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.

People are so batshit that apparently not hiding your bin in the back garden shows a lack of pride in your house (although it's OK for renters)

Sewing two sets of curtains together is positively sensible (and would probably help with light pollution and the heating bill too) in comparison.

I keep my front garden overgrown because when there's a nice bit of clear lawn other people seem to think it belongs to them & they're entitled to use it! If it's covered in shrubs & wild flowers they stay away.

Heard it all now.... Offering to help pay for people to clear their old rubbish. People on mumsnet applying standards to others that they would not assume themselves.

I am one of those people, I simply don't have the time to take it to the dump and I can't afford to pay someone to pick it up. Although to be fair I simply don't give a fuck, the inside of my house is clean and tidy, my drive not so much, it's got a motorbike, car, building blocks, sand and cement, plus all my bins and recycling containers on it. Nosey people who take offence can fuck off!

Kitchen/bathroom fitters don't just magically take the old one away. You need to pay them extra to do so and some people don't want to do this. They often say they can't afford it but if they can afford a new kitchen/bathroom they should be able to afford to pay to get the old one taken away too

I find it so depressing on my road. We have so much litter and fly tipping. People just don’t care at all ☹️

@Arightoldcarryabag Best post I've ever read on here. Agree wholeheartedly

Councils have made it difficult and more expensive to recycle or dispose of rubbish. People without much money can’t afford the collections. We used to have a monthly skip in our area provided by the council. It was brilliant and you could dump pretty much anything but they got rid of it so now people dump on the streets. You can’t walk into the recycling centre so you have to have a car, which is ridiculous in an inner city area. 75% of people don’t own cars here.

You can have so many collections you have to pay for from the council per year. It’s not hugely expensive but we know there are many people struggling to put food on the table and pay for child care etc. They don’t have a spare £50.

Ultimately, I blame the government for its austerity measures which have reduced council funding so much they have to cut funding to all these measure. My council is now charging for green waste to be taken. It used to be included in council tax. So I expect to see garden waste dumped along with everything else.

I probably fall into this category we own a house that after purchasing realised it needed a lot of quite boring but expensive repairs. I focused my time and money on the things that needed doing (leaky roof) and the rooms we spent the most time in (lounge & kids rooms). After a while the front of the house just became one of many things on quite a long list - it's just not a priority although hopefully it will be at some point. The driveway is in quite a state and a tidy up doesn't make a difference, if I weed it they're back in a couple of weeks. It either needs us to spend £5k on a professional to sort it or for dh to attempt it which is a bit of a risk that it could end up looking worse!

I wouldn’t leave furniture etc out in my front garden, I’d arrange for it to be dumped (via a licensed rubbish removal company or otherwise). But I do leave my 3 black and one green wheelie bins at the front of my house because I have mobility issues and it’s too much for me to unlock my side gate (bending down, lock at the top and one at the bottom) and pulling it over the gravel is really hard for me. Never occurred to me that people would be judging me for that….! I also have extra bins because of incontinence and medical issues - both me and my ds, the council agreed with us having them; neighbours probably hate me 😂😳

Our council now charge to remove green waste, so I’m going to allow front garden to overgrow into a wildflower meadow. And also my lawnmower broke so it’s perfect timing for this

white goods being left in a front garden for five years is slobtastic behaviour.

You aren't one of those people though. I think it's the sofa, white goods and just general rubbish that annoys people. We had some building stuff on our front for ages.

I know it isn't other people's business really but some people are just scruffy.

My Dad used to do my Grandparents garden as he knew it was something my Grandad was always really proud of. I hope to do the same for them when they are older. However, I know there are people who don't get help.

I think people in general littering the streets are awful and not picking up dog mess.

You'll get so much hate for this post but I have to say I agree. You can always tell the ones who've had junk on their gardens for months on end with no intention to remove it. But Mumsnet will have you believe it always down to the fact someone has suddenly fallen on hard times.

Bee, butterfly and old fridge gardens?

We've are doing our back garden up and I really want an overgrown bee and butterfly part.

I think a fridge would spoil it 😁

Everyone’s situation is so different. My husband works long unsociable hours and if he’s had 3 weeks without a day off he’s probably not going spend that precious time off slogging back and forth to the tip! We have an old fence panel in the garden at the minute, tucked next to our shed so visible in the garden but that’s life- it’ll be dealt with when we get chance (I don’t drive so not much use unfortunately). A skip is out of the question as the cheapest we could find was in the hundreds and the way our house is located means there’s nowhere for them to put a skip anyway!

People just spend their time differently: in summer we mow the lawn and make it lovely, but it overgrows in winter as we don’t have the time or desire to plow loads of time into getting all the hedges nicely trimmed, it’s tidy but still quite wild. If someone works long hours then they probably don’t want to come home and work. Some people are blind to the mess, or struggle to sort it out for whatever reason. For me, it’s can just standard tidying is hard as I have ADHD. I know it’s something find hard so rely on my parents to come every so often and help, but not everyone is fortunate to have tolerant kind parents willing to take bin bags and have the baby while I tidy.

I agree, whether it’s owned or rented. No one has to be a slob.🙄

@CleftChin are you being sarcastic about the forsythia? I genuinely can’t tell.

but if not, it’s absolutely batshit that you think someone with a forsythia is lazy. If you don’t like them, fair enough, but to assume someone is lazy for having one in their garden is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever read on MN.

What a ridiculous comparison! Is this your best ability to argument?

I'm sure bin bags fit in the bins or in their CARS and can be taken to the tip 5 mins away from the house!

Nobody needs a gardener or a clearance company for the type of mess they are making.

And these are 30 40 years old that work and walk the dogs and do parties. So stop making excuses!
Not elderly or disabled.

And if by any chance you are my neighbour...then get off Mumsnet and go tidy up your mess!👍

Er, what? You implied that people with nice cars can afford to pay for services, and I pointed out that not always, no.

My tip is a 40 mile round trip and I can't load anything into my car, as the boot space is taken up with my wheelchair and hoist. Plus I couldn't lift them anyway.

I'm in my late 30s, work and walk my dog. I'm still a wheelchair user who cannot physically cut grass or lift large objects.

You know absolutely nothing about people's lives. You'd probably be one of those vile neighbours who would judge me for having a new car and unkempt lawns.

No, I won't go and tidy, because I can't. HTH.

I think there is truth on this.
I keep my front garden in good condition but I always assume that people who don't is for several issues they may have, possibly hoarding, mental or physical health issues. I don't think anyone likes to have a messy front garden. People should judge others less.

How do they use it?!

Out of sight out of mind? We don't spend a lot of time looking at our own front gardens after all.

I'll get round to it - and it drags on.

Can't afford to get something collected.

Overwhelmed with jobs and it's not a priority.

Physically unable to remove it.

Mentally unwell and just don't care.

Plan to do something else with it and then never do.

Just a few suggestions.

(From someone who loves her garden)

You need to stop making this about you, first of all.

Second, yes a lot of people are dirty and careless. And they spend weekends partying, fixing cars, all sorts. But then no time to move rubbish out of sight. Plus, they put clothes in bags for donation, the van doesn't come to collect it and the bag remains on the side of the road for weeks until it's all spread on the floor.

And then there is a minority that genuinely can't do it or doesn't has family/friends to help.

I stick to my statement and I will stop replying back because you just make it about you.