Don't send other people's junk/clutter here!

[Twoboos]

FIL is a bit whackadoodle. I think he is a hoarder. He and Step-MIL will go to estate sales and just buy stuff, then put it into a giant barn.

We have been the lucky recipients of some of these items. Last year it was boy and girl animatronic Christmas decorations, holding a "candle" and moving. Sooooo old, in the original boxes, I think I figured out from mid-80's. Broken. Only one moves, the other just makes a grinding noise. One of the girls eyes is sideways - SIDEWAYS. They light up from the inside so their faces glow and you can see a crack in one. Creepy does not begin to cover it. We hid them in the garage immediately and never showed the girls.

This year it's a holiday tapestry/wall hanging. (DH thought it was a door mat until we found the dowel to hang it on.) And some glass angel candle holders. AND an animatronic Santa.

DH kept the Santa out b/c "the girls will like it." Yah, they'd also like to sit around all day and watch tv and eat cookies, but that doesn't mean we let them. I have banished all of the junk to his office, I don't want to see it and refuse to have this as a decoration in our house. Santa's in better condition than the boy/girl, but PLEASE - someone was getting rid of this from their basement!! Please don't ship junk/clutter here, I have enough trouble managing the crap we get ourselves.

I think I preferred the days when FIL sold Amway and that was our gift. YEESH.

[DualvansMommy]

I so sympathize with you!! That's my mom to a T all over! She lives overseas in my childhood home that's just too big for her, despite my encouragement to downsize. So instead she fills the house with junk over the years since I left home for college and it gotten so bad when I visited 5 years ago to threaten action from me!

She has gotten bit better, but STILL mails me crap stuff that I've no intention of keeping or passing on to DS. Also when she visits, such a headache because she buys a lot and impulsively intended for me, DH or both of us and DS. I have told her numerous times not to do it as it's just clutter for me, like you I have enough crap of just our own stuff in the basement! But I'm always told I'm so ungrateful etc not to appreciate when she fails to recognize it's her lack of impulse control and hoarding tendencies that's the issue with me.

It is directly because of growing up with her that I've gone in the extreme direction. I'm a minimalist and always throw out anything that isn't useful to me, much to the annoyance of DH who said there were SOME he had wanted to keep. I just cannot stand clutter.

Anyway, sorry to go off on tangent in your post! But just wanted to let you know you're so not alone with it! I've just adapted to waiting till my mum leaves and that's when I throw out everything she bought for us, and the irony is she never seem to notice or ask where those items were in her next visit?!? That's just tells me she simply can't remember what she had bought!

[Twoboos]

OMG. FIL pointed out that the tapestry LIGHTS UP. It's so tacky. :rotflmao: :hysterical:

[hellokitty]

These are official Christmas gifts to your family from your in laws or they just give you stuff? Both my parents and my mil have done similar things to me, and I actually had to kind of yell at my mom to just THROW things away (she feels guilty), instead of giving her crap to me, that I end up throwing away. My mil once dumped an entire garbage bag full of Christmas paper (some brand new, some half used on rolls), which wouldn't be too bad, if she a) would have asked me first if I needed any (I didn't, b/c I had literally JUST stocked up on Christmas paper for dirt cheap a month before she dumped hers on me) and b) I had to throw most of it away, b/c seriously, who wants to use xmas gift wrap from the 70's? My parents still hoard a bunch of 70's and 80's junk that are worth nothing, thinking that my brothers and I will want it, and it's, "too good" (no, it's not) to throw away. I really think that part of the problem with the older generation is that many were brought up very frugally, and they feel guilty throwing away stuff, even if it NEEDS to be thrown out. My mom still asks me if I want magazines that are several yrs old and I just have to bluntly tell her, "NO! THROW IT AWAY!"

[elizabethkott]

OMG. FIL pointed out that the tapestry LIGHTS UP. It's so tacky. :rotflmao: :hysterical:

This post is useless without PICTURES!!!!!!!!!
I need to see this Christmas tapestry that lights up.
PLEEEEEEEEASE!?!?!?!?!?

