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 don't like seeing it and think it's unfair on neighbours because it's amazing how quickly a rat problem can occur in an overgrown or junkyard garden.
Equally I understand the constraints some people have.
Difficult.

You could have stored it in the back garden, where the whole neighbourhood doesn't have to look at it?

The side of our hedge backs on to where a row of terrace houses on our estate have their bins. As the weather has been windy we've got some of their rubbish in amongst the hedge. I've picked up what I can but at the moment it's a regular occurrence. You would think people would secure their rubbish properly and dh intends to put up some mesh wiring where the hedge doesn't cover the gate properly but he hasn't done it yet and likely won't till the weather is better.

Sometimes it's quite expensive to have them collected. We are lucky because we have a large car, DH is quite capable of putting heavy old white goods into it or chopping up an old sofa to fit in and then empty it all at the tip. If I lived on my own I wouldn't be able to do any of this and would only have a small car so it wouldn't fit anyway. We used to take stuff to the tip for DM as she hadn't got a car and tip stuff is often heavy

The minute I remove all rubbish on my front lawn, more gets blown in from the neighbours.

The crop of daffodils slowly making their way through: two have been plucked, at least two look like they've been kicked.

My neighbours used to have front decorations out; they were kicked over every few days. Wreaths on front doors were stolen.

I had a dog shit on my front footpath. Soft and impossible to remove in the rain.

I have owned my house for 2 years; the first year I did a lot, the second, everything was waterlogged and has been since June last year (which was the last time we had nice weather for more than 2-3 days), so I haven't mowed yet.

I cleared the outside of my house of weeds, but the neighbours' climbing plants keep spilling over onto my property.

Other people and their attitudes stop me from investing into getting the front sorted. The weather from the back garden.

I have a fridge freezer in my drive! It's quite ugly and has been there for some time. But it matches all the other ugly, messy things (half-painted gate, broken gnome, wonky patio), so win win!

Our NDN still has the last two years Christmas trees strewn on the drive.

This is all depends on the indidual. There are real hoarders out there, there are people who genuinely hate others and trow rubbish out for the sake of ridiculing the snobs, there are house proud people, there are victims of their own materialistic pride who think having the biggest and the best is shoving it down on the poorer - you have all sorts. You have people in flats who put a plant and a nice little rug on their doorstep and the HA comes and tells them if they don't take it away, it will be collected and thrown away because it is fire risk

Individual

Basically what a nice thread to air one's mouth

Well that’s basically how I feel when people are horrified at the lack of “pride” in your home. I understand if it’s a health hazard but long grass and wild plants etc are in the I give no shits realm for me. How neat my front garden is really doesn’t have any pride potential for me.

I think the concept of being proud of your home is old fashioned.

I am also a judgemental c* according to many PPs. I’ll take it.

I keep my house exterior in reasonable nick + don’t dump stuff in my front garden for a variety of reasons. A) I think a tidy space = a tidy mind and it’s easier to function well in a clean space B) I don’t want pests moving in or accident risks for visitors C) I respect + value my community + neighbours - I think I have a wider responsibility to maintain a nice environment for everyone.

Happy to provide support to neighbours who need a hand with mowing a front lawn / putting bins out etc. but I wish all the people who think it’s just not important would go and live in the same place. A long way away from me…

Absolutely nothing I was more alluding to the fact it appears the OP feels as though that gives them the superiority to pass judgement on peoples houses. Not sure how you could interpret that as anything other really?

Sometimes this is about being time poor. Depending on your local council there are certain jobs its just impractical or impossible to outsource. We had several weeks where we had a choice between having a load of old clutter inside our house, or having it piled in the space to the side of our house where we keep our bins. It was a couple of bulky kids toys we'd offered for free on local groups but got no takers, a car seat fit for the bin, a damaged baby bouncer chair, a broken ironing board etc. The council charges to take them away were extortionate and we just didn't have time to drive to the tip as we are juggling long hours at work with kids. We tried to block the view from passers by so parked our car to the side of our drive that shielded the space from view. It was probably 6 weeks.

So according to this thread

I need to keep my bins somewhere other than my front garden. Where?

