to think it's twattish to leave your unwanted crap outside your house for passers-by to take?

[TheIncredibleBookEatingManchot]

I probably am being unreasonable because the person I know who does this is someone I just can't stand for no discernible reason and everything she does annoys me.

Every so often stuff gets left on the pavement outside her house. Sometimes with a note saying "Free to a good home! :)" but usually just left there. Books get soggy in the rain, and seriously, is anyone going to pick up a dog-eared picture book from the pavement and give it to their baby anyway? Wheelchair users can't get past (very narrow pavement) and stuff just sits there for days looking sadder and sadder and I was sure there were more reasons to be annoyed by this but as I type I realise it pretty much boils down to it's annoying because it's her.

But why doesn't she offer her things to friends or donate it to a charity shop or sell it or freecycle it?

I bet she's smugly thinking "I'm being so kind and generous letting anyone who needs my unwanted crap just come and take it. And everyone can see how kind and generous I am every time they pass my house. I bet they talk about how lovely I am all the time."

YOU'RE NOT BEING KIND AND GENEROUS YOU'RE JUST CLUTTERING THE STREET WITH RUBBISH

I'm being unreasonable, aren't I?

[notarehearsal]

When previously living in a city where students would walk past non stop I did this regularly. It never crossed my mind there was anything not OK ( or smug) about doing so. I prefer to give items away I no longer need and, for various reasons, do not donate to charity shops. So, of course, would ask around to friends and sometimes on fb if anyone wanted an item. If not would put it outside where it would be for all of half an hour before disappearing. Occasionally people would knock and ask if I wanted any money for said item ( things like old games consoles ) but this wasn't the point. If I had no need for something why not just give it to someone who did?

[fatchilli123]

I feel so lucky. We have local chancer charity who take furniture and white goods(tame electrician pat tests everything ).
A lot of people leave stuff outside houses with notes to say free to good home and they always seem to be gone in hours.
I approve of recycling like this but I think she should be made aware of blocking path.

[EllenMP]

I think leaving stuff out for 24 hours is fine. After that the owner has to deal with it in some other fashion. My experience is that things I leave out in the evening are always gone by morning. Leaving them out in the rain, though, is not clever. I think you could ask her to take them back in if they aren't gone in one night.

[Albadross]

For many wheelchair users there's one route that's accessible to somewhere they need to go, and if that's blocked with a pile of shit where there's no dropped curb then that's pretty shitty. Bloody wheelie bins are bad enough.

[Notquitewhatiexpected]

I leave out cooking apples from our tree every autumn. Last year someone took the garden table they were on too!!

[PixieMiss]

Thats a step too far notquite

Putting bits out is quite commonplace round here. However, 90% of the stuff is taken by a lovely, elderly gentleman who is genuinely a hoarder. The house looks fit to burst.

I always get a twinge of sadness when I see him lugging something home that he probably doesn't need. A childs sand pit was the last thing!

[AlmostAJillSandwich]

6 1/2 years ago we threw out a VGC leather arm chair, one of 2 that matches our sofa, purely for the reason that when she was terminally ill my mum had a seizure and wet herself in it. Sadly having severe OCD about germs (specifically wee and poo germs) neither me nor my sister felt it could be appropriately cleaned and disinfected (down the sides and back of the fixed chair seat cushion was normal material and it had soaked through and in to the padding of the actual seat) so couldn't keep it, i couldn't even go downstairs til it was out of the house i felt that distressed by it. Felt so guilty as it was expensive and only a few years old but my dad didn't bat an eyelid as our mental well being was far more important to him than a chair.
My dad dragged it down to the end of the alley where the bins go on bin day. Next day it had gone. Imagine my shock just a few months ago, when after nearly 6 years it turned up in a skip right outside our house! The people that had taken it have been renting various houses short lease within the local area and had lived a few streets away at the time we got rid of it. They ended up renting next door for 6 months and left it totally trashed when they left (including the chair) and it was thrown out along with a ton of other stuff they left behind. Not a pleasant experience, so many bad memories, not the least that it was the last day mum ever spent at home as she was rushed to hospital after that seizure and died 2 weeks later in a hospice. (It was definitely the same chair, it was a made to order suite in a very specific design and unusual colour from a small independent shop some distance away for our area, not a mass produced style you can get from any sofa outlet)

[heron98]

YANBU

but in my area stuff wouldn't last that long! DP and I had some shit to get rid of, thought we'd try leaving it one night before hiring a car and taking it to the tip and it had all gone without a trace. We didn't even leave a note.

