Clearing a relatives house, nobody wants stuff any more !

[bumblebee1000]

Clearing a late relatives house, contacted over 6 charity shops and refuges, Freecycle, Olio, Gumtree etc etc..only one bothered to turn up, the others cancelled or didn't turn up...lots of free items in good condition, sofas, freezers, fridges, etc....After 2 weeks of this, not one of the organisations took anything. The annoying thing is we sent pics and they agreed to take items, so now breaking up items and taking to council tip and booking a paid clearance company this week as house is sold and need to hurry up. All items with relevant fire labels, working etc.....Do people just all buy new things now and dont bother to get second hand..?

I am surprised at this. We could have sold my aunties g plan several times over. It was very popular on Facebook marketplace.

Not in my experience. They wanted to charge us £60 to take away a couple of pieces of furniture they would then sell on and we had to agree to be in for collection at a time that suited them not us. They were surly and behaved as if they were doing us a massive favour. We couldn't afford to pay them so much to take things away so the furniture went to the dump. It's such a shame.

That's a very good point about new build houses and flats being tiny. We were buying to furnish a Victorian house. Very different.

The problem you have it it either needs to be unique or modern enough looking otherwise it just looks like you’ve emptied grannies house into yours rather than being a statement piece or an old oak upcycled (hate that would rather sand it and varnish).

It seems you're not the only one. I had a good experience but it's clearly not a given.

This. And not saying that the OP's stuff is "old fashioned tat", by the way. But ask anyone who volunteers in a charity shop and they will tell you that those black glass TV stands which everyone had about 1987-1994 are everywhere and nobody wants them. Even at £2 or something. Furntiture is also bulky and if we take your dining room chairs / nest of tables / TV stand / CD racks then we don't have room for other stuff which does sell.

Same goes for old fashioned teeny tiny wine glasses, decanters, teapots, tea sets, things which aren't dishwasher/microwave safe..

My house is full of 2nd hand stuff

DD is much the same

Obviously some is new but I'm never sniffy if offered stuff from relatives

And yes to transport costs. unless you know someone with a large car or van it can cost £100 to move that free unit or sofa. Or £300 on credit delivered brand new over three years or so. No farts. No fleas. Not sagging or musty.

Crazy as some of them are hard up

Don't understand it

My dining table is from eBay

I had 3 people round to give me quotes for clearing my mum's house, and they all basically said similar (not much demand for the things she had), but the other 2 dealt with it sympathetically and the BHF guy was the only one that actually upset me. He was turning his nose up at everything - that was my mum's life, and I really wish I'd told him he needed to learn some empathy. He said the wardrobes were too big (I said they come apart, so he said if I dismantled them he'd take them...). He ignored the many shelves of books, so I asked if they'd take those, and he said yes, if I boxed them up. Not much of a "house clearance" service as was advertised, and totally far too much work for me, given that I lived hundreds of miles away.

I use the local Facebook Seek and Sell and everything goes within a day or so, even rather tatty chairs old rugs and non standard sized blinds. I’ve never charged anything but it’s helpful to me and to the people who take things. This is NW England.

A friends volunteers in our local Hospice charity shop. Apparently, all the "good" furniture is snapped up by serial landlords kitting out rental properties (particularly student lets as we're a Uni city). They know which day the "new" stock gets put into the warehouse and go that day to snap up what they want. The general public who aren't in the know are left with the stuff that the landlords don't want! The landlords are always wanting beds, sofas, kitchen white electricals, small dining table/chair sets, wardrobes, etc. The charity itself will always prioritise stuff that they know will be popular and sell for good prices, as they don't have the "van and man" space to collect everything offered, hence why they'll sometimes refuse items offered to them and sometimes simply not turn up. They get offered maybe 5-10 times more than they're able to collect and don't have the warehouse space to store it, let alone the van & man space to collect it.

Where I am people take anything from FB if it's free. I'd try it on there and see if anyone wants it.

Or try offering it to people on FB sites that are asking. We have a local site like that where people who have just moved (or something has broken and they can't afford to replace it) ask for what they need and people can offer it to them.

If you offer to deliver people will take it - nobody who can afford to buy a brand new a fridge freezer is going to take a second hand one, a hard up family on benefits/low income would love to have it but won't be able to afford to pay for a man with a van to transport it. Olio only lets people collect things, you aren't allowed to offer delivery so FB marketplace would be your best option to get rid of stuff, if you can deliver.

I buy as much as I can secondhand but am limited with furniture as I don't have a van. So with furniture I only buy secondhand if the seller can deliver.

Round here you place an item on the pavement outside the house, turn around, count to 3 and then turn back and it's disappeared as if by magic.

