AIBU to ask WTAF is wrong with people???

[LonginesPrime]

I'm in the process of redecorating one of the kids' bedrooms. The council are coming to collect some of the bulky items we're getting rid of, including small sofa bed, some ikea shelf units and some wood from dismantled cabin beds. I put it outside in my front garden this morning ready for collection as it was a two person job and that was when I had someone to help. We live in a standard Victorian terrace with just a small square of concrete for the garden at the front, separated from the pavement by a waist-height wall and a metal gate.

When I came home this afternoon, I saw that two of the shelf units had been taken (and the sofa bed placed on the floor, where previously it had been sitting on the units).

This is fine and, although I thought it a little cheeky that someone would come into my garden to take things (i.e. they weren't left on the pavement), I expect this in London and appreciate that someone might want some battered old bookcases. I even thought to myself 'well, at least they put the sofa bed back how considerate'.

However, I just went out to put out the rubbish and noticed that one of the black bags that I'd put in the plastic bin was now in front of the bin and had been opened. I then realised that a child's plastic bow (the shooting kind) which was in one of the bags had been left on the windowsill next to the bins and there was a matted-haired My Little Pony on the ground.

I opened the other bins and saw that someone had ripped open each of the bags and had left the contents spilling everywhere. The council won't take them like that so I'm the one who gets screwed if I just leave them. So I've had to tip the bins up to get everything out of them and into new bin bags in the dark, tipping a load of old rainwater/rancid bin juice over my path and my bare feet in the process.

I get that someone obviously realised I was having a clearout and they've clearly taken bits and pieces, and I get that there's a lot of poverty and that one man's trash is another man's treasure, but AIBU to think that you don't go into someone's front garden, open their bins and rip up the bags inside them?

I'm off to have a hot bath and to ponder what's becoming of the world...

You should try living round here. Bin dippers regularly take bin bags out of bins, leave them strewn over back lanes. They are looking for anything they can sell, items and personal information. It's really annoying.

But on a positive note we can put anything metal in our back lane and it will be picked up by the scrappers who will sell parts on for money. Saves going to tip or paying council to remove items. We also have a great local fb page that people can get rid of stuff they don't want.

I had one of my plant stolen from my gated front garden!
One morning I came out of the door to find a big hole where plant was.
It was a perfect hole, so someone must took care not to damage roots, etc.

I hate Freecycle/Amazon MP/Gumtree. My recent experience of trying to give stuff away for free on these sites was horrendous and exposed me to a bunch of time wasters and cheeky fuckers.

Yes to this. I am very keen to minimise waste but after years of cheekery fuckery I have taken to photographing the thing, putting it near my door, posting on the local FB/freecycle site that Item x is outside address y, and leaving people to it. No I can't hold it for you, deliver, measure it, replace the fabric or post it to France.

And yy to BHF being fussy buggers. I had them refuse a one year old bed frame because it had a single, 5cm scratch on the underside. I could have touched it up with paint if I'd known.

Bhf refused to take my sofa . They said it was a bit too old for there liking. Another charity were happy to take it though.
Yes to the fussy people on freecyle. Someone asked for unwanted material and I replied saying I had plenty of brand new material available for free. She then Iasked if I could deliver it to her door about 40 miles away!
Err no.

I hate Freecycle/Amazon MP/Gumtree. My recent experience of trying to give stuff away for free on these sites was horrendous and exposed me to a bunch of time wasters and cheeky fuckers

Don't even go there ... there isn't enough space on here for a full account of the hassle I've had trying to give stuff away and the entitlement of some is just stunning

BHF were no better when I cleared my DF's house. A two year old sofa in perfect condition? Oooo no - suck of teeth - they all want leather these days. A perfect dining set in dark oak? Oh no, nobody wants dark colours now

The local YWCA furniture project had them in the end and were thrilled ... which is why I no longer donate anything to BHF

It's theft when taking something that doesn't belong to you especially from someone else's property. Even rubbish from bins and skips. Never understand anyone bragging about what they have found in a skip- they are a thief.

I quite often see various bits out in front of people's houses or on their walls, often things like fridges with signs saying, 'Take Me' but my favourite was just one shoe. Who is going to take just one shoe? Are they expected to hop everywhere by the resident?

After 6 years' use I want to replace my sofa. Because I want to change the look of the room, it's not worn out.
I hope that doesn't sound too bad... I know some people have sofas for 10 years.

Even though it's not much used, and looks pretty perfect, I'm going to just give it to British Heart Foundation as it's now a thing that they come and collect old sofas for charity. Selling it on Gumtree would be too much hassle and whilst I might get a couple of hundred pounds I feel good about donating it to charity.

Puzzled, yes also had this experience with BHF, trying to give them an immaculate if not dated dining table and six chairs. Surely if you had no furniture you would accept it and just stick a cloth on table!!!

As PP mentioned, I have lived in a country where every year the council does an unwanted furniture and oversize rubbish collection. Everyone dumps stuff on the kerb the street looks dreadful for a week, and people unashamedly rummage through it all. Finders Keepers. Scrap metal blokes do the rounds, poorer families take furniture. Enterprising ice cream vans feed the scavengers.