[Ilovecaindingle]

Many moons ago my df neighbours garden /drive /path was awash with assorted items free to good home - df called him Mr Clampet. . Cue one day neighbour knocked and I informed df that Mr Clampet was at the door. . . His name wasn't Mr Clampet.

[EustaceClarenceScrubb]

When we had to clear out our late parents house we left loads of things out on the driveway ready for the clearance collection we had booked for a couple of days later. Went back next morning and half of it was gone! Great, we thought until some bugger fly tipped an old fridge onto the drive overnight The rubbish collection man advised us to leave it out on the road, and it would probably be picked up by travellers. Sure enough it had gone within 2 days. Cheeky sods though, whoever it was that left it!

[MsGameandWatch]

Where I live, this is common practice. Stuff is usually gone within the hour. I put a lad of books out once complete with carrier bags it was lovely to see people coming along and taking a few books away.

YABU.

[Grittyshunts]

It's common practice here too. We have put stuff out that's too good to throw (not in the rain though!) and if it doesn't go, I stick it in the car and take it to the charity shop.

[Poosnu]

This is common practice in north London where I used to live. Things were taken very quickly, hopefully by people who could make good use of them. We used common sense and did not block the pavement!

[cheval]

Well we've had a van picked up by a passer-by! Obviously stolen and dumped, then thieves cleared it out. I reported it. Police just put an aware sticker on it and said it would take several weeks to sort. Saw a local business bloke sniffing round it. He took it! I did my best to get rid of it the legal way, but was seriously glad he got the problem off my hands.

[bvhjcj2712]

This is a most efficient way of getting rid of things. Small crap like books would have to be chucked frequently but how about putting an honesty box for a specified charity with donations left to discretion.
This is also an excellent way of getting rid of household appliances and anything that is metal. Try putting out an old copper immersion heater and see how many minutes before it is gone.Dead washing machine? Wait for the council for four weeks, pay them £30 odd or put it out on the roadside and watch it disappear- most satisfying. My family have done this for years, including commercial waste, when it is advisable to inform the collectors (used to be gypsies but we can't say that any more)
The temptation of something for nothing is more than many can resist, particularly the male of the species as they are convinced that your crap will come in "handy". They take it home and later their wives have to chuck it away.

[Serialweightwatcher]

I wouldn't think she was being nice and generous - I'd think she was being a lazy cow who couldn't be bothered to bag it up and send it somewhere it can be used without it getting ruined - also I'd think she was rude to block off the pavement

[monkeywrench]

Yeah, don't come to Germany then, realllllllly common practice here too, most of my flat is furnished by it, and half the contents of my kitchen cupboards. Me and the kids are gutted if we get to a "zu verschenken" box and it is already empty........

[greeneyedlulu]

There's things you can leave out on the street and things you can't! Knowing the difference is the key!! Sounds like your mate is just fricking lazy!!

[JulesJules]

Common practice here (Newcastle) - you leave stuff out and whoever gets there first can take it - council collection, the rag and bone man or passerby.

This is in the back alley though, not on the road or pavement.

[Sara107]

Many years ago I worked for a summer in Germany, and one of the highlights of the summer was when the special waste collection came to town. Everyone put out their unwanted stuff on the pavement about 3 days before the collection and it was available for anyone to take during that period. I remember so many houses had put out their beautiful old wooden skis, and many old wooden sledges as well. It seemed such a shame, although I'm sure modern skis are much lighter and easier to attach. The other thing I couldn't quite get my head around was the number of big expensive looking television s chucked out - with the plugs cut off. Who throws away a perfectly good TV but keeps the plug??
Anyway, leaving things like books out seems pointless and annoying if they clog the pavement, but otherwise I don't think this woman is doing great anything too terrible. Around here it is mainly barrows of cooking apples that get left out!

[Bunnyfuller]

Why don't you just nicely mention Freecycle to her?

[bakeofffan]

I have done this especially with metal or electrical items - not on the pavement but on my driveway, but easily accessible to anyone passing. An old rusting radiator went within 10 mins of me leaving it outside. If I'd tried to Freecycle it, I'd probably still be waiting for someone to collect.

Frankly I'd rather do that - on a previous occasion I got a skip to dispose of stuff, and kept coming out to find people climbing IN it rooting for stuff. That felt significantly more intrusive!

[Mistyshallow]

This is common practice in south London. Usually gone before you close your front door. I had a broken ironing board that lingered about 4 days. Someone even took a broken dustpan out of my bin once.

[MsJudgemental]

We do this ourselves on the wall next to our gate (technically not our property) but things usually go quickly. Decent stuff goes to the charity shop and anything that gets ruined by being rained on gets binned or taken to the tip.

[kathmacc]

North London also and common practice around here- usually at end of garden next to public footpath but not on it.