The family down the street is losing their home due to foreclosure...

They vacated over the weekend, leaving behind about 40 bags of "trash" at the curb. It's well known in the neighborhood that they threw out decent stuff...so I went over to take a look.

:wow:

Bag after bag of usable clothes, shoes, purses, toys. A prelit Christmas tree. A brand new suitcase. Light bulbs and batteries still in the package, and much more. Stuff that many people cannot even afford to buy.

I am rescuing as much as possible before the trash truck gets here. I will launder all the clothes, clean up anything I can, and pass it on to someone who will use it.

It's already bagged. They could have taken it to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, anything but throw it away.

What the hell is wrong with people?

kudos to you for salvaging the good stuff for those in need.

nice of you to do the heavy lifting to benefit others. :thumbsup:

recycling wasn't high on the priority list.

I am doing whatever it takes to keep our home right now and honestly, I'm not thinking much about those "less fortunate" at the moment.

to the trash is an improvement. we bought a foreclosed doublewide which the people left trashed. there were bunk beds, toys, clothes.... but mostly garbage everywhere. bags and bags of garbage. they did a story on this company that goes in and cleans out foreclosed houses. i think it was on oprah like last year. or earlier this year. they showed a house where people left a big screen tv and clothes and all kinds of stuff. people usually feel overwhelmed and have nowhere to take the stuff. and they end up leaving fast, becasue it's a hard thing to deal with.... and they proably have nowhere to put some of the stuff.

well the company would call good will to come pick up the stuff, but often times would end up tossing it because good will never comes, as they are so busy. it's a waste, frankly.... throwing out perfectly good stuff like that. and it's sad to see people's dreams left in a pile on the floor of a foreclosed house.

If people didn't buy so much stuff, would there be as many foreclosures?

Julie

Gosh, that's what I'll do to save our home, quit buying food!

with a smattering of self-righteousness, thanks for not disappointing.

I was referring to people who just buy so much shit, shit they don't need, shit no one on th eplanet needs, and then can't make their bills. Sorry but only in Utopia is the situation where bad things happen to people due only to things beyond their control. Often times bad situations hit due, at least in part, to unwise decisions.

Julie--marvelling that anyone would take the position that overconsuming couldn't possibly be part of the problem

hmm... anyway, the guy on the lawnmower with a smile pasted on his face... i've got a nice house, two kids and this and that... and i'm in debt up to my eyeballs. it was like a joke, but not really.... people got sucked into this idea of what they were supposed to be, and couldn't keep up with it. trying to be something they weren't. living beyond their means. i know, i have a family member who is still like this. complains they never have money, but are always buying things. you think they would have learned from the two bankruptcies. i scratch my head and wonder how they are so broke. they make so much more money in one year than we probably make in two!! yes, they have daycare... and gas for their car (one works in rochester the other in buffalo). but they make enough that they should have enough to pay bills and have extra. we live on one income. we have one car... one car payment... we don't eat out much. we don't go anywhere much. i need shoes and clothes... but i do without because we need the money elsewhere. we did splurge and buy new windows, though... very carefully determining our ability to pay them off before the interest kicks in before we ever did it. We figured the investment would help us with heating and cooling costs, and therefore was a good one.

I also have to get clothes for my two girls for school. I just put some on layaway at kmart... $179!! and i didn't even get shoes!! mostly for emy who is 10... ashley i got two dresses for that were on sale. but she won't need as much as em, because she has clothes that she can still wear that are in good shape, thanks to one of my sisters neighbors. (i have 4 sisters). But it's a tight squeeze to get the clothes, so I don't feel so bad for my one sister who never has ANY money yet always keeps buying a bunch of stuff she doesn't even need. I hope I never am like that.... i have never worried so much about what others think of my car, or my house... they may not be much, but I don't need much.

anywhere but thrift stores. You can find really cute stuff there for cents on the dollar and it doesn't contribute further to the making of new stuff. My whole family loves the treasure hunt aspect and I love spending far less on clothes.

the stuff my daughter chooses. it doesn't tend to match anything. then when it comes time to go to school, we end up having problems. And believe me, I try to explain to her things, but she refuses to listen. I used to go to yard sales for a lot of stuff and emy didn't even need much til she reached size ten. i had a nice stockpile. but i haven't been very good with the yard sales lately... it's tough taking the kids to yard sales... and when i have gone to some, they didn't have much of anything there. I remember when i went to the town one and got a crapload of old navy, gap, children's place clothes for emy for a quarter a piece. that was great!! it's exhilarating when you can get great deals. it's just harder to come by these days.

My son has autism so he doesn't give a damn about clothes - actually we're just thrilled when he keeps them on. And the rest of my family, even the dog, are all male and of the geek variety, so they care not what they wear. And lastly, I'm a supreme thrift store shopper. I bring home fashionable and nice stuff for the whole family (dog excluded but he's happy with doggy treats) and no one complains. You would be amazed at how many clothes look like they've never been worn or worn just a little. The only thing I have trouble with is men's jeans. Men tend to wear their jeans into the ground.

