Donating gifted junk

[Anonymous]

DH and I have donated the crap that MIL and her sister give us. They love to go garage sale shopping and thrifting. They are the types who will go to garage sale right when it opens, haggle about something that is $2 and then wait to come back at the end of the sale to see if they can get it for free. They then try to constantly give us this crap. We always decline at first but occasionally when they keep pushing we will accept it and say thank you because its not worth the battle. We promptly take this stuff to Goodwill because its junk, broken, not age appropriate for the kids or no one has any interest in it. DH's aunt has been asking for one of the items back if we aren't using it. If we are honest and say we gave it to Goodwill she will freak out and go on and on about how valuable it was and now we owe her money. We didn't originally realize that she takes things to this level and have just been avoiding her. She is now trying to get MIL to go through our garage to get it because we are not responding to her. MIL has never noticed that the surprise gifts that she brings are also gone but she will probably catch on once she doesn't see any of them.

I don't want to store their junk. I don't want to engage in stupid drama over junk. I 100% do not want to give the aunt $100 for something that was a piece of broken junk that she bought for $1. DH thinks that we should say we had a flood and many things were damaged. I'm not sure this will work.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Sorry wrong forum. I sent a report to get it moved.

[Anonymous]

A kid broke it

[Anonymous]

This should probably be moved to the Family relationship forum. You need to tell her you donated it to goodwill. If she charges you say you didn't realize you had to pay for gifts. You have put yourself in this position by accepting the gifts in the beginning but it's not too late to say NO to anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I have donated the crap that MIL and her sister give us. They love to go garage sale shopping and thrifting. They are the types who will go to garage sale right when it opens, haggle about something that is $2 and then wait to come back at the end of the sale to see if they can get it for free. They then try to constantly give us this crap. We always decline at first but occasionally when they keep pushing we will accept it and say thank you because its not worth the battle. We promptly take this stuff to Goodwill because its junk, broken, not age appropriate for the kids or no one has any interest in it. DH's aunt has been asking for one of the items back if we aren't using it. If we are honest and say we gave it to Goodwill she will freak out and go on and on about how valuable it was and now we owe her money. We didn't originally realize that she takes things to this level and have just been avoiding her. She is now trying to get MIL to go through our garage to get it because we are not responding to her. MIL has never noticed that the surprise gifts that she brings are also gone but she will probably catch on once she doesn't see any of them.

I don't want to store their junk. I don't want to engage in stupid drama over junk. I 100% do not want to give the aunt $100 for something that was a piece of broken junk that she bought for $1. DH thinks that we should say we had a flood and many things were damaged. I'm not sure this will work.

You could probably go back and find some still at good will so yo have at least one item and just say you gave others to a friend of a friend that you owed a favor and who just adored them so much.

[Anonymous]

Say whatever you have to. Pay her (once) if she insists. NEVER accept more things from her.

[Anonymous]

What’s the item?

Is it a toy? Clothing? This would help narrow down the type of excuse to give.

[Anonymous]

Just be honest. Tell her you regularly purge things that are not in use and that you donated it. Let her react however she will, and then respond accordingly.

[Anonymous]

"I passed it along to a family in need."

[Anonymous]

It was a cheap toy microscope that was already broken. It retails new for about $15. Used AND broken (held together with tape so you can sort of see the magnification but not very well) it was probably selling at a garage sale for $5 and she probably got it for $1. I'm not even sure whether Goodwill would have sold it or just dumped it. I wrote on the box what worked and what didn't. She is claiming that it is a $100 microscope. She always claims that things cost more. She gave my cousin a pair of shoes going on and on about how they were $200 dollars shoes. The price sticker was still on them and they had been marked down to $8.99. My cousin didn't say anything but years later she is still hearing about the $200 shoes that her MIL gave her.

[Anonymous]

Tell her it broke, so you disposed of it. (It did break, before you got it). Refuse to pay her -- tell her you would not have accepted it if it was a sale and not a gift. If you do end up paying her to get ride of her, use this as an excuse never to accept anything more from her ever again -- sorry, we don't have the funds to accept any more items from you. Whatever money you paid will be well worth never having to take anything from her again.

[Anonymous]

DH can say whatever he wants about a flood. (which in my case we actually did get water in our basement and threw a bunch out...as believable as anything IMO). Let him deal with it and that is a perfectly reasonable way to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was a cheap toy microscope that was already broken. It retails new for about $15. Used AND broken (held together with tape so you can sort of see the magnification but not very well) it was probably selling at a garage sale for $5 and she probably got it for $1. I'm not even sure whether Goodwill would have sold it or just dumped it. I wrote on the box what worked and what didn't. She is claiming that it is a $100 microscope. She always claims that things cost more. She gave my cousin a pair of shoes going on and on about how they were $200 dollars shoes. The price sticker was still on them and they had been marked down to $8.99. My cousin didn't say anything but years later she is still hearing about the $200 shoes that her MIL gave her.

HA! Definitely don't pay her and don't accept any more "gifts". You do need to tell her you don't have it.

[Anonymous]

Are MIL and her sister hoarders? Did they grow up poor? Both sound like they have a very unhealthy obsession with "stuff" and bargain-hunting/saving money.

I would tell her the microscope was broken when she gave it to you, and you got rid of it, and that if she really wants this item back, she can get a new one for just $15. And then tell both of them you have too much stuff and while you appreciate their generosity, you will not be accepting anything else from them. Maybe if they realize you are that ungrateful, they will stop giving you these "gifts."

[Anonymous]

14:00 here. Also, your DH needs to get a lot more firm with his relatives. It will sink in better coming from him than from you.