To think a skip is easier than the general fucking public

[bussteward]

I’m on a major declutter and obviously can give bags of things to charities – but the ones near me are small and can’t accept limitless donations or certain items, eg opened bags of nappies, boring baby things like mountains of vests, or “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” type stuff. Fine.

But JFC trying to give stuff away via Olio/Freecycle/Marketplace etc is a full-time job dealing with the hard of thinking. No matter how clear the ad stating the pick-up times available – and Olio even has a rule you’re supposed to mention a time in your first message – you get conversations that go:

Available?
Yes, until 1pm today or I can be around any time tomorrow if you let me know when so I don’t have to wait in all day.
OK, this afternoon.
As the ad states, I can’t do after 1pm today. Please let me know a time that suits you tomorrow.
Tomorrow afternoon.
OK, I’m not going to wait in all afternoon: so let’s say 3pm.
::tumbleweed silence::

It’s like pulling teeth.

Then there was the woman who did specify a time, forgot to come, rearranged, messaged once she was an hour late to say her car had broken down, never confirmed a new time then turned up randomly three weeks later when the item had long gone trying to give me a box of cat food. I do not have a cat.

Every pick up time comes and goes without a ring on the doorbell, then the message comes: just waiting for my partner to come home with the car then I’ll set off. OK?! But you said 9am and it’s now 9.30 and you’ve not set off, so that’s an entirely different time and I have plans.

Obviously I am not going to throw everything in a skip or set fire to it all but it would be easier. Can’t put it all out the front with a sign saying “free” because it’s constantly pouring down. Can’t specify “no fucking idiots, what’s wrong with you people” on the ad. I don’t have an AIBU because I’m NOT unreasonable: it is the people who are unreasonable, aren’t they?

Just get a skip! Or just put it out the front on a table on a sunny day. I tried to give stuff away with Olio, charity shops, freecycle sites etc it was a nightmare. And some of the people I met were so entitled! I woman actually stamped her foot and turned on tears at my door when I said I couldn't give her a cut glass vase as I had promised it to someone else.

I said "no more!" after that. If it's super good then I take it to a charity shop, otherwise the declutter becomes more intense than a business. So a skip it is!

We did a big move last year and I quickly abandoned all the sites for giving stuff away. Instead, we put things out in our (tiny) front garden or on the front wall and everything went. Maybe stuff was resold or didn’t go to the most deserving, but I didn’t wait in for days on end / have some weird guy wanting to know when I’d be home alone / have to explain why I wasn’t also giving away my car or sofa or firstborn 🙄

All my stuff goes to a local charity. They have a shops and warehouse and will even collect bulky items. It’s much easier.

If you are making meals for friends you go to the tip?

See if Anglo Doorstep Collections operate in your idea. They take most things and they are brilliant.

Most people round here wait for a fine day and then put it out the front of their house with "Free, Help yourself" notices and also take photos to put on local "stuff for free" facebook pages to get a wider pool of potential takers.

Seem to work very well. You can do it first thing and then bugger off out for the day if you need to be elsewhere.

The only cautionary tip I would add though is only use containers you also want to be rid off or broken plastic tubs/baskets/buckets as no matter how much you plead "Please don't take the basket/tub/container", someone will take them anyway.

I remember we had a skip and were clearing out the loft. We saw on our CCTV a guy come rooting through the skip. He got out an old blanket from the skip and proceeded to spend over 45 minutes laying it on driveway and loading it up with stuff from the skip. He drove away then came back later for more! Never seen him before and we live at the bottom of a cul-de-sac so not like he had driven past and seen it😂

https://anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk/

Just to add, my wierdest one was a bloke messaged when I was selling an old engagement ring

Started off fine, got stranger asking what the story was, have I split up with somebody etc

then proceeded to ask me if I like being tied up

Blocked pronto 😂🤯

Kinell.

Never pass up an opportunity, do they? 😂

Slightly off topic, but when looking at Facebook market place recently there was a woman selling a dress for about £20. It was a plain mini dress and the photo was of her wearing it, sat on her bed, but from behind so only showing the plunging back of dress and her very curvy bottom. The dress looked like it cost £5 max new. I said to DH that I was assuming she was a prostitute and it wasn’t the dress she was selling, he thinks I’m wrong but otherwise it seems just too random even for Facebook market place. There are also lots of ads like this when you start to look.

I also feel your pain. My DH died last year, he was a hoarder. I sold a ton of stuff on ebay, but gave loads to charity. Some I just put outside the house marked 'free to good home'. And still people asked if I could deliver! There were 2 huge bookcases! I mean, do I look like a furniture delivery man? They did come back for them, but I think they really believed I could deliver. I also had a floor renewed and advertised the old pine boards. A chap arrived about 5 minutes later absolutely delighted as they were his firewood for the next 6 months.

Good God you actually think people should make ZERO effort in rehoming things? You are completely at ease at landfill. No wonder we are in the mess we are in

I mean if I need a dish to give them a meal in.

Anything we don’t want anymore I put at the end of our front drive with a sign saying help yourself, it’s always gone within the hour. Very useful for decluttering kids toys, books, games, unwanted household items, clothes, shoes, anything really.
I don’t have the patience to list anything anywhere and I’m also quite impulsive so when I get the urge to declutter things I tend to want them gone there and then.

Good God another one who calls it 'letting go' but actually it's absolving yourself of responsibility for your shit. Don't dress it up as anything else.

We have a small woodshed at the front of the house. If it’s free I leave everything there for collection any time send the address, as them to message me when they’ve collected and if it’s still there in 48hrs realist it.

Yep.
Worst thing is you getting 20 messages saying 'is this available' and maybe one is a scam, one replies, the rest don't reply.
Waste of time. Take to the skip.

Things disappear faster if you put them on the drive with a sign "for sale, £25, please knock."

Yes, I have never in my life encountered more people who don't drive than when trying to get rid of things on Marketplace. We live rurally. You pretty much have to drive to get anywhere here. But no one drives when it comes to free stuff.

Good God! Another one on mumsnet who can't help but try to make someone else unhappy! Shove it, hun.

Yep. I hear you OP.

I usually sell the good stuff on eBay, then give the rest to a small local charity that will pick up the bulk.

I'm sure some people are just lonely and want to have a (pointless) conversation

On a dry day I normally shove a few bits on the front garden and post "free to collectors, no holding/queues. first come first served. 35 Streetname, Townname. Anything still there tomorrow will be binned" to the local free shit facebook page. It usually disappears fairly quick.

i Always get the I can take this, but can you deliver -miles away as well!

A skip is Definitely easier than dealing with people who aren’t actually in need , but do want a bargain , at the expense of your time and sanity. I drop off at charity shops now, or chuck in the bin. Sorry not sorry.