My favorite Value Village day is Monday, when a given tag color is 99 cents. I used to think that was just the ratty stuff but it isn't. I once outfitted my son with everything he would need for fall for school for about $40.00. Then, the little rugrat had the audacity to grow 6 inches in 4 months. Ain't puberty grand?

stuff at good will. sometimes it's hard though... what you will find is never assured. after my brakes get fixed and bob gets paid i plan on taking a trip out to the good will to see what they have. it would be great if we could find a whole bunch of stuff there... i am not adverse to returning some stuff if i find something better. I wish i could find stuff for myself there, though.... there isn't much for my size. it would give me a great incentive to lose some weight.... like i need incentive at this point. gotta wait for the new kid to come first though.

i know that my sister seemed surprised that my BIL, who frequents the good will store as he is out that way a lot brought home toys that looked brand new for like $2. they always have some great toys there.... i have gotten the kids a few items. it's great when you get lucky and find some great thing there. it is a high to get a great deal on something great.

when my dad died i took the girls there to find something for them to wear to the funeral. i love looking for some great dress up stuff for ashley as well... flower girl dresses and stuff. she LOVES that, and it is a lot cheaper than the dress up stuff at the store.

At least, for many people that is true. They cannot resist the new buying power.

I use to wonder how people who made so much more than we do were living paycheck to paycheck. We weren't living paycheck to paycheck - why were they? Then I watched my sister pay bills one day. She & her husband make twice what we do, but everything in their life is bigger & more expensive; car, house, credit cards, vacations, eating out, & on & on & on. She told me that if she could ever get $5000 in her savings account it would be a miracle. "Everytime it hits $3000 I take it out for something." :crazy:

thanks to the OP. (I can't figure out why people are unrecommending this thread.) Really, does losing your home mean that you aren't able to call a charity for a donation pick-up?

I am one of those people who gets most of their clothing second hand, and I look good, too! There is such an abundance of clothing and other goods in this country, because people are so used to buying more and more and more, until they are overflowing with stuff they can't use. But it's infinitely better that it gets recycled instead of going to a landfill.

I never looked before, but other neighbors have. They have known for months that they were going.

I just found a wedding dress and veil.

You seem more interested in the trash of the evicted folk than their plight.
How very compassionate of you.

Your comment wasn't necessary.

Sorry you are having trouble right now.

Methinks that many who are faux critics of your OP have the same ish. Overconsumption is a disease.

than trying to understand the reason for the post. How very compassionate of you.

Stress does really funny things to the higher brain functions. Help them out and take it to the right folks. It's hard not to get judgemental here and they may in fact be asses, but they may also just be so despondent, they can't think straight.

exact same situation (difference is I'm single versus a family) I left a lot of stuff behind because I didn't have the resources or room to deal with much of it. Losing your home is not exactly a walk in the park.... :shrug:

But I'm not unrec'ing it simply because I don't do that. Not that I don't get tempted.

neighbors give to that poor distraught family that actually lived in your midst?

I talked to the husband. I encouraged them to stay as long as possible, to get some money saved up, since they weren't paying the mortgage. But he told me they already had another house.

Not really sure what happened.

What the hell is wrong with the Republicon-minded entities who brought this economic FAIL upon America?

You've got 7,400 posts on this forum but didn't have the time to get to know your neighbors?

Too many people have decided that their focus should be on getting active over national issues and online while forgetting to meet the people you live next to. When you are friends with your neighbors, you know when they need some help. At minimum you could have offered garage space or offered to take the clothes somewhere they would be used.

The irony is if we all did that a fairly large portion of those national problems wouldn't be problems.

They probably don't have anywhere to keep that stuff anymore. Do you know where they are staying? They might be living in an apt. or with family or something, and had no place or way to keep that stuff. So they bagged it and curbed it. That must have been hard for them to do, "what are we going to do with our stuff honey?" "We'll have to just throw it out, we'll start over some day." They probably didn't have time to take it to good will. Or energy or way. Or they figured that people would take it from the curb.

had to do similar "triage" on our possessions it is because I could not afford to pay to store them anywhere, I didn't have enough time to list them on Freecycle and my husband refused to deal with Freecyclers, and when you are moving to a much smaller space with no (and in my case I mean NO storage) it happens. I gave as much as I could to Freecycle and to Good Will but time ran out, we had to vacate and that meant decent, usable stuff got thrown out or left behind in the house. It's also about stress and a desire to simply try and end the pain. There simply comes a time when you have had enough and for sanity's sake you have to move on. Sorry, but I understand only too well - I lost about half my books because I couldn't afford to store them and because they were mostly history and anthropology, too specialized and uninteresting for the average person's reading tastes. I can also tell you that these people stressed over everything they threw away - the Gods know that I did. I wake up in the night thinking about things I had to leave behind or get rid of or give away. I had fights with my husband about things - he wanted to leave our daughter's rocking horse behind because she is too big to ride it now and he decided that she didn't need it. Only he didn't see her holding on to it and crying like I did, so I took a chair I had inherited from my mother off the pile of "to store" and substituted her toy. It's not easy, it hurts and it's sure as hell not fun.

If they are moving any significant distance, and need to hire a moving company, you pay by the pound. People rapidly decide that they can live without a great deal of stuff if they are paying by the pound.

:shrug:

1. Totally overwhelmed and didn't have time while trying to feed and shelter their family. or,
2. They are totally irresponsible with money and posessions and they are being foreclosed on because they bought a house they couldn't afford and have 100K of credit card debt. Not every foreclosure is a sympathy story, although of course these days a lot of them are.

I know it seems awful to witness so much waste, but I imagine they are in a world of hurt. I'm glad you are seeing to the "recycling" of their stuff. :hug:

Hekate

the Goodwill and Salvation Army get kind of picky about what they will even take these days.

The best approach is to list the stuff on Craigslist as "Garage Sale Overstock" or leftovers, or whatever. People come by and take what they need. Sometimes they are in the re-selling business, but this is the best way to get rid of excess junk.

(We are not being foreclosed, but we are trying to get rid of all our junk so we can get out of our house and into something that we can afford.)

:thumbsup: