Stop bringing junk into the HOUSE!

[HIU8]

DH, when you go to clean out your mother's house (which has been going on now for 4 years), DO NOT bring home random crap. We do not need 8 sets of salt and pepper shakers. We do not need a set up bookends that look like they are falling apart. We do not need a decorative basket for above the kitchen cabinets (it is already decorated and we do not need 37 items up there--we have 9--it stays at 9). The basket is fugly to boot and I would NEVER use it. I told DH that OUR house cannot be the crap repository for stuff in MIL's house. DH brought home 2 more bags of random stuff that just got thrown in the garbage. He did bring a brand new garden hose that we will use (I knew about that), but the random stuff that he "finds" while cleaning up is killing me. He brings it home and I pretty much throw it out immediately. I wish he would get the message. he does this EVERY.SINGLE.TRIP. You would think after 4 years it would sink in that I CANNOT LIVE A CLUTTERED LIFE.


For Gods sake. Please dump MIL's house sideways into the dumpster and be done with it!!!

[randomkid]

Oh, I feel your pain! We have an entire storage unit full of crap from FIL's house that has been sitting there for a year. Sadly, FIL passed away 2 years ago. It was over a year before DH went to clean out the unoccupied house, which is an old farmhouse that sat through an entire year of seasons with no climate control. He also had a detached garage full of crap. DH just couldn't part with this stuff that is old, mildewed and smells horrible! I refused to let him bring it into our house and he refused to get rid of it, hence the storage unit. BIL was supposed to come last summer and help DH go through it to decide what to keep and what to pitch. Has he been here yet? That would be a resounding NO! We are talking stuff like his mother's wedding dress. He said "What was I supposed to do? Just throw it away?" Um, yes...since it's yellow and stinky. I don't think DH has even been to the storage unit since last year (which is costing us $94/month, btw). I am waiting until it gets REALLY hot, then I will make him go over there to look through the stuff that has now been sitting in the FL heat and humidity for another year. I hope when he opens the unit, he is knocked over by the smell and will get my point. Ugh...men! If it were up to me, it would all go in a dumpster!

[BabyH]

O.M.G. right? DH does this too. But I have trained him (read: thrown so many fits after he brings home the crap) to say "No thank you" to his mama. She finally got a clue and will say stuff like "Do you think <my name> has a place for this? Or will she kill you if you take it home?" and he will say I will kill him.

Ugh. I understand antiques, heirlooms and that kind of thing. But the crap - the baskets, the salt cellar things, the pitchers ----- NOOOOOO!!!!!

Oh, and at Xmas this year they actually commissioned someone to make us handmade brass "things" (I can't even remember what they are really called) for our fireplace...... when MIL told me about them I said "Oh, sorry, we aren't interested in those because we are trying to phase out the brass in our house" - she was pissed, but hey, whatever they are, aren't sitting in my fireplace right now. And you know why? Because you aren't supposed to decorate someone else's house!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ABO Mama]

MIL saved lots of DH's old toys, that no, I really don't want the baby playing with!

[belovedgandp]

I can't even imagine. That would drive me bonkers. GMIL did that herself. She'd show up at family gatherings with her basket of junk. Fortunately I live far enough away that 99% of it I took with a smile and promptly donated or trashed as needed.

[HIU8]

I have to say. I do not need 8 sets of salt and pepper shakers, 5 sets of china, 4 sets of silver, countless serving pieces (I have plenty and I do not throw weekly dinner parties), old purses, 1000 cookie cutters, unused birdfeeders (we have ONE), baskets--to many to count, moldy suitcases, I could go on and on. Oh, and I do not need the small crap that is found under the couch, on the bookshelf, under the pile of junk on the end table etc... I really want them to sell/donate about 99% of MIL's things. Some I have taken for DD and DS (china for them when they get their own place), but enough is enough. I cannot stand clutter and MIL is clutter's poster child. And her clutter is old, broken or useless for the most part.

[MamaSnoo]

MIL actually ships us boxes of old baby toys, mostly belonging to BIL (he is much younger than DH). No, plush toys from the 70s that have not been cleaned since then either are not my cup of tea!

[golightly1118]

My mom could have written this bitch. For YEARS my grandmother (her MIL) has sent random crap home with my dad when he goes over to visit. The last incident truly took the cake though. She sent over bags of my dad's old school papers. While my dad was out of the country for work, she decided to open them and make sure there was nothing worth keeping (for example, my dad's HS diploma). Unfortunately she didn't take into account that the papers, having been in a TX attic for forty some odd years, would be covered in dead roaches and lizard poop. Thankfully my MIL is not a clutterbug and she lives across the country to boot!

[firemama]

That is very frustrating.