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.

'I have always avoided living in rough areas'

🙄

I have to laugh at the posters who say you should just PAY to have things taken away. Stick your hand in your big deep pocket and pull a few tenners out. I'm not saying it should be free, but let's face it, not everyone has the spare cash to have items removed from the front of their house. When an essential appliance stops working, some people are right down to the wire with their finances just buying the replacement. I admit leaving it there 5 years is a rather different scenario! But the person may have difficulties in their life that kind of makes them blind to things. An old fridge almost becomes part of the landscape for them or requires too much headspace to sort. I try hard not to judge because, honestly, I'm a million miles away from perfect myself. Sometimes I think coming on here and reading some posters' comments makes me feel ten times worse as a person. I don't have any appliances sitting outside my house, but I'm certain there are plenty of other things 'wrong' with the appearance of my house and the reasons are numerous. And my own business.

And tha5 absolutely fine, a lot of people do it, but the general posting is about things like fridges and sofas, which unless I’m missing something, bees and butterFlies don’t need

It was in response to the poster who was complaining about people not mowing their lawns.

I don't know why you're having a go at me.

I PAID for my items to be removed.

I PAY a gardener.

I PAY a cleaner

I PAY a window cleaner

I PAY for my concrete to be powerwashed.

Why is it my fault that other people are dumping their rubbish in my garden?

My neighbour takes my bin in and out. He took it out last night (today is bin day) and he will bring it in at some point - I can't torment him to do it quicker as he's doing it for me as a favour.

The council charge me £15 an item to remove things.

I've posted on the local facebook group to say there's a spacehopper and a kids tractor in the front garden of NoX. Please can you check if your child is missing these and come and collect them thanks.

no one has so far (and it's been weeks) so it's going to cost me £30 to get rid of them? How is that fair?

And my lawn isn't mowed because the gardener hasn't started yet. As soon as he does start it'll be mowed every other week.

This. The ableism on this thread is disgusting.

I think people prioritise differently, I once lived next to a neighbour, single mum with four children one with ASD and a FTJ, so would have been time poor. Her front garden and hedge was always a mess, but her cars were always pristine. As we shared one gate to the front gardens I would mow the lawn and do her hedge when I was doing mine but stopped after a while as I never got any thanks for my help I don’t think she noticed.

The excuses on this thread. Yes, I know there are people with issues that make it difficult of keep their gardens tidy. I understand that and those people deserve help. But there are also so many people who just have no pride at all.

There is a large detached house three away from me. A woman and her two adult sons live there. They all work and spend thousands on flashy new cars which, due to the state of the front garden they can just about get off the road. The garden is full of years old rubble with brambles growing through, black bin bags of god knows what and the untrimmed trees and bushes must cut all light out of the front windows and there have been problems with rats nesting there. They have no physical impairments as both the sons play football for the village team and can always be found in the village pub. The garden is so overgrown you can't get past one side of the house because the pavement is almost covered by stuff growing out of their garden and anyone with a pram or a wheelchair has to go into the road to get past. The Parish Council has written to them but they do nothing. She said she doesn't care.

DH and I both grew up on a large council estate and lived there until we married and apart from one or two properties everyone took pride in their surroundings and kept their properties neat. Last year we were back in the area for the first time in about 20 years and had a drive around our old homes. What a bloody tip. Old furniture and electrical goods in the gardens. Overgrown gardens and rubbish everywhere. Just no pride. I'm sure the people who lived there when we did had no more money, spare time than people now. But they would be ashamed to let their surroundings get into such a state. Our parents worked long hours and had no spare money either but the grass was always cut.

The excuses on this thread. Yes, I know there are people with issues that make it difficult of keep their gardens tidy. I understand that and those people deserve help. But there are also so many people who just have no pride at all.

Agreed. I really think the people who really are not able, for physical/mental/ financial reasons are a small enough minority for this not to be a noticeable issue, at all. We have all the rest, unfortunately.

As many people take an issue with the word 'pride', I'd say it's more of social responsibility really as it does effect the whole neighbourhood (as mentioned in many other comments).

I agree about the ‘excuses’ on this thread, it’s ridiculous. ‘I can’t clear up the litter in my garden because I have anxiety’ will be the next thing.

It pisses me off, lowers the tone and will put people off buying in the street.

Quite happy to be called a snob, albeit a snob with a tidy garden.

