Things you lend out and never see again....

I loathe lending anyone things, as invariably I need to "beg" to have them back, especially books,I have stopped letting people borrow things, my Daughter is an exception, she always returns things,well brought up!

I hate lending things out for this reason. I don't want to be put in the awkward position of having to ask for my belongings back. I very rarely borrow from anyone else. If I do lend anything I usually make a note of it so that I don't forget. My sister in law is the worst. She once borrowed a book from me and a few years later, when I was babysitting for her, I noticed it on her bookshelf so I took it back. More recently she has borrowed a DVD from me and not returned it after several months. It is something that I won't watch again and I probably won't ask her for it now.

Yes, I only lend books on the expectation they will not be returned. There are a few books I refuse to lend anyone as I couldn’t replace them. They are so precious I would worry if they were not on my bookshelf. They are not worth anything in monetary terms but I have loved them so much I couldn’t bear it.

I lent my DiL a sewing machine saying she could use it but if she didn’t want it to please give it back. It was a lovely old electric machine that did embroidery but was great for sewing jeans too. A couple of years went past and she asked if I could do a repair for her. When I asked why she didn’t do it herself on the machine I’d lent her, she replied ‘oh, I let my sister have it and she broke it’, no apologies for the destruction of a rather expensive machine!

The same happened when I let her borrow a spare Apple mobile until she could afford a new one. When she did get a new one I asked for my ‘old’ phone back....’oh, I let my daughter borrow it and she dropped it down the toilet’. I was angry because I’d bought that phone and I wasn’t asked if she could give either the sewing machine or mobile away. Being married to my son doesn’t mean she can take advantage of my kindness and I will never lend her anything ever again!

I let her and my son have my Welsh dresser because they had hardly any furniture when they first got together, she doesn’t want it now and wants to give it to her brother, I’ve told her no, I’ll have it back. I’ll put it in my garage until somebody needs it, maybe a woman who’s been in woman’s refuge, her brother has plenty of money... he can buy his own!

I’ve also lost count of the amount of money various people and family members have borrowed and not paid back, including £800 for DD for a new boiler!
The sad thing is....now I’m crippled with arthritis and spine problems no one bothers to ask if I need any help and I have no money left for them to borrow. There is only my youngest son who does stuff for me, for which I’m very grateful.

If I sound a bit bitter it’s because everyone seems to have taken advantage of me in the past and I feel used!

My mother asked if a girl she worked with could borrow my wedding dress. Instead of having dry cleaned she washed it, and ruined it.

Yes moggie57- the calculator is ESSENTIAL now in maths -gcse now has a whole paper on scientific calculator work!( my youngest is 16) He was lucky enough to 'inherit' his elder brothers calculator,as HE is very careful with things,youngest is not) so,on failing his maths(only gcse he failed) i thought,well hes still got calculator,turns out he couldnt find it& needed it replacing for resits in college this year!( i think maybe he donated it to his school when they begged for kids to donate any books,calculators,old uniforms etc at end of year, as he firmly was convinced he MUST have passed maths too!) Im not sure if hes kind,or just deluded!

Thats funny Marybelle I'm sure if I lent out my other half they wouldn't keep him for too long.
My sons often borrow items, we don't mind as its quite expensive to buy good quality electrical items, we usually get them back but they wouldn't be offended if we had to ask for them and would always return them when asked. They lead such busy lives & often forget.
My brothers the worst, used to keep everything he borrowed & wasn't till we needed it ourselves we'd realise he still had it & we had to fetch it back. We now tell him one of the sons has borrowed it so its not available.

I did mention on here some time ago that our neighbours who are swingers, often hold parties or “groupings” as they call it borrowed our Dyson, when it wasn’t returned after 3 days I asked them for it. She said that as they have more visitors than us can she keep our Dyson and let us have it when we need it.
Recently they asked did we have a spare mattress they could borrow. !!!! I said p***off.

Just to note,the SIL was SON IN LAW,not sister in law

Im afraid Nonnajazz,i would have just taken the book back at that point,declaring loudly," No i bloody well didnt give you it!"

