money for nothing - chucking stuff away

[Misthios]

I do like crafty stuff and upcycling and all that sort of thing and like seeing what people do with things on Money for Nothing.

Today's show - woman pitches up with one of those massive Ikea bags of fabric and a huge cardboard box packed with buttons. Presenter obviously swoops on her and takes it all away to use.

Asks the woman why she is throwing away so much fabric/buttons. Answer - I didn't know what to do with it. SERIOUSLY?? If you don't want to take it to a charity shop, any school, nursery, Brownies/Cubs, afterschool club etc etc would chew your arm off for a donation like that.

I'm not sure whether it's that people are just too stupid to think of anything other than chucking it away, or too lazy to send an email or pick up the phone. Also not sure which of the two case scenarios is worse.

You clearly don’t.

I live in an affluent area and it’s impossible to give stuff away.

I don’t want to sell on vinted or eBay. I don’t have time or patience. i recently cleared out DDs wardrobe and had three bin bags of at worst barely worn clothes. Most was still tagged. You could give it away on Facebook or free cycle.

Other things I can’t give away:

• old (4yrs) lap tops
• christmas bedding
• Sofa
• Solid wood internal doors that were removed during a renovation

This^

I agree with comments about rudeness of charity shops ATM. I have a lovely shop in my village that I go to often. However, whenever I donate (I have kids so churning through stuff) it's met with "oh. Toys/clothes. Great. Stick it over there". I don't expect a fanfare to go off as I've donated my moses basket, walker etc but geez these are often items tied up with memories too which are often taken with some reluctance if not downright snobbery. It's a shame as it is quite off putting.

*But she did do something with it, she brought it to them. She could have just chucked them in her wheely bin.

I've not seen the show, so I may be missing the point.*

She didn't "bring it to them", the point of the show is that the presenter intercepts people who are about to throw things away, and then upcycles them. Or gets other people to upcycle things, reupholster chairs, paint sideboards - that sort of thing.

Our local one has a “reuse and repair” area where you can leave stuff, or root around and help yourself. It’s much less guilt-inducing to leave things in there than to throw them away, and much less hassle than trying to find a new owner for them yourself.

I would suspect that the show is something of a "fix" tbh

There's a charity shop around here that accepts different donations on different days. So women's clothes one day, men's clothes another and so on for kids clothes, homewares and books. I appreciate it easy to sort, but I'm not going 5 times on a week to donate, especially when it's open 10-4. One quick dash in my lunch break is usually my limit

I must be lucky as our charity shops are grateful. They pick up furniture. Not painted furniture though.
I did wonder about some of the stuff on there. Makes sense now they advertise they're going to be at the tip. There's loads of craft groups not far from me would take it.
I do remember watching one with load of material and thinking wtf??

I'm autistic and it takes a huge amount out of me to organise doing something like this. It's not just "two minutes to email Brownies" or whatever.

I have clothes waiting to be donated. They've been there for about 6 months. It's WAY too overwhelming to take them somewhere. I have definitely chucked things I "could" have donated.

You have no idea about people's circumstances. It's not necessarily that people are "stupid" or "lazy".

Yes but they advertise they're going to be there!

A PP mentioned Freegle. It's less well known than Freecycle, but same basic principle - to keep things out of landfill.
Full disclosure: my brother is CEO and runs the website.

Yes to all of this.

No time-wasters or charity shop hassle.

A lot of charity shops are really picky about what they will take. Perfectly good furniture isn't taken for various reasons most commonly not adhering to current fire regs. I've tried to give away perfectly good quality furniture on free cyle and again sometimes it just isn't wanted. People are often very specific and not a little unrealistic about what they want. Many don't take electrical items as I found when trying to donate a pair of really nice table lamps. I agree that it would be nice if we could recycle more, but sometimes it just isn't possible.

Yes but if you're having a massive tidy up or, two people with fully equipped houses moving in together, or sorting out a relative's house after they've died, it's not "just" one bag of fabric, is it?

It's10 files of old paperwork
A house load of furniture
Several wardrobes full of clothes of all ages and sizes
boxes full of toys
cupboards of food
boxes of random tools
gardening paraphernalia
full sets of crockery and cutlery
shelves of books
jewellery
car/bike
carpets/rugs/curtains, light shades, bedding, etc
and whatever else.

