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.

Mine isn't great. No fridges or furniture, I'd draw a line there. But the grass needs mowing, the beds are infested with couch grass and brambles that I just can't get rid of. I'm just so overun with stuff to do, I hate the house (and it's a beautiful house), it's a millstone, a constant worry, no time, no money, not enough energy.
The state of my front garden is the least of my problems. I can't really see it from inside and it's on a main road so I don't even like being out there.

How do you know they own their homes? And to be honest it feels like if they do they almost have more right to leave it in a state.
I seriously don't care what others do with their gardens. Want a fridge in your garden forever, well fine. I always assume it's their business, especially if they were not my direct neighbour. Though my ND was a massive hoarder with crap all over his garden. I was glad his hedges and tress were overgrown as it meant I couldn't see his crap. Not that I would look anyway.
The front of my house looks scruffy AF. We do it on purpose to deter burglars. Course not, but yeah, mobility issues and priorities are a thing.
Nosy/ noisy/ party animal neighbours with immaculate garden and hot tub used at all hours would bother me much more.
Can't you focus on the beautiful things you see rather than someone else who's home doesn't meet your exacting standards.

I can’t stand people going on about ‘laziness’. Someone not mowing their lawn or whatever May very well be the opposite of lazy - so busy they don’t have time. Or they might hate lawn mowing and prefer to do other stuff even (shock, horror) sitting having a read. Or they might prefer to leave grasses and flowers for the local insect and bee populations.
Banging on about other people’s laziness makes you sound like a rather judgemental Victorian.

Sheer laziness and a whole generation who literally don't give a crap because they don't have to look at the outside of their home.

The tip is down the road. If it's something you can't fit in your car, you arrange for someone local off FB to collect it for you. It's not rocket science.

Personally I couldn't live with shit everywhere and I keep my home tidy inside and out. It seems to be rare though - neighbours either side of me have weeds growing all over their drives and half finished building works. Nothing to do with mental health or lack of money just laziness. But they clearly don't mind so there is nothing I can do about it. It isn't bad enough to devalue our house thankfully - that would make me very angry if I was trying to sell and I would absolutely say something.

No excuse for leaving old white goods outside a house , the same with old sofas and furniture. A few days or weeks maybe but years ? Just pay the council to dispose of them ! Probably £30 for the council to collect.
That would annoy me.

I moved away from the estate I lived on because of this. Living next to people who live crap in their gardens, cig butts everywhere, toys strewn across the lawn... Broken play equipment is utterly demoralising.

Yeah some people genuinely don’t care - out of sight out of mind, as long they aren’t stepping over the rubbish every day then they don’t care if it sits in the front garden for months/years. It’s just not a big deal to them. They stop seeing it after a while.

But for other people, maybe they can’t afford to get it taken away - they got their new machine second hand or a mate fitted it for them. Or they have issues with hoarding. Or they’re elderly or disabled and don’t have much support. Who knows. I don’t think it’s fair to write everyone off as scruffy or somehow inferior because they’ve got a fridge freezer in their garden.

Also we just got a new washing machine and it was £10 to disconnect the old one, £25 to take the old one away, £30 to install the new one and £5 to actually unpack/take off the new one’s packaging and plastic for you. That’s £70 on top of your new washer if you opt for all of that, if you’re on a tight budget and spent all your emergency fund on a new machine you might think ‘sod it, I’ll get rid of it later!’ to save the cash.

I have to say though that if a house was for sale and the neighbours had old washing machines outside, sofas , rubbish it would definitely set off alarm bells.
I probably wouldn’t buy the house even if I liked it. I’d worry about what the neighbours would be like to live next door to.
First impressions count.

Perhaps people feel pride in different aspects of their home? Perhaps they aren’t interested in the look of the front?

I really don’t care how neat my neighbours garden is. If they had festering rubbish that attracts rats I’d mind but wild overgrown gardens are fine as far as I’m concerned.

We are talking out wonner occuiper homes here, not rentals, social housing

I've never noted fridegs/washing machines left on drives for more than a day as this is often for someone to pick it up

When we have a washing machine /dryer or one for the fridges replace, we get them to take it.

What sticks in my mind when I worked was a mattress town kerb side or a skip often dumped in someones skip covered in masses of brown stuff - how can people live like that.

I'd be careful with the sweeping judgements OP.

I own my own home, have always been careful to maintain or improve the front of my house. Grass always cut, gates maintained, litter picked.

Then in 2021 I got very tired, was diagnosed with breast cancer (which I chose not to share with my neighbours) and just didn't have the energy for anything. Keeping working and doing the school run was literally all I could manage. I'd fall asleep at 6pm before I'd cooked ds' supper. I lived with a broken shower for two years because I was just too exhausted to do anything about it. I couldn't have cared less.

