People not showing pride in their homes

[Auburngal]

Talking about those who leave the front of their homes (owned) in a state.

For example there’s a house down my parents road who has an old fridge freezer on their driveway for 5 years! Don’t understand why people spend several hundred quid on white goods don’t buy them from a retailer who takes the old one for free or for £10. I paid the retailer £10 to take my old washer away and to recycle it accordingly.

Then there’s a house opposite me who had their bathroom replaced and left the old loo and other bits outside the home for several months. A decent bathroom fitter would take the old stuff away as part of the package.

Then another family down my parents road have old children’s toys in their garden- play house, sand pit etc. The kids are too old for these toys now.

Then are properties with hedges on the road and used as a ‘bin’. Unless the owners have mobility issues - then there’s no excuse to remove the rubbish from the hedge.

People spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on their homes but I hate it when they show no care.

People need to show pride.

I am a member of a community litter picking group.

Some people just like the front of their house to look nice. A fridge on the back garden is not going to stop your activities. I'm lucky that my neighbours are like me but I still walk through the village and judge the litter and dig shit people.

I completely agree. I think half the posters so far sound like a bunch of scruffs! If you can't afford to pay for your old white goods to be taken away, you can't afford to buy new ones.

Have a bit of pride in yourselves!

So if your fridge breaks you shouldn't replace it unless you can also afford removal? Some people really have no idea.

FWIW. When my oven broke last year my landlord replaced it. As is his job. He didn't pay for the old one to be removed though, because he had a mate who would do it for free if I put it in the front garden. Which I did. It took his mate 7 weeks to turn up. Despite constant promises he would definitely come tomorrow.

Scrap metal men cannot take fridges or freezers as they have to be disposed of in a certain way due to the gasses. You would have to pay for it to be removed by someone licensed.
Also, not everyone has a local scrap metal man anyway.

At what point - how many weeks of having a stove in your garden - do you just take some initiative and do it yourself?

Yes and no. I do agree when money isn't an issue. But, as others have said, sometimes poor mental health can make these things very difficult. So, without knowledge of someone's personal circumstances I'd not like to judge.
Also, got to be honest, in the current state of the world, there are many things that concern me waaay more. Climate change etc. I certainly don't lose sleep over messy neighbours...

With respect, I think that's a little bit too harsh on the op tbh

The issue isn't really taking pride. The issue is that when area looks/is run down, crime moves in and so do rodents and pests. Bit of rubbish, that's everywhere in UK, but furniture, appliances etc are a problem.

I totally agree re poverty and mental illness (both of which I've suffered from) as conveyed in my post above.
But, I do think your post attacking the op was a little personal. She may not have experience or understanding of these issues; but that doesn't make her a bad person. We all have gaps in our knowledge 🤷‍♀️

I guess it's a bit chicken and egg? Do certain social issues lead an area to become run down? Or do run down neighbourhoods lead to social issues?

It can start both ways imho. One breeds another - social issues breed crime and mess, and mess and crime breeds social issues.

I could see the difference in our estate. Our street was well kept mainly by oldtimers there and everyone new followed suit. We had basically no crime or antisocial behaviour. Few streets away was a completely different matter with rubbish, furniture etc in front and frankly, you wouldn't want to live there because if police was called to the area, that's where they went.

I kind of get what OP means. I think most of us would be moaning about rubbish and large items left up front houses on our streets and wouldn't want to buy or rent amongst that unless we had no choice. I for one had a specific thing about really messy streets as an absolute no. If I saw yucky sofas obviously out there a while, it was an instant no for the street. I don't need mkre rats than the usual amount as well😶

As someone who grew up quite poor outside of UK (but not in absolute poverty because that IS hell there) I know that keeping my area clean, using bins and not making it look like hell is doable even without money.

@BeachBeerBbq yeah, I think I pretty much agree with most of your post. But, with one caveat - severe mental illness. I do think that's the one thing that can make such things really hard at times. To be utterly broken makes most things feel pointless, including being tidy.

I live in a block of flats. The block of flats next to mine is housing association. There’s a family that fly tip, been told time and time again not to do so.

i have to drive/walk past the HA block every time I leave/return from/to. Even seen the family fly tip. Plus don’t bother with removing address from courier packages.

The family has 4 children. Age gap between 2nd and 3rd is 8 years (guessing) and when the DC2 was nappy wearing, she didn’t do this to every nappy. Every now and then, she got the nappy and with the remaining stickiness, she formed the nappy into a ball. In hot weather, stickiness went and used nappy unraveled! I don’t wish to see 💩thank you. The lazy b1tch is doing this again. Guessing it’s a different father for DC 3 and 4 with about 15 months gap.

What has the fact that the children might have different father's got to do with anything?

@Auburngal I completely agree, and will also be participating in the village litter pick this weekend!

Whilst I try hard not to judge, there is a distinct lack of civic pride here in the UK. It starts at home and then extends into our communities, A roads, motorways. Once you see it, it’s hard to ignore.

I recently travelled through Europe and did not see litter or dumped items in gardens etc, it was noticeably different and makes you realise what a dump the UK is.

Some (not all) of the excuses on here are really poor. The entitlement of having a house and gardens but no desire to maintain them is very selfish and demonstrates a lack of empathy for those they live amongst.

Whilst I wholeheartedly support the notion of helping each other, those with white goods in gardens or those struggling to carry out basic maintenance need to reach out for help and understand the negative impact it has on neighbours.

This must be me. I am always rushing, often from work with a heap of unfinished task, to get home and feed the kids before rushing off to an afterschool club. Also if I notice the bin on my way out I don't want the faff of moving it and then having to go back in and take my shoes of and wash my hands etc. So sometimes I leave it out till the weekend....there are worse things to leave in the garden and if you are so bothered by it you can move it for me if you like. By the way....please stop feeding the rats.

Guessing it’s a different father for DC 3 and 4 with about 15 months gap.

Careful your distaste is showing...

Mumsnet unfortunately loves shitting on people in social housing, not sure why you think they wouldn’t like it! As a contrast, everyone I know in council housing is very tidy and two of my wealthy relatives houses and gardens look like absolute dumps.

Oh no ,not the renter's, people with a mortgage can be minks as well.

@doorsteps

Some people on here are confusing looking after your home with fake pretence (referencing Hyacinth Bouquet) and doing something housewife'y and old fashioned. So it appears people are now 'too cool' to live in tidy neighbourhoods.

"Cool" is now the catch-all way to dismiss anyone who either disagrees with you or whom you don't properly understand. So transparent and so lame.

I look after my home and live in a tidy neighbourhood thank you. I also have sufficient critical thinking skills to recognise that I'm very privileged to be able to do so and not everyone can.

I have one neighbour who hasn't cleaned a window in 14 years. She isn't old, mentally ill, doesn't work long hours,is the first one to complain about weeds,mess in other peoples gardens. Yes, the garden is a tip,contains a rusty car been there about 6 years now. They told me they bought the place because of the big garden. Obviously no one has been in the position where noone wants to buy their house because of the neighbouring houses. My ex H tried to kill me, the house was re-purposed. I spent a year in emergency accommodation,a property that was being demolished.i kept it clean,tidy inside and out including the garden, while I lived there. It was a matter of pride, for myself,my DKs. I started out in social housing, did the same. Another neighbour had a garden full of dog shit.