About a year ago we had to empty Dads Council house as he was going into a home ( dementia) Myself and brother are only family live about 40 miles away and work, so had to make appointments for any possible charity collections. We couldnt just put it up on Gumtree etc as needed to be there for access. After sending pictures BHF agreed to take some items - dining table and 4 chairs, 2 chest of drawers, bedside tables and a number of pots and vases, bric a brac, 70s sewing box with loads of material, needles etc. We came down for the agreed appointment and they were really uninterested- actually taking only a couple of the bedside tables and rejecting the solid 1970s table and chairs as they didnt have fire labels . They said that as there were a few minor scratches other items were unsellable.

In the end we managed to get a lot to the local tip which luckily has a hospice charity shop on the premises. They encourage you to call there first before dumping and they happily took a lot of it. They especially loved the sewing box and a box of Mums "retro" handbags - which didn t last long as I saw someone buying them as I was bringing in more stuff from the car !!

Gaseous action Sofa!
The Sofa that muffled a thousand 💨 farts 💨

Vintage stuff can sell well.
I bought a mulberry Anthony leather bag from EBay - it’s been carefully looked after and I love it.

I feel your pain - 3 yrs on we still have some furniture from MIL and I know my sisters have my parents stuff. I found food banks would take kitchen stuff IF i packed it in one box with enough to serve 4 - glasses, mugs, crockery, cutlery, basic pans and cooking trays, basic cooking utensils and maybe a casserole dish or two. I had 3 such boxes collected by a lady working/volunteering for the foodbank. Through word of mouth on the local grapevine we found someone moving out of the family home to set up on their own with nothing - so bed, wardrobe, drawers and a few lamps etc went that way. Local facebook groups - and literally leaving stuff outside. Having said that this was all in stage 3 lockdown London so it was virtually impossible - I had no car either. We sent a Luton Van full of stuff to skip/Tip and brought a Luton Van and a v full car, full of stuff up to ours after spending 3 months clearing down the crap as she was a bit of a hoarder. Bags and Bags of clothes were dropped at a local charity, backs and backs of books were ferried in a shopping trolley to Oxfam, local shelves for commuters and also into the recycling bon as in London you can put books in there. Plus bags and bags went into the normal bin every week as there was v little rubbish for the household. It was a long and winding process and bloody hard work. I was unlucky as house clearances were not operating which caused us a lot of heartache.

It was rented and had been in the family over 80 years, her MIL place, then her DH then theirs - so it really was full of all sorts - including the funeral bills for her MIL with a coach and 4 to the Church we went to as well for her - but with only 30 mourners - 6 family the rest locals, nuns and a few others who heard about it. Then just 6 of us at the Crem with no inside mingling of the different families in the group (well we managed a good chat in the gardens over the flowers.

I hope you have sorted things now - bear in mind some of the tips run/have charity shops as well and can take things that other charity shops do too.

I think furniture in particular these days is viewed as disposable especially if its not "on trend"

We also have a local charity called helping hands which does run a charity shop but its main purpose is helping out rehoused people - this can be people who have been homeless, thrown out of home young, escaping DV or just leaving a marriage with nothing, they also will help people who are displaced. IS there something similar near by - they tend to be less fussy over a scratch or two but dont really want "brown" /pine furniture.

I think furniture style has changed a hell of a lot! I think it’s a bit much to expect someone to want a more than likely extremely dated sidetable that’s been in the house of a 70+ year old to be honest. It’s just not want people want anymore and that’s ok. Times have changed.

In my experience decent stuff will sell fine. Surprised about the new freezer. I got rid of mine easily recently - £50 and collected quickly.
It’s the acres of shoddy crap from DFS and B&M bargains that nobody wants.
There is far far too much stuff in this country though. Look at what people throw away in skips and council sites.
When we cleared my late MIL’s massive farmhouse there was so much stuff. We had luck by having a sort of ‘open day’ where we said anyone could come and take small stuff. Kitchen stuff, tools, linens, ornaments, crafting, gardening equipment. Had a few students and families in cars who took masses.
After three house clearances in my life I am so careful about what I buy. Stuff overwhelms. Space gets filled and cupboards used for piles of nonsense that nobody needs. Getting rid of it takes so long! Stuff is cheap. Space is expensive.

Facebook marketplace and/or Facebook freesites. They will be snapped up on there x

My mum's furniture was taken by a charity called Dorset Reclaim last year, they loved it as it was very modern & in very good condition.

We then sorted out her belongings ourselves & gave lots to charity shops especially Barnado's who took lots of kitchenware.

But it was hard to give away her familiar clothes which my sister and I either kept or binned as we couldn't bear the thought of a stranger wearing them. We also kept her best jewellery, old books & ornaments. There weren't too many. And any practical things that we could use.

I really feel for you OP we found it was heartbreaking. Sorry for your loss xx