To not want this woman on my street "helping" with my bins every week?

[LittleBoPeepHasLostHerShit]

A woman on my street (about 5 doors away - don't know her name, she doesn't even say hello if she sees me) rushes out to put all the neighbours' bins back after the binmen have been. (Not sure how many other houses she does but it's not just mine.) I don't like it because she goes into my drive to do it and she can see into my house through the window. It just feels unnecessary and intrusive. I'm guessing she wants to be helpful and clear the pavement for others and thinks we are all to slow putting them back. Would it be ungracious to pop out and tell her thanks but there's no need?

So what? What does she see? The top of a sofa? Someone walking past now and then. A real non issue and makes you wonder why people bother trying to be nice neighbours. Put a note through and ask her not to if you don’t want her doing it

Does it really matter ?
What have you got to hide in your front room..or whichever window the bin lives by
My lovely neighbour does this for us as he's home retired and we often home late so it gets the bin off the footpath ...

My dad does this. My parents lived very rurally on a farm and have recently moved to a small development in town. He takes all their bins in.
He does this because
a) his neighbours are all at work, working from home or have very little children
b) he’s 80, and is used to being very active
c) he loves helping people, and is a little bit lonely

If anyone was rude to him about this I’d want to break their legs (although would probably just send them a glitter bomb). He’s not looking in any windows, because he has at least three pairs of glasses and they’re always the wrong ones. I doubt he could see.

If it's really an issue for you then just pop a note in her letter box without looking in any of her windows asking her not to do it.
Sorted

Only on MN would someone be pissed off about a neighbour doing something kind and helpful. YABU and ridiculous.

Is she doing it for a reason? I move my neighbours bin's often because we have a shared access and the bin men leave them in the way or on my garden.

It sounds like she might just be a bit Hyacinth Bucket about having the bins out, I'd leave her to it as long as she's not using it as an opportunity to have a nosey in your house.

She doesn't sound very friendly?

Why on earth wouldn't you say hello to a neighbour who was putting your bin back?

Are you dancing naked in your bay window and dont want her to catch a glimpse?
Are you concerned she is rifling through your rubbish?

If not, just say hello and thank her!

My neighbour puts ours back for me if she gets to the bins before I do. Vice versa. Its helpful and neighbourly!

I can't bear anyone on my private property other than the postman, other delivery services and ironically my immediate next door neighbour (who asked when I moved in if I'd mind if he puts my bin out and brings it back in. I always get him a little something at Christmas to say thanks). I have notes on my front door this effect. I don't care what anyone thinks of this. It would piss me off if someone I don't know was on my property moving my stuff, no matter what it is.

Some hilarious replies on this thread made me roar and I am in awe of the person who worked out that she hasn't seen the OP in her undies because if she had she would have recognised her when she said hello, instead of looking at her blankly - and went on to elaborate the heating and cost implications of the OP's state of semi-undress. Thanks for the laughs, everyone.

I think she does it so he path is clear for wheelchairs, buggies, small children, dogs or anyone who wants to use the path. As she is doing 5 of them it's not like she's loitering or being nosy. If you want to stop it, you can just do yours as with there being 5 houses you have time. Just be really friendly, "you're so kind bringing everyone's bins in. It's my turn so please let me do mine" then keep doing it to break the habit. If she beats you to it one time, then say you really did mean it about doing your own. It's better not to piss her off as you do live near each other and she could be helpful

As an aside, I don't know why some people get so uptight when posters say they dislike a particular thing. People have a right to not want people trespassing on their land, close to their window, without people getting sniffy, and telling them they're 'wrong.' They are entitled to be annoyed about ANYthing actually!

In a house we lived in many years ago, I used to get wound up when people used to come to our door - postie, delivery people, milkman, leaflet droppers, etc etc etc, and used to cross in front of our lounge window to get to the neighbour next door instead of going down our path, onto the main footpath, and up the neighbour's path.

I know it saved them 30 seconds walk, but it annoyed me because it was right past our window. They could see straight in! We ended up getting a bloody 5 foot high locked gate to stop them! Petty? I don't know, and I don't care... But I - and everyone else - am entitled to get irked by whatever I choose, without finger-waggy posters telling me I'm not allowed to.