The Tip is "only down the road". It isn't. And even if it were I can't drive so can't get there. I don't know anyone local with a van and can't afford to pay anyone right now.

The council collect rubbish if you book a collection. Technically they do yes. Only the website crashes everytime you try, and if you phone them they are either fully booked or can't book over the phone depending on who you speak to.

Oh and I haven't seen scrap metal collectors for 10 years. Unless you pay someone. (Not that I have any scrap metal)

Mind you, I'm also not a homeowner so maybe I'm allowed to have a small pile of rubbish in the garden until my brother is next around with his van.

I agree OP. But I can see you've already had loads of replies along the lines of 'it's my house I can do what I like'.

And therein lies the problem. We are becoming a completely selfish society. It's depressing. What's wrong with keeping the outside vaguely tidy just as a token of respect to your neighbours and neighbourhood? It's basic good manners.

And as for 'too depressed' - I am quite sure there would be less depression if people thought about the affect of their actions - or inaction - on other people. It's just called being nice. If you're nice, you like yourself more. If you like yourself more you're happier.

Love this!

My grass is long at the moment because we've had so much rain there's only been a couple of days when it's been dry enough to cut. On one of those days I had an all-day commitment and on the other my arthritis was so damn painful just going upstairs for a pee was bloody excruciating.

And when we do get a dry day, I'm going to have to prioritise the hedges before the birds start nesting, and it will take me days to recover from that before I can do the grass.

If any of my neighbours object, they're welcome to come and do it themselves.

I know a few people who have stuff in gardens that needs moving. Us included. We all have preschool children, a house, jobs, commutes. We are squeezing cleaning, house jobs, keeping up with family, keeping our heads above water with the children, children's activities and parties all in 2 days and after bedtime. We have stuff that needs to go, my DH runs his own businesses and works sometimes 14 hour days and a few hours every weekend. I can't lift any of the stuff that needs to go to the tip, I need DH to go. The tip shuts at 4pm, every weekend it has pissed it down with rain making motivating DH to go to the tip harder. I have nagged, and nagged and nagged but it is a low priority at the side of his business needs, family time, keeping our heads above water. Everyone I know whose gardens also have junk in them are the same. It's useless to the scrappy as not enough metal, the council charge, our bins are always overflowing due to our bin collections being irregular due to "staffing issues with the waste management team". Some of us are very time poor.

I'm pretty sure the OP was talking about white goods and old toilets and not unmowed grass and untrimmed bushes.

Yep Not alllowed to put anything in hallways here

I took it to be about having pride in your home. Having an old bath lying on the lawn, or having a visible weed in the border would be equally bad. I imagind a person who is proud of their home might go about saying things like, "An Englishman's home is his castle", and, "You could eat your dinner off my floors".

Does the pride come from owning a home or renting one? Is the pride in having a roof over one's head? Is the pride in your own impeccable taste? I simply don't understand the concept.

An example of people not able to do...

Someone along the road from me has a very overgrown garden (not really an issue) with a rusting car in it and some bits of furniture.
They are elderly and incapacitated. Their sibling who could drive died a couple of years ago.
They get home visits for personal care but that doesn't extend to home maintenance.
They don't have family.

Their neighbours are elderly and can't help. They won't have any assistance from any other services. They won't engage with anyone in the neighbourhood. So the car and furniture continue to deteriorate and realistically will interesting the person dies and their property is sold to a developer.

There are a few houses in my street where there are 7 foot high bramble bushes that have taken over their garden. The window frames are crumbling etc.
I don't judge... I just think that there is probably an elderly and/or disabled person living there that is pretty much housebound and getting by as best they can.

I have a rotting car on my drive. It has moss on it. So what? I lack the executive function to get it sorted.

@Peekaboobo

your compassion is overwhelming.

not everyone has £50 spare to book a council pick up. Not everyone can meet their criteria for collection. Not everyone knows it's an option.

our council requires it to be curbside by 7am, you're not permitted to leave it out the night before. I live alone, lost the use of one arm in an accident & my family doesn't live here (they're overseas) I didn't want to
put upon several friends to be here before 7am to carry my old sofas (beyond recycling) downstairs & out to the curb.

fortunately I was able to book a private company to take them (which wasn't cheap!) not everyone can do that.