Most of which won't be accepted by the same place. If charity shops take them at all, which they often don't, you still have to sort them out and package them and transport them.

Perhaps that woman has already done 8 charity shops runs, 10 trips to the local recycling centre, paid for several big item collections from the council, sorted BHS to collect some of the best furniture, gone through and shredded/saved 70 years of paperwork, shared expensive or sentimental items out to the family, waited around for multiple timewasters on gumtree/fb marketplace, put stuff on ebay, taken random recycling to the big bins in the supermarkets, all after dealing with probate, trying to sell a house, whilst suffering through the grief of losing a family member, and doesn't need to be judged for being "stupid or lazy" for the one flipping bag of material she didn't know what else to do with?!? Is it really such a big issue in the scheme of things?

and as for "any school, nursery, Brownies/Cubs, afterschool club would bite your arm off" - I'm a teacher and I'd have no idea what to do if someone gave me a random load of material and buttons! tbh I'd be deeply unimpressed they were trying to offload their crap onto me.

Completely agree. My DMum recently had a load of craft stuff she didn't want, I advertised it for free on a local Facebook group and she gave it to a lady who runs craft classes. She was extremely grateful and my DMum was happy it went to good use. I suppose it's harder for people who don't have social media though.

All listed separately. If I thought the people wouldn't make from clothes I'd give the lot to same person. But why would someone want size 8, 9 and 10 trainers? Anyway ill leave where they are for now

I work with someone who spends hundreds (maybe thousands!) on Shein clothes, lives alone but has 3 wardrobes full of clothes, drawers full, loads still with tags on.
When she has a clear out she just dumps it all in the bin 😭 I suggested the clothing bins in supermarket car parks/charity shop/freecycle etc. but she just made loads of excuses about having no time/it's too much hassle. If she brought it into work I'd bloody deal with it for her!

We really struggled when it came to emptying my MIL's house. Some things were easy, but other stuff such as nick nacks (k?) not so much.

We were fortunate that we had about 7 months but many people may only have a month if in rented accommodation, especially council /HA. I had a lot more sympathy for people who just chuck everything, stick it in their garage / house for years or just take the essentials, lock the door and hand the keys back.

DH is often my barrier, he either nags when stuff is waiting to go, or makes me doubt myself with "Are you sure?". I do try to pass most things on but it isn't always easy.

I think the problem with her is the acquisition process and the frequency of it!

And also most Shein stuff is not worth anything second hand because it cost pennies new and is not designed to last. It has no value second hand but yes at least can be recycled.

Then again, the sort of person who cares so little about the planet that they spend £££ at websites like Shein in the first place will not give two hoots about disposing of their shite either.

Exactly right!! It’s sometimes a whole life that needs to be dispersed. Not easy.

Have you tried donating to these places? They are incredibly fussy as to what they accept. I donate to a place that will accept almost anything, but it was a struggle to find. A few weeks ago I paid a rubbish removal to remove perfectly good furniture because no one locally wanted it and after calling around 3 charities I just couldn't be bothered.

Charities are very picky about what they'll pick up. For a start they won't take anything upholstered or padded without a fire safety label. As for wardrobes, sideboards, tables/chairs, etc., the ones around us want you to email them pictures to "prove" they're in top notch condition and only then will they come to collect. We had a solid wood dining table with a small scratch on one leg and they didn't want it.

I’ve just got 6 sacks of clothes out of my wardrobe cull. Some stuff I didn’t think good enough for charity shop so took it to the Salvation Army bin in Tesco car park.

unfortunately, bin full to overflowing, so had to leave stuff in bags beside. A lady in 4x4 was watching me, then circled back to pick up the bags when I drove away.

glad someone got use for the stuff, but Salvation Army losing out on some decent stuff.

If in doubt, make a lamp out of it seems to be the show's default 😄. I do like the show though.

We have a street WhatsApp group and a hyper local (about 15 streets within around a kilometre) Facebook exchange group. Both are brilliant for getting rid of stuff (and for getting other stuff). 9 times out of 10 something will go within half an hour if I put it on the WhatsApp group. This includes cardboard boxes, old bikes and toys, and the like. If it doesn’t go there, it goes on the Facebook group. Both are also used when people want something in a kind of, ‘Does anyone have a George Forman grill they’re not using?’ way. Both work really well for keeping stuff out of landfill. Do you have something similar?