But to rip open bin bags is bloody cheeky

In London this is very common and I think you probably confused people by mixing bin bags with other stuff. If you leave stuff in your front garden people will assume its rubbish and take it if they want to. Its actually a really good system.

But you need to keep actual trash separate as its confusing!

Surely if you had no furniture you would accept it and just stick a cloth on table!!!

You'd think so, wouldn't you - and it's certainly what I did in my first home, when I didn't have much money

However, on MN, this is usually when we get told we're heartless b**tards trying to grind down the less privileged and impose our effete standards on them ...

Where we lived until recently we had to put the wheelie bins out by 6.45 a.m, nothing unusual I know. I was usually out at work until 5.30 ish so didn't see what happened apart from 1 day when I was not at work. I caught a chap going right through the bin , looking for I don't know what. He had taken everything out and spread it on the pavement,selecting anything that he thought was valuable. I asked him to stop and he just would not! Like you I was really angry; I found out later that he did this regularly to everyone! And both the recycling and not recycling! And he left a bloody mess, the chap from the council would write to us if we littered but wasn't interested in complete strangers going through bins. I understand how annoyed you are, go and have a nice glass of wine, works for me.

My parents love rummaging through peoples bins and skips if they see someone having a clear out, apparently there is some secret group of them and the rules are you knock and ask permission and if opening bags you re-bag them when done. I used to make fun of them for it but actually I ended up in temporary accommodation and lost everything a few years ago and when I got a new place my parents had scavenged enough stuff to completely furnish it til I could afford to buy bits that actually matched.

When we moved into our house there was quite a lot of stuff left my the previous (deceased) owner. We stuck some of it out on the front wall (things like a manky old microwave) ready to take to the tip and it all went! I was all for leaving random stuff out there to see what else would go but my other half wouldn't let me

Where we live ( i would say average working class ((some would try to claim to be "middle class" )) 2-4 bed semis in a residential area....) were I was leading with that is... we are not a run down impoverished area... We actually leave unwanted furniture, bits&bobs, abundance of summer fruit etc out for neighbours to pick up (i free cycle things like prams etc under strict not for resale)one neighbour insisted on sticking money in a card for a chest of drawers and bedside cabinets for me that I left out... mind you I helped her carry it down the road for her as so heavy ... I have next doors dvd stand for my son's room and most stuff is gone within 24 hours... we don't go into gardens though we leave it out beside the gates with signs on it... i find going into gardens very rude.
I also agree with a previous poster there are those that a desperately poor (and quite often the ones too proud to ask for help) and those that just take what they can for the sake of it....
Without trying to dismiss it- seagulls and larger birds like crows etc can rip binbags to shreds within mins do you have any near you?

It is not that the poster minds them taken the stuff, it is the MESS they have made in doing it. They may NOT be in need they may take it to the car boot on Sunday , same as the people who nick the bags outside the charity shops.

Why were you in your bare feet outside?

I put out a bunch of bottles of fizzy drinks, bottles of lucozade someone had left here, etc once on the wall with a note that nobody here would drink them and to help yourself. The teenagers down the street were delighted, and thanked me when they next saw me.

I often gp out side in my bare feet in my own garden, why would she not?

I've never seen anything left out, and if I left anything out I'd be accused of fly tipping and reported to the council. 😂 However I think it's a brilliant idea.

My Grannie had her lovely wrought iron gates stolen a while back.

A neighbour took a photo of the van and the police traced the culprit, he claimed he thought they had been left out for scrap!

They were still attached to the gateposts

Grand to walk outside if you wash your feet when you come in. Snails, dog-shite, cat-shite, glass, worms, snails, worms, woodlice, spiders......

On a slightly different tangent, I have, presumably a fox, that's worked out how to open food recycling bin. Forages then leaves all of rest of yucky contents strewn across drive, for me to clean up. Have bought a bungy clip to outfox them. But have also had to get a new bin as they gnawed hole in bin to get at contents. Joys of recycling.

Taking stuff without permission has reminded me of an embarrassing faux pas many years ago. I was at the laundrette and noticed a pile of stuff with a "help yourself notice" above it. There were some items of clothing, a cloth bag, plenty of odd socks and an Ali Baba washing basket. I gleefully grabbed the basket which was in reasonable nick and I thought an extra one wouldn't go amiss. Having stowed it in the boot and gone for a swift half whilst the washing was going round, I was horrified to hear a woman in the bar regaling a bunch of locals with the story of how some scrote had nicked her laundry basket while she'd been folding up her laundry.
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't own up, fearing a lynching by the outraged pub mob. How mortifying!

If it is on your property it is actually theft. It might appear to be refuse but how do they know without asking. Even taking out of a skip without permission is theft. The right thing to do would be to knock as ask. I left a dishwasher outside of my front door (long driveway from main path) for my neighbour to collect but the scrap metal tealeaves took it (stupid of me to leave it - have learnt from that lesson)

If you wanted something taken from your front garden stick a sign on it asking for a donation to charity, or put money through the letterbox. It will be gone. If you write a sign saying 'free' you will probably be stuck with it. But going through the bins