Are our possessions worth nothing?

m4rc

Just wanted to send my best wishes to the OP, it's tough when things like that happen but I'm really glad you found a good home for your mums things.

We do live in such a disposable society, nothing much is built to last. We moved from a modern home Midlands down to a 400 year old cottage in Devon last year. Some of our stuff looked lovely, other stuff out of place, it was expensive new but nobody was interested so much of it was given away the rest was dumped. It's been fun replacing everything with old stuff, Inge at look right in our home, and it's ridiculous how little most of it has cost us. We use eBay and auction houses, we pick up genuine antiques for a pound or two, some get a good clean, other stuff stripped down, rebuilt, repaired, up cycled or given the shabby chic look. I often say to my wife I reckon we could honestly set up someone in a house wih everything they would need including white goods, bedding, electrical items including tv etc, down to the cutlery for well under £500. We buy boxes of 'misc' from auction houses, never pay more than a couple of pound and usually just a pound, often they give us several boxes that didn't sell for free, and the stuff in there is lovely. Nobody cares, nobody wants it, it's all from house clearances and the likes, we make good use of some of it and share the rest, now and then we come across a real find in a box that we don't want or need and can put it on eBay and make a lovely profit from.

It is sad though, I look round my home and everything new would have cost so much money, but today apart from computers, white goods and my home cinema and audio equipment which is worth stupid money I'd be surprised if anyone would pay anything for the rest. It's sad. I do wonder why people feel the need to go and buy expensive furniture in shops and online, for the price people pay for a table and chairs I could probably furnish most of a house and it would look great.

It's lovely you tried so hard to find a good home for your mums things, it's just a shame people don't see the value of much these days and are happy to pretty much waste money on new hints they really don't need to buy. I have friends who will replace furniture that cost hundreds and sometimes thousands every few years and they often dump the 'old stuff' - they don't value possessions and don't really appreciate money I guess.

Tipsntreats

Hi thriftwiz,
I have not heard back as yet. Forgot to say, the sewing shop is in Southbourne high street.
PS Did you go to the night air show last year? There was a tribute to Frankie Vali at Bournemouth pier.
It was great fun dancing in the sand and singing along with the crowd. I haven't looked to see what free music we get this year,
Tips

thriftwizard

OH & his twin brother went, with my 10 y.o. nephew, and really enjoyed themselves. I think I was working somewhere that weekend & didn't have the energy to go out later!

Is that Zebedees? Brilliant shop! Not too far from where I used to do the Vintage Market - sadly not running at the moment.

Tipsntreats

No, TW, not Zebedees. I love that place as they also sell upholstery fabric. It is a new shop selling sewing machines. The owner has displayed some old vintage Singers in his window. He is a lovely man, and told me that another code, on the under plate Simango 45223, meant the machine itself was worth money, not the cabinet. I know nothing.
Hey, if I can go dancing on the beach at 59 this year, then anyone can! Well not if you have been working though.
Tips

7roland8

When friend moved she offered me her sewing machine - but it was in a cabinet and I don't really have the room - shame - but electric and not as old as yours.


Anyhow I tried to sell it on Facebook for her - but we ended up having to give it away - as she needed it gone. Guess people often don't have the space - and I was not strong enough to keep moving it round my house.

Tipsntreats

I do know what you mean 7roland8. I have learnt a hard lesson from my experience and the replies I received at the start of this thread. I live in a first floor flat, it is so heavy, there is way we could get it up the stairs.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Bluntly, old-fashioned furniture takes up a lot of space and shifts very slowly, if at all. Of course there is a way of tactfully telling a grieving relative this, but charities rely on volunteers and you can't train a volunteer in the same way as an employee.

I got a lovely wooden bureau from my local BHF shop for £90- reduced because they were struggling to shift it. Nobody else my age (late 30s) has furniture like this; I didn't realise until I bought my first place a couple of years ago just how old fashioned I am! The quality, solid wood pieces in the BHF shop are quite rare though- they have a lot of cheap, flimsy modern rubbish.

I'd love to know where people find bargains in skips! All I've ever seen in them is rubble, rotting carpets and broken glass...

Hermia

Tipsntreats wrote: »

I do know what you mean 7roland8. I have learnt a hard lesson from my experience and the replies I received at the start of this thread. I live in a first floor flat, it is so heavy, there is way we could get it up the stairs.

I do think practical reasons like that are why so many people don't want used furniture rather than because we are a throw away society etc etc. When I was clearing out my parent's house I could not find any company/charity/person who wanted their very high-quality antique furniture. One of the antique dealers said to me that so few homes could accommodate it and when I thought about it I could see he was right. It was too large for a new build. It was too heavy for a flat. Plus it was all in dark-coloured woods which would not suit so many properties these days. I do tend to buy Ikea furniture because I live on my own in a flat. I would love beautiful quality furniture, but I don't want to be in the position of having to get over a group of friends every time I want to move anything. At least with a flat pack I can dismantle it and carry it down bit by bit. I actually know a couple of older ladies who feel trapped by their furniture because they cannot even move it themselves!

Tipsntreats

Out, Vile Jelly, There is an area at our local tip, where furniture can be bought, for next to nothing. I really think the people that work there, grab them out of the skips, to make a few bob.

Hermia I understand perfectly. When I was younger and we bought our first flat, many people donated bits to us. I couldn't wait to get enough money, to buy new. It was MFI in my day, still the same flat pack idea.
Tips

elly68

GreyQueen wrote: »

Charities legally have to tell you, if you are signed up for gift aid, what the goods made, what the gift aid was, and give you a chance to claim that gift aid yourself. The letter or email will say if you are happy for them to have the gift aid, you need do nothing. I have one such in my email box now from the charity I gift-aid to, but they do need you to tell them if you aren't still a tax payer or they (or you) can't claim the gift aid. They certainly weren't suggesting you would be paying anything.

I work for a council which still owns its own stock and I have to say that if you left a 'lot' of furniture in her flat and only got billed £160, you got off very lightly. By doing so, you forced her council's housing department to pay two bills, each liable for VAT. The first part was for uplifting the items, the second part for their disposal. This is money which would have come off their Housing Revenue Account and would mean they had less money to pay for repairs and improvements to other people's council homes. Considering she'd had a secure and affordable home for 30 years with them, it was poor treatment.

Where people have left a lot of contents with us, we've billed up to £2,000 in some cases because that's what it cost us - it's damned expensive for the landord and slows down the re-letting process, which impacts on others waiting for a home.

Thanks greyqueen for explaining the gift aid thing .The council part however as i explained the council had scaffolding in place which meant the items could not be removed even if we wanted them .my mums community contact was worse than useless ,however the manager was lovely ,they were aware she had no estate and had no issue with this as for reletting strangely enough the put in a brand new kitchen ,bathroom and skimmed the walls none of which had been done during her rent paying tenancy .due to the scaffolding there were continual leaks in the roof so much so she had a downpour on her head whilst sitting on her toilet whilst terminally ill ,no plasterer appeared to repair said hole .My issue was the eight months later bill after having to provide the council with death certificates and a letter stating there was no estate maybe if admin in the different departments talked to each other these things would not happen ...can I ask who pays these £2000 bills .