I am NEVER giving anything away again.

[Ohjakestopbeingatwat]

I’ve had it now with giving things away. I think I am just a twat magnet.

I put the children’s old wooden play market/kitchen thing up on Facebook, for free.

I put up photos and was very honest that it needs two new screws/wood glue as they have come loose and can’t be tightened, some of the paintwork is chipped, but if someone wants it, it would make a great up cycle project. If no one wanted it, it would go to the tip. But you know, it’s free and I know lots of people like a project.

Someone immediately said she wanted it and sent her husband to collect it a while later.

Then, all hell broke loose. She messaged me saying it was in a terrible state, the paint was chipped, the screws needed replacing - no shit Sherlock. That was the actual description.

She demanded that I come and pick it up. No. She kept on and on until I had to block her.

Half an hour later, her husband turned up again and threw it on my driveway, smashing it. So now, no one can have it to do up and it will have to go to the tip.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had shit like this. I don’t know how I attract these people. So never again. It’s the charity shop, or the tip.

Some people are just odd, aren’t they!

After having a good sort out of my craft room, I advertised some of the things. Was getting rid of on Freegle. I had two people interested so split the items into two sets of bags. Person A collected as agreed and was hugely appreciative.

Person B, who’d said she wanted the it’s to make things for a charity sh she supports, kept changing when she could collect. Then messaged to say she’d come back from a holiday to find her kitchen had flooded, could she come on another day. Sure, I said, I know life happens so I’ll leave the bags on the doorstep for you (again).

Three days later, the bags were still there. Nothing from B. I messaged to see if she was ok, and even offered to drop the goodies off to her if that would help. No reply.

So rude!

I contacted A to see if she would like the uncollected bags. She said yes and was delighted. Needless to say, she picked them up as arranged.

Why some people make freegling such hard work, I’ve no idea!

My favourite story is a friend of mine was selling her old car, she then saw a fellow school mum walking to school in the rain with her kids, feeling sorry for her she offered this lady her car for free- they were passing acquaintances ) it was probably worth £800-£1000) she was a Charitable sort and was comfortable but not loaded .. the car had no mechanical faults she just wanted to upgrade.
The lady gratefully accepted the car and a few weeks later out of gratitude organised a bbq.
my friend turned up, noticed no car in the driveway so asked her…. It turned out they sold the car and bought a £800 bbq that they were using to host.. my friend made a very swift exit after that!

I think people do this so if it's still available after a few days, then they think you will accept a lowball offer.

Well, that is a bit different. Your friend offered the car and it was accepted, the other woman didn't ask for it. Sure, she could have said no, but maybe she was caught on the hop. She now unexpectedly had a car, and discovered just how much it was going to cost to insure, license and run it. She may well have been getting on perfectly fine without a car previously, so just decided to get rid of it and buy something she needed which had minimal ongoing expenses. I guess she could have given the car back to the original owner.

Agreed @TabbyBeast , I have questions on both sides of that one!

Our local council took someone to court for doing similar for fly tipping when they left item on the pathway…be careful where you put your ‘free to a good home items’.

In public protests over the incident (yep in the local press) the council now leaflet an area allowing a residential area to have a day of ‘yard sales’- set by the council.
It’s popular with residents and buyers, but heaven help you if by Monday stuff is still outside your house!

You are quite right. My table stayed purely on our property

We leave stuff outside when dry with a note on saying if working or not. My old exercise bike that needed the petal sorted was gone in hours.

At my local tip sometimes the staff will come over to you investigate what you are throwing away and they will say 'Oh I will take that for you' and they put it to one side for the council run re use shop. Sadly not everything though. I could weep at the amount of toys I have seen thrown in the skips. I often tell people that the there is a large charity shop near by that would love them. However it is usually men dropping stuff off at the tip and they just can't be arsed to do that. No wonder this planet is in the state it is. I am a staunch believer in recycling and up cycling when you can. Sorry to hear about your experience OP 🙁

I agree. Relatives got two car seats and a pram on mint condition when they were dropping stuff at the tip. A man was just chucking stuff away. Such a waste.