[elliput]

OMG. FIL pointed out that the tapestry LIGHTS UP. It's so tacky. :rotflmao: :hysterical:


This post is useless without PICTURES!!!!!!!!!
I need to see this Christmas tapestry that lights up.
PLEEEEEEEEASE!?!?!?!?!?
:yeahthat: Too bad it's going to short-out just minutes after your IL's leave and have to be tossed in the dumpster. :wink2:

[lalasmama]

I'm sorry, I know this is the BP, but I had to laugh. Step-MIL was a hoarder, FIL is not, and so when Step-MIL passed on this summer, FIL went BONKERS getting rid of things. A partial list, all of which came home with us, because I can't tell FIL "no":

Multiple identical wallets, still in their original "free-gift-with-purchase" wrapping
Multiple identical pen sets, still in their original "free-gift-with-purchase" wrapping
Multiple identical unopened watches
Multiple coloring books, and never opened crayons, from the 90s (DH threw many away at work, because they didn't color well anymore!)
12 unfinished wood frames
3 containers of buttons (fun fact: buttons from 1965 absorb the smoke smell, and, so far, it doesn't leave!)
6 containers of sewing goodies
10 packs of snaps (and she wasn't a sew-er)
Multiple suit cases, duffle bags, and purses
4 CLOSETS worth of her clothes, none newer than the 90s, most from the early 80s (went directly to the donation bin; I did keep 2 sweaters that seemed newer)--it was enough to load an entire seating/rear area of a full-size Suburban
39 pairs of shoes (that's when DH stopped counting, and that was only in 1 closet)

I could go on, but you get the point. FIL is trying to be so helpful, doesn't want to see anything go to "waste", and he's got a heart of gold. And apparently, had a wife with a shopping issue...

I'll remind DH that it could be worse--FIL could be actively shopping for these things for us ;)

[AngB]

this post is useless without pictures!!!!!!!!!
I need to see this christmas tapestry that lights up.
Pleeeeeeeease!?!?!?!?!?

me too me too!

[Kymberley]

This post is useless without PICTURES!!!!!!!!!
I need to see this Christmas tapestry that lights up.
PLEEEEEEEEASE!?!?!?!?!?

Yep. Pics or it didn't happen! LOL!

[specialp]

As someone who despises clutter and has relatives who are close to being hoarders and others who enjoy thrift and yard sale shopping, can I just say this is my worst nightmare? The only positive is that it is holiday decoration so no matter what, you do not have to live with it for more than a month.

[Twoboos]

Well you're all asking so nicely! ;) I am trying to upload the pic but I keep getting an error message. We have to go out for the day but I'll work on it again later, tomorrow at the latest. I don't mean to make you all jealous but you really should see it! LOL!!!

And lalasmama - I totally hear you. Here's a little example. DH visited FIL a few years ago and they decided to go on a bike ride. DH said, "Do you have an extra bike?" and FIL brought him to the barn where there were DOZENS of bikes sitting there. DH is already stressing over what to do with all that stuff when FIL ever passes away.

When I first met FIL he was talking about going to estate sales and just buying racks of clothes (there was a whole rack sitting in the living room. No thanks, I don't want anything). What for? Who knows. Just whatever they were selling, he'd buy. Clothing, furniture, rugs, housewares, tapestries, animatronics, you name it...

[elliput]

When I first met FIL he was talking about going to estate sales and just buying racks of clothes (there was a whole rack sitting in the living room. No thanks, I don't want anything). What for? Who knows. Just whatever they were selling, he'd buy. Clothing, furniture, rugs, housewares, tapestries, animatronics, you name it...
We have the same FIL. I'm dreading the time when DH and I need to sort out their house and 3 car garage. The amount of stuff is overwhelming.

[Twoboos]

OK, seriously. I keep getting an error message when I try to upload! In both Chrome and Safari. I should probably put them somewhere and link to that but can't handle it right now. I'm so sorry.

use your imagination. yes, it's that bad. :p

WAIT! Thank you Google and Ebay. Sadly it is not lit in this picture. But the bow, some holly, and the snow all light up.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Holiday-Scene-Cardinal-36-x-26-Fiber-Optic-Wall-Tapestry-w-Lights-Timer-/190997295510?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c78537196

[elliput]

I did a google search for "light up Christmas tapestry" (https://www.google.com/search?q=light+up+christmas+tapestry&espv=210&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=X5-4UozTJubgyQGJ5YGwDg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1600&bih=774#imgdii=_) - we can all choose our favorite!

[wallawala]

You will be EPIC at your next white elephant party. EPIC.

Really worth hosting a New Years Eve white elephant party for.....