Especially if your partner is a hoarder?
That's the position I'm in. DH is a hoarder (although he is better than he was and much less of a hoarder than PILs. The PILs are the donors of the majority of the unwanted gifts.)
Some of DD's toys, books etc are now too young for her, but he won't consider getting rid of them. I've tried charity shopping them while he's out, however he's got a good memory for things/possessions & tends to spot this.
We have discussed going through stuff together & bagging it up, he agrees in principle but is always too tired or something. He had MH issues & I suspect PILs intrusiveness & lack of respect for him/us as parents/adults is part of this. Although his MH issues have been going on for a very long time.
We've spoken to PILs on a number of occasions previously & asked them to stop the continual stream of gifts; this had absolutely no effect. Toddler magazines (some of which they have already 'filled in' with her), second hand (often broken and/or dirty) toys, any piece of pound shop tat that happens to have DD's name on. Many of which are unsuitable for her age and consequently she breaks quickly (she's 2.8). A couple in the past have been dangerous and I got called precious for taking them off her.
We live in a small house and simply do not have room to keep storing everything for a second child which may not ever happen. Especially if the PILs do not learn to back off a bit as I simply cannot cope with the stress. They do not seem to understand that no means no.
I have very little space in the house for 'my' stuff - I do have a hobby & a small amount of stuff for this, but I feel that it doesn't matter how much I reduce my own space requirements, any space freed up is immediately taken up by DD's toys or DH's collections of stuff for his various obsessions hobbies.
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How to deal with unwanted gifts from family?
33 replies
TelephoneIgnoringMachine · 06/01/2015 14:21
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