Maybe now is the time to be honest and just tell her that whatever she gives you is immediately given to Goodwill or Salvation Army! Also, "Please do not give us any more of your garage sale bargains.". Be honest, do what if she gets mad. I'd give her $1.00.

Don’t lie because it will never stop. Be blunt and say anything that comes to your house will not come inside and stay at the curb. We had to do this with MIL who discovered FB marketplace and does the same as your family. My family is the same but at least buys from stores and can return it. We refuse to bring it inside. This sounds rude but we’ve been dealing with this for 20 years. We have two families of hoarders and refuse to let them turn our house into one of theirs.

GIven the full story I'd be direct.

It was broken when you gave it to us so I threw it out.

And if she blathers on wanting money or whatever...

"I asked you to stop giving us these things, I donate or throw out the vast majority, and I am not paying you for them. I will continue to do this with any other gifts you give us - broken, useless, unwanted things I get rid of."

And I'd let the chips fall wherever they may. You can be calm, factual and unemotional until the cows come home. "Don't give me things we said we don't want. I will simply get rid of them." Period.

Ok, so I am WAY more bitchy than you OP. I would start cleaning out MY house and the crap I don't want would be delivered to SIL and MIL, whoever tries to give me their crap. (broken vases, worn out towels, etc) It would be brought over with a huge smile and a "I just KNEW you would love this stuff when I saw it, I thought of you". I would smile and say, I guess we are now even for all of the gifts you have given us over the years. Have a great weekend!

Walk away briskly and don't look back.

Anonymous wrote:"That broke, it went in the garbage."

Refuse any more of their "finds".

Don’t say it broke. Say it was already broken.

Just tell her you gave it away to a neighbor. I admire the people who have family dynamics where you can just tell people the truth. Sadly in my family white lies are the easy road to non-drama.

This incident gives you a great reason to tell MIL and Aunt that you no longer want their gifted yard sale crap...errr treasure. Say the frenzy over the gifted (but unwanted) microscope has caused stress and to avoid in the future you want them to take them off their gift recipient list

Why does an old woman want a child’s crap microscope?

Anonymous wrote:Tell her it didn't work well and was broken so you gave it got rid of it. If its an issue, and she has a real need for it you will buy her a new one that works properly. Then go send her a $15 one. Done.

no, no refunds! if OP does this next $200 err $7 sneakers are next on the line.

this was a gift. it broke and you don’t have it anymore.

Tell her it didn't work well and was broken so you gave it got rid of it. If its an issue, and she has a real need for it you will buy her a new one that works properly. Then go send her a $15 one. Done.

She is having your MIL search your garage for a broken microscope? That is next level bizarre. What on earth does she need it for?

"That broke, it went in the garbage."

Refuse any more of their "finds".

+1 I think Auntie is pulling a kind of scam on you. She knows it was a gift. She knows she bought it for $8. But she wants more $$ and praise. It was a gift and it’s gone now. No more gifts please.

OP here. This is what I think to, they both love scheming to get what they want. She isn't forgetful and she knows perfectly well that she only paid a few dollars not $100. If we were to refund her for the gift that we never wanted and tried not to accept at 1000% more its value, she would be super happy. More attention for the gift and $100 to go buy more junk. I'd rather throw $100 out the window.

Do not lie. Be honest. Tell her you regularly clean your house and will make no excuses for getting rid of stuff, and you are fine if this stops her from giving you stuff. It might be time to refuse to take anything else she offers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You absolutely can NOT accept any more crap from them.

OP's husband, not OP, has to be the one to handle this from now on and forever. He is the one to devise ways to decline items. His relatives are his to handle even if they try to approach OP first rather than him. I say this because whatever OP says can be construed by them as "she's being a pan of a DIL/niece-in-law" whereas the DH is the son and nephew and should be between OP and his relatives.

Sometimes it’s good to have a bad reputation.