To hate people leaving stuff on their front walls?

[blessedbethe]

It’s a prolific problem where I live in an urban area in Bristol. People seem to leave stuff they no longer want on their front wall - sometimes people take it, sometimes it’s genuinely rubbish and they’re waiting for someone else to pay to get it taken away! Can range from shoes and clothes to household appliances and it happens all year round, and things get left out that have been in rain/snow etc.

Walking DS back from school I saw a toaster, 2 used (I’m assuming) gas canisters, various pairs of shoes and ladies clothing, kids snowsuit, metal water bottle. One house near us has had a toddler bed dismantled and propped up against their front wall for 3 weeks now, which has not been taken by anyone and is now warped and unusable. Makes me angry as a charity could have used that for a child in need and now it’s too warped/misshapen from the wet to be used! I just think people should take responsibility of disposing of or donating their stuff!

YABU - let people do it, someone will always want something that’s put out.
YANBU - it’s lazy and irresponsible and people should get rid of their stuff responsibly!

Look at how much it costs to have something taken away. Whether it is the local authority or someone else.

Local authorities cannot reduce their charges, as they have been starved of funds since Mr Osbourne was Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Not that I like it happening.

Tbf some people who have moved out do leave a few pieces of utter crap on the pavement they didn't want

There's a man's leather glove currently sitting on my front wall - been there a couple of weeks.
I didn't put it there.
Keep meaning to bin it but I don't use the front door very often so forget.
I'm not in Bristol but I shall remove it immediately OP.
Thanks for the reminder.😉

Not a thing where I live, only things like dropped baby shoes, school uniform jumpers etc. My aunt leaves in a European country where in her village you leave things out for free collection on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. They must be collected by 6pm.on Wednesday.

I know my aunt picked up some beautiful antique furniture that way. I visited once and got a beautiful necklace that a neighbour was gifted and was giving away. Students often furnish their flats that way. So much is saved from landfill and equally people furnish their homes, get books etc for free.

Just outside Bristol in an insididiously dull town, the newer residents of which appear to believe we live in North Somerset's answer to Porto Montenegro...
Anyway, I digress...there's a lot of that around here, but done in a mainly community spirited, respectful, responsible way.
I know what you mean when it comes to Bristol, though. Depends on the area, as some neighbourhoods are hit and miss.

People grab the stuff soooo quickly on my road. I left some books in a plastic box. The books went, Tthen someone took the empty plastic box -I had to (apologetically) ask for it back! YANBU to leave it out with a clear instruction; YABU to leave it out for ages if it's clearly crap no one wants

It was very common where I lived in the Midlands. In irish and here it would be seen as embarrassing to leave stuff out or to be seen taking it 😳

Urban Bristol here too. I love the stuff on walls - my daughter has a favourite party dress that she proudly tells everyone she found on a wall 🙈🙈🙈 - but I agree when things are just sat there getting trashed it's a real shame. I always post on local groups when I'm putting things out and it goes fast but anything that doesn't I bring in again and find another solution for.

But I get it, when you see things people would have appreciated going saggy and mouldy it's so depressing, and makes the street horrible too. I wish people would take a bit of pride in the place rather than basically fly-tipping on their own doorstep.

We had all our radiators replaced recently and the plumber said the old ones that he'd left out the front disappeared within the hour.

The scrap metal guys seem to have some kind of sixth sense!

I acquired a large Kilner jar that someone had left out which is perfect for sloe gin 😋

I like it when people leave things out for others to have for free if they need it, and I've done it myself, but I do agree that if it hasn't been taken after a certain length of time, they need to dispose of it in some other way. If it's worth having, someone will usually take it before it's ruined by the elements.

You're lucky they leave them on walls, everything is on the ground here.

Left a broken clothes rail outside my house for the council to pick up, and then at 2am the security camera picked up two women in clubbing gear walking off with it. Saved me the cost of the council picking it up anyway. Bit weird they seem to know it was there though as it wasn't visible from the road and it's a dead end cul de sac.

Clothes etc don't get left here as we have big charity bins all over the city you can put things in any time.

I’d assume the items are damaged/dirty or the owners can’t get it to a charity shop.

A lot of metal will get left out as scrap collectors will get it for free.

I've left loads of stuff out and it's been taken, often within a very short time. And I got a really nice chest of drawers the other day. Very handy as it matches exactly one I already had!

I have told this before but years ago I had an old CRT TV and a welsh dresser. Put them outside with a "Free to collect" sign. Couldnt get rid. Changed the sign to "For Sale £20 each, enquire within" and they were gone wiithin the hour!

The TV was right outside the front window and I was there all the time and saw nothing, must have been ninjas!

Just goes to show that people dont want something if you say it isnt worth anything but if you put a value on it, they will nick it! Always do that now and stuff goes within a couple of hours of putting it out!

We did this before moving last time - I didn't leave stuff out there for ages though. If stuff didn't go within a few days we took it to the tip. I had people wandering through the open garage door asking what else they could take...

Urban Bristol too here. Honestly I think it's great! We've picked up some good stuff, and people have taken away stuff that we've left out. Having said that, we don't leave stuff put overnight, and if it's it not been taken after a couple of daytimes, I'll find another way to get rid.

People do this on our street and leave a message on the Facebook group, if it's not gone in the evening they take it away and might out it back for another day but that's it. It's usually nice stuff as well, we got plenty of toys that way.

Other houses on our way to nursery leave junk on the pavement for ages and it's a real pain. There is paddling pool that has been there since July...

We call it Streetcycle

This happens all the time in my area. I think it's great, especially as plenty of books get left out. I usually take them, read them and then put them back out for someone else. The richer and the poorer live side by side round here and things are never waiting long for a new owner.

Just outside Bristol between Bristol and Bath. We put stuff on our wall and at the same time post a notice on the local community Facebook group. It's usually gone within a couple of hours. I've got rid of everything from a bag of conkers collected from my garden to an armchair.

Same here @Daleksatemyshed A couple of years ago it took nearly 6 weeks for the council to come and move my old (non donateable) sofa from my front yard. I had booked but they kept rescheduling, saying they couldn't find it etc. People were probably judging but I was trying. I ended up paying a lot for a private company to move it. Then the council had the cheek to try and charge me the higher price for the next collection as I'd apparently already had one that year!

I put my daughters lovely doll's house complete with furniture outside and before I even walked up the lane to my house (communal lane, not my mansion), a mum and her little girl were standing guard and getting dad down with the car. Made us happy to think that it was going to be loved again.

Just for info, for anyone who doesn’t know about it already, you can report flytipped stuff (including stuff people have left out ‘for free’) on Fixmystreet. It sends a report directly to the council. Very useful service. Is a website and also an app. And you can upload pics if you want.

I love the Bristol wall economy. It is an asset. I’ve had myself cast iron pans, an unworn pair of sketchers and an ikea chair that lasted a decade. It’s the purest form of recycling/reuse. An absolute godsend for getting rid of children’s shoes, which they grow out of in no bloody time.

I leave stuff out because the charity shop won't take them - people have lifted all sorts from outside our house - it's student area - if it's not lifted during daylight hours it goes in the bin