I would assume I'm sure. A good neighbor will usually start with something like "Hi, I'm Penny, I just moved into the yellow house across the street, and thought it's time to come by and say hi. Here's homemade croissants, all organic. Here's my number, if you need something..." and tends to give away their game pretty fast. :)

Everyone in this neighborhood watches over everyone else's kids, knows the mail man and UPS guy by first name, and knows how to catch runaway horses, dogs, and goats, if they come across them, and have a good idea of where they are to be returned... Generally, most of my neighbors throughout my entire lifetime, even in big cities, don't "solicit" (trick-or-treaters and girl scout cookies and such don't really bother me), but like yesterday's impromptu visitor, might in stead of trying to sell me stuff ask if I want to play hooky from farm work and go play with horses, or to the nursery for more fruit trees in her truck, and "oh, I'll come by with the tractor to mow your weeds when it's back from the shop", and that sort of stuff.

When door bell doesn't work - they have to knock. Few knock.

Put up a sign: Door bell out of order. Holler "ding-dong" real loud.

Hi Margo! I never met a cookie I didn't like. But, I buy the cookies to support the Girl Scouts more than the need to eat them. Luckily, the girls in my neighborhood know me and I don't mind greeting them at the door on occasion. I'm more bothered by people trying to sell me their religion and unknown kids wearing tags selling me junk from a bin. Lately, there are men wearing red shirts and carrying clip boards who survey your house and fence and then try to sell you repairs!!!! Bottom line, I live alone and don't like anyone coming to my door - which is always closed and locked. Don't open it and let the dogs do the talking.

Hello readbetter- how are things? Perhaps it is time you started a new poll, you know how to get people out to *rock the vote*;))

Margo, all is well and you? I haven't spent a dime all winter. Hmmm, a poll? What will I change now? I have no more rooms but I do have a little "clean" shed outside that I use for sitting. Maybe that????

Emily Hurley, thanks for the like ;0). Can anyone post a poll, or do you have to be a Houzz manager to be able to do so, if anyone can, how does one do it? Thanks

In a town near where we live, a silly, actually more like STUPID woman alone at home, answered the knock on the door, and when she opened the door, four men forced their way in and robbed her, fortunately she was not harmed.

tw123456, go under "advice" then arrow down at "design dilemma" and you can start a poll.

tw123456....your phone has to come with the capability to block calls. I went and bought a new one that would do it because the telemarketers won't stop!!! It has helped a lot!!

I respond vocally and then tell them "no thank you." My dog with a loud bark reinforces my response.

Jean, thanks ;0).

Jean, I followed your suggestion, and then I posted a poll, "Unwelcomed guests".

I was one of 9 children. A vacuum cleaner salesman came to the house to tell us about his vacuum. Well, we were sure we had the BEST vacuum in the world. No matter what he said about his, we regaled him with stories about our canister vacuum that could suck up everything even after falling down a flight of stairs. During that time, my parents disappeared to let us entertain the guest in our home. He left abruptly. He sure was rude.

jonathan, yeah, that salesman was rude leaving a bunch of kids so abruptly ;0(!! LOL

I did door to door sales in California selling pest control. It's grueling work and I worked hard, ran between doors, got told no hundreds and hundreds of times a day, and kept a damn smile on my face the whole time. I was never exceptionally pushy and I was only trying to feed my wife and daughter. As a young twenty something I was out busting my ass dealing with jerks all day.

I always answer the door for sales people. I always offer them a bottle of water and see what they're selling. A simple, "hey man I'm not interested. Let's not waste either of our times." Door to door sales is about finding people who are interested. If you aren't, just let them know with assertive tone. Don't ask them a bunch of questions as that will make them feel like you're interested.

If you are interested, ask away. They can probably get you a better deal than you could normally get. No joke. Also, regarding no soliciting signs. Food in my daughter's mouth is more important than your sign and five seconds of your time. I'd say at least 30% of my accounts were from places that had no soliciting signs up.

