I know you’ve already said you won’t do it, but my first thought was it being a pee bottle.
Our house’s previous owners left us a crucifix on every goddamn wall in the house… including every wall in the bathrooms. My family was Jewish.
Since we’ve moved beyond just food, I need to add to my previous remarks that just addressed the beer and condiment packets.
To be fair, we told the sellers that they could leave things behind if they wanted to, and some of what they left was quite useful. For example, a La-Z-Boy sofa (not a reclining type) that was in great shape, an older swivel rocker-recliner, a couple of tables, assorted chairs, two sets of metal patio table/chair sets, a queen-size bed (which we slept on till our stuff was delivered.) They also left their riding mower and a lot of rakes, shovels, and other yard tools.
On the minus side, I think every time they replaced the carpet upstairs, they took the old carpet and spread it out in the basement - I think there were 4 layers down there. There were 3 garden sheds, one of which had been semi-crushed by a falling tree, and it was full of containers that we took to the landfill on amnesty day, since we had no idea what they were. In the shed with the riding mower, they’d left about 8 full gasoline cans, all labeled with when they were filled and how much the gas cost. In the 3rd shed, there were doors, electric baseboard-style heaters, and a whole lot of stolen-from-the-government outlets, switches, light fixtures, and other miscellany. We knew they were stolen because they were all still packaged with their GSA labels, and the previous owner used to be a plasterer at the White House, among other federal sites.
Worst of all, there were ELEVEN garbage cans, all partially or completely filled. And judging by a couple of very scorched spots in the yard, we’re pretty sure they burned all their garbage. We raked up light bulb bases and food cans and assorted metal and glass crap among the ashes. After a trip to the landfill, we shared several of the trash cans, and the rest, we’re still using today.
What really cracks me up - these people used to put dates on everything! There was a clock radio that had a piece of masking tape with the purchase date on it. The AVOCADO colored dryer had its purchase receipt taped to the side. And several garbage cans and snow shovels had dates written on them in permanent marker. In case you’re curious, the ones we’re using were purchased in October 1991.
And we’ll not go into the concrete animals that were part of the front yard decor. We managed to find people who came and took them all for free - after all, who can resist a concrete deer with a broken ear and no antlers??
They’d lived here for almost 30 years and retired to FL, and I’m sure they were downsizing. Much of the furniture they’d left for us was donated to a local women’s shelter.
When I was at the big blue box store, we advised the customers to tape the receipts to the back of the item, so warranties could be done easier.
My father does this and indeed has had to make warranty claims and the receipts have came in handy. I don’t do that but mostly due to the fact that it’s been forever since I’ve bought a new appliance and wasn’t aware of his practice until recently. I’ll probably do the same whenever I buy something that would make saving the receipt worthwhile.
The little old lady who owned our house before we did kindly left behind several of her scraggly wigs and a mason jar of full of homemade vegetable soup. The carefully-handwritten label showed that it was 15 years old. We, uh, didn’t eat it.
I will have to check but I assume the contract has boilerplate about moving everything out. That bulldozer reminds me that we had a local project where they quit doing construction and they left a tower crane there for 2 years unused. they still had to pay 2 years rental for the crane and there was a fight over who paid that bill. they finally took it down a few months ago but the construction has not resumed. It’s a good retail location so I guess when things are back to normal the construction will resume
Previous owner not only left a bunch of furniture and food, she also left her dog and her kid!
She did clear out the living room after a week or so, but the kid and his dog were here for almost a year.
Okay, the kid is my nephew, but still. I was stuck with a just out of high school guy in my basement for way too long.
My daughter just put a contract on her first home. As far as we can tell, there’s no food left behind, but when we looked at the house, there were several bottles of cleaning products under the sink, and a big roll of carpet and some throw rugs in the “studio”. The previous owner has died and her sister (800 miles away) is selling the place. So whatever is in there will convey. No furniture apart from a patio table and 2 chairs on the deck.
Old story: After moving in to an older home a couple found a small table with only two legs. Then they saw a note taped to the bottom which read: “When you paint the stairwell - this goes on the stairs to make a platform. Then go across the street and borrow the stepladder from the Smiths.”
We were seriously considering buying a house in rural Kentucky. There was a black pot-bellied pig that conveyed with the home (it actually lived in a large pen behind the house).
Not a deal-breaker (it was a friendly pig, after all)*, but we wound up elsewhere.
*during our visit to the house, I made friends with the pig and gave it a rub on its snout. I reminded the real estate agent of this when she started to shake hands with me later. She backed off in a hurry - not a farm girl.
Fortunately, my brother (the landlord) cleaned out the recently vacated apartment that had a half full fridge that contained nothing interesting . . . except for the human placenta in the freezer.
CMC
For some reason tenants always leave me cookie sheets. I’ve found at least four so far. Free moving tip: Check the drawer under the stove before you leave.
I think the only thing we kept from the lady who owned the house before us - after throwing away a lot of her dusty, accumulated crap - was a small, wooden-handled knife. Whenever I use it I think of her.
I bought a bunch of cookie sheets for holiday baking once and when DesertRoomie asked, “Where are we going to put all those?” – storage space is at a premium in the kitchen – I pulled the drawer under the oven open and dropped them in there. “I never knew that was there.”
I wonder how many sheets she passed up, unawares, over the years.
In the last house I bought, the previous owners left chickens. Not chicken. 22 bawking, hungry chickens we did not want. Neither did anybody else, so we reclucktantly kept them, and I embarked on my 100 Ways to Use Eggs adventure.
In the first house we bought, someone left a wallet in the basement rafters. The name on the drivers license was not that of the previous owner, so we took it to the police.
I was left chickens when I bought my first house, too! The owner kept promising it would be “just another week” before they picked them up. I ended up feeding those chickens for about 4 months until they finally did.
StG
Ah, so you know what it’s like. I did not find chickens endearing. They flew over the fence but wouldn’t return; they hated humans; and they had an IQ of about 6. Also, they were cannibals, happily scarfing down both chicken and eggs.
Huh. Which came first?
Moved into an apartment, really a 5 unit one floor ‘complex’ back in 1980. There was a built in china cabinet. On the very top shelf in the very back was a cigar box of receipts for coal that was delivered to the place back in 1904 (It had a coal shoot to the ‘basement’).
I left it up there. Seemed like that’s where it belonged. The rent was $110 dollars a month. And I split that with my cousin that shared it with me. Two bedroom, one bath, