To be angry at this??

[Yummymummyyobe1]

So I sorted out the family wardrobes and placed the items in various carefully selected charity bags and placed them outside the front of the house. On coming back into the lounge there is a women stood in my front garden pilfering items from the bags (mainly baby clothes and bits). Anyway I go out and ask her what she on earth she thinks she is up to and to return said items as what she was doing was theft and trespass. She reluctantly handed the items back and I said I was more than happy for her to purchase the items and then money go to the charities in question.

She asked how much an item and I said 20p for the vests, 30p for the babygrows (there were some still with the labels on) and a £1 for everything else (about 60% had the labels on and cost a lot more than a £1). She walked off muttering.

WIU to refuse to let her take the items for free as they were things we no longer wanted. I felt that it was paramount to theft from the charities we had chosen not to mention from us.

I like to give where I can. It is different to getting annoyed at people coming in your garden on the pinch though.

I can imagine my mother going something like that tbh.

We were skint and she was often too proud to let on how much we were struggling and therefore would not have wanted to ask but if the bags were at the edge of the garden by the path she may have been tempted.

I do often put things out with a note saying help yourself and people do . In fact my old dishwasher was taken last week!

I suppose it depends where the bags are.

Lots of people give to charity shops as a way of getting rid of stuff rather than wanting to help a charity and therefore they May have assumed (wrongly in this case) that the owner just wanted rid.

OP, I was wondering, is English your first language? No offence intended, it's just that, from reading your posts, you have an accent in my head

He sounds scrummy OP :)

mine is doing well - he has just started to crawl so I will be on my toes from now on!

I deliberately leave my stuff - books, clothes, furniture - outside to be taken by people who need it.

Charity shops are way too expensive in my area, and the poor need a break.

As a mate of mine said: 'Oxfam is great for the poor Africans in Africa, but what about poor Africans in London'?

Other people in my flats do too - we've kissed goodbye to a flatscreen telly, a nice pine leaf dining table, a million saucepans, fistfuls of poetry, and 20 pairs of 7FAM jeans this month.

I also leave current glossies out by the front door for interested parties to nick. It's only human.

IvanaNap English is my first language but I do have rather an old fashioned way of speaking and writing.

The bags were by the front door to the house you have to walk up the garden path.

Perfectstorm I applaud you!

Ah yes, the voice of an Austen character would fit now you mention being dated :)

Again, no offence, you just come across as a bit stilted I think. Maybe consider a name change and relaxing into your posts a bit more, you will be less open to attack and hopefully more likely to chat at ease.

Just because a poster's got posting history, doesn't mean they're not a troll

I think it is a bit odd if you have to walk up the path as it implies that someone must have been having a good nose at the front of your house to spot them.

Just because a poster's got posting history, doesn't mean they're not a troll

True. But then, nor does anything justify sheer malice. I've seen a lot worse on MN in the past 24 hours, I'm sorry to say. But the behaviour earlier on this thread is not edifying, either.

Captian in my own flat if you left it outside for for than 10 mins it was gone. Input out an old sofa, bed, all gone.

It was handy!

If you are in doubt about wether poster has a few problems or is a troll err on the side of caution.

No one HAS to post on this thread.

I don't think I've seen any sheer malice on this thread, I've certainly seen some raised eyebrows though.

How much those particular eyebrows cost - I'm not sure.

No real comments to make, but I just wanted to say OP, that you have taken any criticisms and piss taking on this thread really humbly and in good humour. Good for you and I wouldn't like some one taking my stuff from my property. I like to make my own decisions about what to do with my unwanted things. I don't want someone else to take it out of my hands, whatever the reason.

Yanbu, I would expect someone to knock and ask before just helping themselves. A friend of ours once left some good quality stuff out for the charity collection, and she thought they had taken it. The next weekend she went to a local car boot sale and saw her stuff on one of the stalls. She did confront the stall holder, who claimed it was stuff "donated" to her stall by a friend, and totally denied punching the bags off the front drive and selling it for her own gain

in my area we are sometimes given them bags to fill with clothes for charity. but we have also had note through our doors saying there is a gang of people going about taking the bags who are not part of thr charity who then sell them on.

we can also put clothes in our recycle bins to.

in my area if you leave something 'on' the street or next to your bin. that means help yourself.

but i do think the woman was a bit cheeky really

I'm surprised Special Branch and the SAS haven't been involved.

catgirl2012 thank you your little one sounds yummy but then babies are yummy. We are waiting for him to turn onto his tummy and then we will need to be more alert than normal. LOL.

Corygal that is a very nice thing to do.

IvanaNap thank you again I am trying to loosen up a little but it is very difficult.

Proudnscary rest assured I am most certianly not a troll.

captainhastings we have a problem with people being nosey around here and people do sometimes stop to look. I have wanted to out a few times and ask them what they are looking at ?

Thank you NoLogo life is too short to rise to the bait so to speak.

bubby64 that is digusting how dare they Im angry on your friends behalf.

msnaughty the bags were on private property and even so it is still vey wrong to just take things that are not yours to take.

LineRunner LOL althrough it doesn't sound such a bad idea (well if the people want to talk then perhaps this would help)

Shows the difference between city and country - I don't know where you live but in NYC if you put stuff on the curb, it's fair game for anyone. I live in London now but I imagine it'd be a bit different as there are proper houses here rather than just brownstones. Still, I'd be pleased someone took it off my hands rather than me having to march it down to the shops... if it's wanted, why complain?

If it was in a bag that was obviously for a charity then she had a cheek to go through them and take stuff she fancied from it. It might be a bag on your doorstep but it's still clearly stuff you have given to the charity just as much as if it was already on the rails in the shop.

Our local children's centre has a donated clothes rail. They ask people to donate items and then others can take them. They have a sign asking for a small donation "of whatever you can afford" for each item taken and the understanding is that some people can't afford anything but at least the clothes are going to someone who will use and has need of them. The donations go to charity.

But a while ago they were given a large amount of brand new baby sleep suits, in pink, blue and cream and from 0-3 months right up to 1 year old, from Next. Within an hour of them being put out every single sleep suit had gone, with no money left for them. Obviously they were not taken by someone in need, nobody needs that many sleep suits in all three colours and every size. Someone had taken them to sell on ebay or somewhere.

It just makes me a bit sceptical now. The people who really need the clothes appreciate the rail and don't abuse it by taking too much and still leaving nothing and they know that other people need it too so wouldn't take everything. Whoever took all those sleep suits and didn't donate anything had the same sort of cheek that this woman seems to have had in walking into your garden to look through the charity bags.

PeshwariNaan I was a bit put out that she had the gall to come into the front garden bags and go through bags that were clearly for charity.

CommaChameleon that would make me very [sceptical] to say the very least

CommaChemeleon that's so bloody greedy of them taking those sleep suits. My local charity shop is always getting robbed. A team were in recently one kept the volunteer chatting whilst the other 2 took brand new shirts I often go in and there's no one in the shop they're all in the back so something needs to change?