I normally answer the door for kids selling cookies, candy, etc. it takes work & courage to go around our residential neighborhood. The houses are not too close together. My kids were scouts. There was only so much I could buy or sell to family & friends. They went to other parts of our town door to door while I supervised from the street. There were people that said no & it was ok. It taught my kids not to take things personally & move on.

They kept knocking on my door and waking the baby when I was at work and my wife was home so I googled and found a company that actually sells no soliciting signs and they go after them haha. I thought it was cool, the price was higher than I thought but I bought one and it's worked so far for what was left of this summer. We'll see how next summer goes though. Oh it's www.lastknock.com if you want to look at it.

Wow, just now a man wearing a badge tried to sell me siding. I said simply, "Go away!"

It's definitely spring! This morning I had two reps of a pentacostal group come by selling their religion.

Felt so bad for the poor kid from Charter who trudged through the recent ten feet of snow to my front door -- purposely un-shoveled to protect the innocent and unannounced from our dog (see post at top.) Not only was he greeted by Everest, but I had only recently switched from Charter to Verizon.

I've even changed our shipping address to include the line, "deliver to driveway, not door/crazy dog."

Solved the annoying problem of the annoying door to door sales people, we moved to a gated community!! Now, how to get rid of the phone calls, hmmmm, ;0(.

Prolific Pest Control may knock on your door this summer. We try to keep our residential route stops close together for efficiency.

We know that we are not invited, so we do not pressure anybody, we just present and efficiency-based discount and we take "no" for an answer. We appreciate everyone that we get an opportunity to speak with, no matter whether they purchase a service or not.

Have a great summer everybody!

I am in a gated community...we have "no soliciting" signs posted. We still get salesmen. Some came in a TRUCK from out of state, parked on the road and started selling from their truck. They had a business permit from the city, they said. When we called the city, they said they wouldn't enforce for signage they did not place.

I want to borrow Everest, please...

mrsstem, how do these salesman even get into your gated community? What good is living in a "gated" if others who don't live there can come in?

Tw, right now a couple of people are building new homes, and the gates are open to allow the construction crews to enter during the day. Apparently my neighbors (or enough of them) like the gates open on weekdays...

The more the gates open and close, the more likely they are to break down, so it's less maintenance to keep them open. It does kind defeat the purpose though.

Problem with Everest is, if I'm not home when someone unannounced approaches, I'm out another set of screens, arms of my couch, new Ralph Lauren wallpaper and wainscoting...he tears into those since he can't get to the person at the door. He took out a picture window at our summer place.

(LOL - When my husband totaled my last car, the insurance agent was quizzical as to why the interior was tidy but the headrests were torn to shreds. I think when he heard about Everest, his sad past and volatile nature, and our commitment to him anyway, he gave us loads more money than I would have expected for that vehicle!)

Thank God I live in a community (Boerne TX) where it is against the law to solicit without a permit. Apparently thieves and con men are hesitant to apply. If anyone I don't know comes to the door I immediately (behind my locked screen door) ask for their permit. Most can't get away fast enough. A safety tip, whenever you open the door , you should immediately turn the lock so that if you need to slam the door quickly, it will be locked.

tw123456, if you live in the United States, there's something called the National Do Not Call Registry. If you register your own phone number, it takes about a month or so, and your number should be getting less calls. If someone violates the no call list, you can also file a complaint against the caller. https://www.donotcall.gov

Thanks for the info Penny V. ;0), I have in the past, and because the govt. does not enforce these laws, these people keep calling. Also, these pests just change their name, and ID, and have calling centers from different states. Now, these annoying callers, get an ear piercing whistle blown in their ear when they call, some have recording telling you to press a # and an operator will come on to help, after I press the said # and the person gets on I just blow the whistle a few times.
We also tell them to hang on, so one day a guy calls and I tell him to hang on, he says to me, "your going to make me wait aren't you?"
Another time, after I had said hold on, the guy starts saying while I am putting the phone down, "please please don't ", after a while I came back, and he had already hung up.