People are busy working multiple jobs and dealing with who knows what in their lives.
People are ill.
People are depressed.
People are bereaved.
People have low self-esteem.
People rent from certain unscrupulous landlords who make their lives hell and aren’t motivated to look after the place.
Some people, also, just don’t care.
You don’t know which of these anyone is.

Littering isn’t acceptable, but having an untidy front aspect is nobody’s business but the person’s who live there.

Fond memories of being newly bereaved and seriously physically ill with CF neighbours who knocked at my door and put notes through complaining that the plants in my garden and my front lawn were overgrown as I hadn’t cut them for three months.

So how am I supposed to clear my garden when I physically can't, and when I don't know who the rubbish in it belongs to? Do you think it's fair that I have to pay for disposal, given that it's not my rubbish?

What have you got on your garden that doesn't belong to you?

As I've repeatedly said, a half flat spacehopper and a kids tractor.

(as well as some empty cans of red bull and sweet wrappers which I will ask the cleaner to lift next week, or if the gardener comes first, I'll get him to lift.)

Also. Could you answer my point - why should I have to pay £30 to get them lifted? I can't take them to the tip myself as I am unable to get them in and out of my car.

Good for you, I doubt anyone but you & maybe a few other ableist snobs give a tin shit about your tidy garden.

I understand you don't want to pay and no you shouldn't have to pay to get rid of someone elses rubbish. Could you ask the gardener do break it up and put it in your bin? However, it is absolutely none of my business. It is really strange that they have appeared on your garden and I would be so annoyed.

Do you get on with your neighbours?

I do get on with my neighbours, why would you think I don't? That's upset me a lot - so you think someone doesn't like me so is dumping their kids' broken toys in my garden?

There's a lot of kids here (housing estate) so they might not even belong to anyone from near me - but I've put a post on the estate facebook page (weeks ago, and no one has replied despite me bumping the post). I also asked the community association if they could take them and put them up by the village hall, working on the theory that the child might go to nursery there, but they said no they couldn't do that.

I don't know how you'd even break up the tractor, it's pretty solid. And to be honest, I'd have to pay the gardener extra for that, and, again, why should I have to? It's not my rubbish.

I agree that the abelism on this thread is disgusting.

I live in France.
When I lived in Paris there was a free service taking away large items (you had to book a time). And bins were emptied 6 days a week (except during strikes but in 16 years I was there it was usually pretty good).

Where I live now its more rural and bins are emptied twice a week and large objects are taken every fortnight. For free.

Again in France all white goods deliveries take away old things for free. I'm really surprised it's not the same in England. I suspect it might be a legal obligation here?

I suspose we are paying for all this rubbish collection through tax, but it is lovely and convenient being able to dispose of large items easily, regularly and free at point of service.

The fortnightly collection also takes branches etc. From the gardens. Totally necessary here as the trees and plants grow at an unbelievable speed (am overseas) so without the collection the whole place would be run over incredibly fast.

My council currently does weekly collections for both general rubbish and recycling.

Later this year we will be having alternative collections fortnightly.

Problem is that our general bins are 140 litres. If there are more than 3 of you at home, you are going to struggle with putting 2 weeks of rubbish into a 140 litre bin. Our recycling bins are the standard 240 litre ones. I have expressed my concerns that this will cause fly tipping and attract vermin.

Yes my CT has increased by 4.7%!

@ZingyShaker I wasn't implying your neighbours didn't like you or had dumped the stuff. I was thinking that maybe they or your children could help you by taking the rubbish away if they needed to go the tip.

Sorry about the name change confusion.

We already have alternate collections fortnightly - one for recycling, one for general waste and then the garden and food waste is collected monthly on a different day in the winter, bi-weekly in the summer. It'll swap to bi-weekly at the end of this month.

I have one child who lives an hour away who is working full time shifts as a nurse. The other two are too far away to help on a regular basis. She comes up to see me on a Sunday and the tip is shut on a Sunday. If I put a kids ride on tractor broken up in my general rubbish bin, there will be no room for anything else.

My neighbour pulls my bin in and out for me as it is, I hardly see neighbours in the winter because everyone parks up and goes straight in their house. I can't walk very far so going some adult version of knick knock to ask for help isn't really practical, plus it's humiliating. And it's mentally destroyed me becoming so disabled as it is, and I really know how it looks that I have a manky garden and I'm a cunt and a bastard and lowering the tone of the street and all the other things said on this thread.

I'll end up paying for the stuff to be disposed of by the council, but I'm also scared that it belongs to someone and as soon as I've got rid of it someone will be at my door wanting it back.