I think this is odd behaviour and I also am surprised at the number of posters here who think it's perfectly normal for someone in the street to put everyone's bins away after the rubbish has been collected as a routine and would just consider this a nice act. I wouldn't feel intruded upon if someone did this to me, but it's so unnecesary. As a one off sure, that's fine, but context is everything. My neighbour's bin once fell over and contents came out and I knew they weren't home so I picked it all up and set it upright again. On those rare strong wind days we might colelct a few bins as we pass, but not as a routine.

FWIW, I live in an elderly neighbourhood, lots of mobility stuff going on, and the binmen don't actually move our bins, they empty the sacks without moving the bins, so if someone leaves it on the pavement then it gets left there but we all have drives and for the most part the bins are on the drive.

This reminds me of an exinlaw who couldn't sit still, he kept offering me things. On the surface this was to make my stay more comfortable, but it only served to make me feel that my presence was a burden, I was forever a guest who needed to be waited on. The guy rearranged furniture in his own home because he thought I didn't have enough light to read by. I had not been struggling at all, the non-issue was purely of his own making. And I think the same thing is happening here, on the surface it can seem like a generous act, but it isn't.

@LittleBoPeepHasLostHerShit just put a sticker on your door saying
' Beware - uninvited people are not permitted on your drive or near your windows due to you constantly being dressed in just underwear - even in winter'

• that may work...

Is she lonely or wanting to feel useful? Think of it from her point of view and the reasons why she's doing it.

As pp have said this could be an extremely well-intentioned act.
If this was a neighbour who you knew and got on with, would you have as much of a problem?
I think maybe you are weirded out by her and are making a bigger deal of it by suspecting either an ill motive on her behalf or a lack of positive intention on her behalf.
I’d be gracious and thank her next time you see her as well as appreciating that basic rights (ie to get down the street) trump your need for complete privacy at all times. And by all means beat her to it which, if she is motivated by clearing the path, she should be pleased about.

Oh my - it never occurred to me that when I bring my neighbour's bins in that they would get offended by it. I do it because I'm up early and it clears the pavements for pedestrians, sometimes I'm not up early on a bin day and I find my bins put away by a neighbour. I had no idea that I should be cross about that as I just think, thanks neighbour.

My life skills obviously need adjusting methinks.

OP - you're a SAHM and literally at home all day, yet you can't notice a massive fuck off bin lorry emptying bins and get outside to fetch your own single bin in quicker than your neighbour 5 doors up can get out and move 5 bins?? Are you a sloth??

This is like the thread about unsolicited chat all over again. Someone routinely coming onto my property (and a conversation I'd have to have with them to get them to stop) would cause me anxiety and upset. Why would her wanting to feel useful trump my wanting to be left alone?

YANBU. She shouldn't be coming into your garden without having asked or discussed it with you. I agree with @JustJustWhy

Exactly!

Do-gooders who feel entitled to tresspass to make themselves feel good rub me the wrong way.

Shortly after the current clan moved in next door, I arrived home from work to see several fallen tree branches on my drive. Good, because I use twigs and branches from MY tree as fireplace kindling.

Made dinner, etc. and then went outdoors no branches on my drive. As I was standing there, the man loomed up out of the twilight we'd not met -- and said "Looking for something?" I said I was perplexed as to where the branches had gone; he said "my kids picked them up for you."

I said "Oh, thanks, but I was happy to see them as I use them in the fireplace." He got all huffy and went and collected the broken-up branches from wherever and held them out to me.

That was five years ago and the only other time we've spoken is when I told him to stop having his dogs come over and soil my garden every day. During that conversation he dredged up how "ungrateful" I was "just because my little girl (12 or 13 at the time, old enough to know better) was trying to do you a favor."

Boundaries exist for a reason.

Oops, inadvertent strikethrough in post above. I hate that function of this site.

Wow ungrateful much. She's just trying to help.
My neighbour does this for me weekly and some of the other neighbours. It's helpful and nice. Plus it means the street gets clear of bins quicker.

Fucking hell I've read some shit on MN. Seriously just be bloody grateful.