Whenever I have tried to give stuff to a charity shop, they have been so rude. I have tried a few at different times in the past, all good quality and clean toys. They either want specific things, which still leaves me with a load left to get rid of,

I think I'd be a bit hesitant about the car seats, as serious damage can often be hidden - although if it's the (only) previous owner chucking them away and they seem trustworthy, it's a win-win for all.

I suppose the person chucking them away would have no benefit in lying to a stranger if they had been in an accident and/or potentially been damaged, as it makes no difference to them if they chuck them into the skip that they're standing next to or if somebody else takes them.

So many charity shops only want near-perfect top-quality items, rather than general saleable but not necessarily pristine bric-a-brac; but plenty of people who offer them them the pot-boiler bric-a-brac will already have separated out the really decent, valuable stuff and shoved it on Vinted or eBay.

I don't see why so many of them have to be so rude and act like you've just tried to give them the dog poo off the sole of your shoe, though. It's perfectly possible to say "Thank you very much for thinking of us, but I'm afraid we can't use that/don't have any storage space right now" for whatever reason.

Apart from anything else, the well-meaning would-be donor offering them a stack of DVDs that they can't sell these days, and so have to graciously decline to take, may be the same person who turns up in a month's time with some other stuff that will go like hot cakes and fetch a very decent price.

Obviously nobody should be rude about it, but nobody is obliged to take your stuff for you, including charity shops. They presumably know what sells and what doesn't, what's in stock and what isn't and what's easy to source and what isn't. If what you've got to offer would not help them raise money right now then they aren't obliged to act as a free storage or removals service just because they're volunteer-driven charity endeavours.

Car seats have a “sell by date”. I wasn’t aware until our neighbour firman told us about the safety day the station do regularly. We were given a seat by someone only for it to be deemed no longer viable (4 years past over the expiry date). I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened.

Wow, thanks - I never knew that.

This thread is depressing. the amount of folk who just bin/skip stuff. I’m not exactly a eco warrior myself but even I try my hardest never to send things that can be reused, to landfill.

edited as I can’t spell

I had a tent and some camping equipment which I put on the local FB group for about £20 as it was barely used and some still boxed/tagged. Got a woman messaging immediately to ask if she could collect in 30 mins. She turned up, I handed over the items and she turns and walked away. I said did you want to transfer the money now and she said oh I’ll give a donation to charity. I was so open mouthed with shock and she moved so quickly I never got payment. This was a solidly upper middle class area of london. I’m still gobsmacked.

You should ask for the money first before handling any items over. I did this one time, when selling an item.

We just put stuff out in front of the house, turn around and count to 3. As if by magic it disappears. I have no real idea where the people who disappear it come from, or how they know that something will be being placed outside but it’s really handy for getting rid of old stuff that’s not worth selling but not bad enough for the tip.

It's the pixies from Planet Zogg, and when you die and go to Planet Zogg you will be reunited with all the stuff they've been storing for you!

I’ve done that when moving house. I had so much stuff to get rid of I was in despair. We just left things in the street, including children bikes. It just disappeared.

@Snakebite61 I know it’s a word that people can get uppity about but FB in particular seems to attract a lot of dodgy scroats - no doubt plenty of the ones who think Nigel talks ‘sense’ -

OP has said that leaving items out just leads to them being damaged, which then means she has to dispose of ruined things—so that’s not ideal.

If that’s the case, I’d suggest starting with charity shops. If they won’t take the items, try local Facebook recycling or freebie groups (ideally well-moderated ones).

A few tips:

• Post Monday to Thursday for best visibility—it also helps avoid the weekend crowd who’ve had a skinful and enthusiastically say yes, only to ghost you once they’ve sobered up.
• Don’t give your exact address until the day of collection.
• Clearly state it’s “first come, first served” to keep things simple.

If there are still no takers, take to your local tip—ours has a reuse shop that sells salvaged items, so it’s worth checking.