Well done Bluesapphire on 'liberating' your book! If she had asked you too could have denied all knowledge

One of My daughters is also good at borrowing books/dvds that i never usually see for a very long time,or ever again in some cases! Mostly annoying if ive not read/ watched them first,so in future im going to make her wait till ive had 'first dibs' on them

Yes strangely enough,about 10 yrs ago,my SIL saw id got one of those contraptions that 'excercise' your tummy muscles for you,(you attach the pads& the electric current does the work) it was in its own case,with all attachments etc,very expensive,he borrowed it and i hadnt even used it,i never saw it again& they didnt even mention it! I did once mention& ask what happened to it but my daughter said "oh i don't know,may have been in loft in old house"(they moved about 4 years ago)more like on ebay if i know my SIL! Its a flaming cheek though isn't it? I wouldnt dare take liberties with anything i borrowed- i used to have a neighbour years back like auntieflo's- they even asked to 'borrow' some electricity via a cable run through window when they had theirs cut off & she wanted to watch wimbledon! stupidly i said yes as i wasn't a tennis fan and i didn't know then how long wimbledon actually goes on. Also,like Gillybob,i sent a plated up meal round to my sons house for DIL,when they lived round corner from me(last surviving plate from a set id loved) and she still has it and wont give it back! That was when my GS was a baby,hes 14 now also,same DIL, used a new superheroes plastic mug (new) at my house,& cause its a superhero she likes,she took it home with her( my yongest son,(then about 13) only had it about 2days!(wondering now if shes a kleptomaniac)

I never lend books, if my youngest daughter asks to borrow one, I say no, but I’ll buy one for you. I lent some to a neighbor once to take on holiday, the state they came back in, I can’t tell you!!

I like your style Bluesapphire !
In similar vein, an uncle allegedly wrote his name inside books, sneakily, which he then claimed were his.
I now wish I could start a library. DH has a habit of rescuing books.

Not lent out, but borrowed.
A friend loaned me a copy of a book which seemed very old, I read it and my DD who was 12 at the time picked it up and opened it too far and the spine broke, all the pages fell out?
I spent the following week on the phone like J R Hartley trying to get a copy of the same edition. Finally got it from Amazon. Returned it to my friend and she said, “oh, you don’t need to return it, I gifted it to you”.
It was a good read though, my son borrowed the good copy only last week. I will want it back though!!

A friend borrowed a dress and jacket to wear to a wedding. The jacket came back, she had 'kindly' put the jacket through her washing machine, shame it was dry clean only. She had forgotten to put the dress through the machine so she qod go e me that back another time, still waiting....

Stopped there to calm down.

This post is bad for my blood pressure but here goes - books, now I refuse to lend but offer to buy a copy. Gardening equipment - we have a seasonal item that takes up a lot of space, lent it out asked for it back, discovered that it had been passed around and after asking every day for two weeks, was returned broken. Borrower asked again this year and I have said no, not working properly - indignant borrower and lender. Ladders. Have to ask for them back. Chargers. Wet weather clothing when people come to stay - in spite of knowing it is a very wet place. Will say goodbye actually wearing borrowed items!!!!!!! At uni, one student used to ask to borrow a clean pair of knickers on a Saturday night - never asked for them back, was never offered. My daughter said it still happens at uni - and you can buy a multipack for a pound in the bargain bin in certain shops ?

My Aunt crocheted a beautiful christening gown for my first born. I loaned it to my brother for his childs christening some years later. He didn't use it and he has never returned it.

April30, see screen shot, and click on photo to enlarge.
At the top of the page, under the Gransnet forums heading,
there is a strap line Active / I'm on / Watching /. etc, etc
and on the second line is the word Acronyms.
Look in there and you will find a list of the most commonly used abbreviations

have asked b4 can someone explain all abbreviations plz eg
gn=great neice
gg= great grandson
some i can work out others i cantthank you

Oh, and I lent a colleague a poetry book, and when I asked if she still had it she denied all knowledge of it. But we were at dinner at her house one night and I spied it on her bookshelf. I don't know how but it was in my handbag when I got home.....

MY dh occasionally lends his tools to friends, neighbours etc and does not always get them back. I have told him to note down who has what as he forgets, but he never does. I tend to give items like books I have read, rather than lend. I lend large items to my dc or sisters but they always send them back.

I lent a college student who was in my year a set of my A level notes. I knew her fairly well but she wasn't in my close circle. When I left at the end of my third year I didn't get the notes back, she was staying on for a fourth year. I wrote to her at our college address asking for them back as I needed them for a course I was doing. She never sent them but cashed the cheque I'd sent her to cover the postage. Still after 50 years.