Fonty Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 My mother-in-law is a manic de-clutterer, you can't even find so much as a teaspoon in her house when you want one! That reminds me of my other half's sister in law. His brother's house is one of the tidiest I have ever been in, partly because they don't seem to read. No books, no magazines, nothing. They don't seem to have any hobbies either, as far as I can see. I visited once with a newly purchased, unread newspaper. And I had to fish it out of the dustbin when I left, she must have put it there when I went out of the living room for a moment! Agree with asking people to write on the back of photos. I begged my mother to do it, many years ago, but she never got round to it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afab Posted October 17, 2013 Share Posted October 17, 2013 Luckily I'm not that bad! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmendrick Posted October 18, 2013 Share Posted October 18, 2013 In preparation for our move to a smaller house we got a skip to clear out the loft and garage. When we finished it was full and even then we had to get a charity to come round three times with a truck to pick up stuff we were getting rid of that was too good to skip and even now I think we have way too much crap lying round the house. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 (edited) In preparation for our move to a smaller house we got a skip to clear out the loft and garage. When we finished it was full and even then we had to get a charity to come round three times with a truck to pick up stuff we were getting rid of that was too good to skip and even now I think we have way too much crap lying round the house. I am amazed you got a charity to take anything. I have some good quality furniture, but because it is not rated for fire resistance they refused to look at it. A friend of mine had the same problem. She was getting rid of a very expensive dining table and chairs, purchased from Heals, and no charity would touch it. She ended up paying the council to take it all away, which she was very upset about. Edited October 19, 2013 by Fonteyn22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Charities are equally rigid around here about what they will take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsomerset Posted October 19, 2013 Share Posted October 19, 2013 Charities are equally rigid around here about what they will take. Do try Freecycle. It is amazing what other people in your area want/need and they come and take it away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 I've sort of gone off Freecycle since I heard that dealers were collecting things for free and then selling them. I am not sure if this is an urban myth, though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmendrick Posted October 20, 2013 Share Posted October 20, 2013 We used a charity called The Mustardtree and they took all sorts. Some of it goes to help people start up their own homes and some of it gets sold. They took all sorts as well as furniture but they were the only charity we could get to come out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 I'm having a bit of a de-clutter myself at the moment and needed some cardboard boxes. When I took a bag of stuff to the charity shop - hey presto! There was a pile of empty boxes they were only too glad for me to take away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsomerset Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 I've sort of gone off Freecycle since I heard that dealers were collecting things for free and then selling them. I am not sure if this is an urban myth, though? I am sorry to hear this. It is against all the Freecycle rules, regulations and ethos to which you sign up, but I don't know how this is monitored or whether it can be monitored. I have used Freecycle several times and I felt that the people who collected items were genuine but of course there are always people who spoil things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Very interesting, I got rid of a whole lot of household stuff a couple of years ago, none of it of any use for recycling and including a clapped out fridge. Now the local council is supposed to dispose of old fridges safely but when I rang them I was told to put the fridge out the front at a certain distance from the kerb on their one collection day. Difficult as my former front garden has been paved over to create a mini car park also carrying a big fridge down five flights from my top floor flat was going to be challenging. Could they help? No chance. What should I do then? The answer was to find a commercial firm that dealt with large item disposal, and to my astonishment the woman then read from some sort of heath and safety script about the dangers of unknown operatives entering my home! I honestly felt I'd found myself in some bizarre 'computer says no' comedy sketch, only it wan't funny. I found someone from Yellow Pages in the end and paid well over £100 for their services, for those on low incomes I imagine that is a hefty sum, no wonder fly tipping is such a problem. I feel the council should deal with this and can remember way back when the dustcart actually had a kind of mobile skip at the back for old furniture etc. Sometimes I feel that where services are concerned we haven't progressed at all. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Very interesting, I got rid of a whole lot of household stuff a couple of years ago, none of it of any use for recycling and including a clapped out fridge. Now the local council is supposed to dispose of old fridges safely but when I rang them I was told to put the fridge out the front at a certain distance from the kerb on their one collection day. Difficult as my former front garden has been paved over to create a mini car park also carrying a big fridge down five flights from my top floor flat was going to be challenging. Could they help? No chance. What should I do then? The answer was to find a commercial firm that dealt with large item disposal, and to my astonishment the woman then read from some sort of heath and safety script about the dangers of unknown operatives entering my home! I honestly felt I'd found myself in some bizarre 'computer says no' comedy sketch, only it wan't funny. That is terrible. How unhelpful of them. Having said that, my council is not much better. They have a free, "3 large items" collection once a month. However, it is bizarre what they will not take away. We removed an ancient shower cubicle, only to find they would not touch anything made of fibreglass. We also had an ancient sink, but they wouldn't take that either - no baths or sinks. 3 large floor tiles? No, too heavy. An old garden table? Only if it was under a certain size (it wasn't). In the end, we cut the shower cubicle into tiny pieces and stuffed it in the dustbin. The tiles also went in our dustbin, 1 at a time so the bin wasn't too heavy. The sink? Yes, smashed with a hammer and into the dustbin. The table we left outside in the front garden, and it had disappeared by the next morning. The stupid thing is, we were told to take all these things to the nearest recycle centre ourselves. Bit difficult, as we only have a motorbike, and that was why we were asking them to come in the first place! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All4dancers Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Our Council now no longer provides the free monthly 'three large items' collection and charged £90 a couple of years ago. Goodness knows what they would charge now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 And I thought our council was pushing it asking £50.00 for three items. In the end we managed to get the bed base into the back of the LandRover (it had been cut in half). Drove to the waste site keeping fingers crossed we could get in as we have roof rack. All I can say is the staff at the waste site near Maresfield, were fantastic. We were gong the wrong way, they directed us, lifted the height barrier etc. We took the second part of the bed up that day and having enquired took a fridge freezer up the next day. They were constantly sweeping the site and all the staff were extremely helpful. There is no way that it cost is £50.00 in fuel and although this site is further away than our local site, we will continue to go there. Of course it is all helped by the fact that we have a very old Defender - can't persuade other half to get rid of it but it does have it's uses!! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted October 23, 2013 Share Posted October 23, 2013 Perhaps with large miscellaneous things like sinks, big items of furniture etc, you could try the local auctions? There is usually a bloke down the pub with a van who will be willing to help you lug stuff down there in exchange for a few beers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I think Freecycle does allow people to re-sell things, but they are supposed to be upfront about it and admit it when they approach you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now