Last summer - two whole years later - after treatment, I felt better. Energy back.

I've had the bathroom sorted. But the garden has got away from me. It'll take several years to catch up. I will get there but your sort of judgement is thoughtless, unwelcome and unhelpful.

What bothers me most is people who rip out their front gardens to turn them into car parks. Looks awful.

Well, if we're all making stupid pronouncements about laziness, then I think it's lazy to use a gmail address, not a custom domain.

I own my house, I have some money, I just don't have time either to do stuff myself or often to arrange someone to do it (unless it's actually urgent). But that's rural life as a single mum with 2 jobs for you - there's rarely a part of my day that isn't strictly timetabled (eg. at the moment I'm in the car waiting to pick up youngest from school) and promised to someone else, so sorry, I couldn't give a shit that my gravel has some dandelions, and there's 3 years worth of Christmas trees down the side of my house!

I live in a council adapted bungalow after losing my own home due to DV. My neighbours don't speak to me because my front lawn isn't mowed every week, ans it only gets mowed when the council do it, which is about once a month.

I'm not sure how they expect me to mow my lawn from my wheelchair, when my arms don't work well enough to hold a mower, but it's a HUGE problem for them.

I wfh full time, have a child and they are my priority. I can't even see my front lawn, so I couldn't care less what it looks like. Good for them all, being that fit and healthy in their late 70s/early 80s, but I am not.

I'm sure they probably expect me to pay someone to do it (I did used to in between council cuts), but I have better things to spend my money on, and the council cut it anyway. Their attitude makes me want to leave it to grow.

According to the conversation picked up on my ring doorbell, my lawn "brings the tone of the street down". One particular person waves their walking stick at it in disgust when they walk past. Funnily enough, none of them have ever offered to cut it, or help in any way, or even spoken to me, so fuck 'em.

OP made it clear she was speaking about owner occupiers…

I don’t understand it either

You've already covered several reasons why these houses don't meet your aesthetic:
People with mobility issues
People let down by tradespeople
People who litter

Not everyone has the necessary transport to get things to the tip
Not all tips take building refuse/ white goods
Note everyone can afford a collection/waste disposal service

Sorry, I can't stand it when people leave crap in their front gardens for months. I am not talking about temporarily while work is being done, we have all had that situation. Why on earth would anyone ever think that leaving an old sofa or broken fridge in their front garden is acceptable? Keep your crap in your back garden where we don't all have to look at it please.

Our nearest tip is ten miles away.

My (rented) front garden often looks a mess. It's overgrown, and there is a broken plastic slide in there.

Why?

Because I can't fit the slide in my car to take to the tip, and I can't afford the £25 the council or a man with a van would charge at the moment, so until I can, it stays there. I can't put it in my back yard as it is tiny and a safe outdoor space for my children to play. It would be the same if I had old furniture or appliances; until I had the cash to have it removed it would have to stay out the front.

My garden is overgrown because I don't have anywhere to keep a mower, and again, I can't afford to pay someone to do it very often.

It's hard AF to have pride in your home when you barely have enough to pay your rent and bills, you have mould and damp brewing in your house and it costs absolute fortunes to get stuff taken away. Throw in a disability, mental health struggle, isolation/loneliness, never being taught how to care for things, cost issues, children with SEN and other heavier stresses and a fridge sitting in the garden seems like the least of your worries....
Luckily we have absolutely smashing scrap men local to us and any white goods get taken a few minutes after they've hit the pavement. Some people aren't so fortunate.
Our council are currently ripping out bathrooms and kitchens (needed updating and fixing) in certain streets and I've had to tell off a builder due to his shitty comments about how he's sick of ripping up "sticky tiles". "Why do tenants use such cheap, shit flooring in this street? Its a right fucking faff on ripping it up " .... "That's because no one has enough money to buy your expensive flooring. 😒

I totally agree!
Of course there are the cases people are poor or elderly/disabled and literally can't do it better.

But many are just DISGUSTING adults.
On my street there is a house they have 2 BMWs parked (so dont come with the bullshit that they can't afford to be tidy). And yet the front garden is full of crap. Black bin bags, car wheels, overgrown grass, dead plants, you name it. All the time!

Many...i dare to say most of the people simply just dont care.

You would love my front garden, I planted wildflower mix as I hate mowing - I'm sure the insects thank me but it's certainly not a neat and tidy look

I've had several bathrooms fitted in my time and the plumber has never taken the old stuff away. Not once. You need a licence to take stuff to the tip if you take it in a van.

I usually get a skip.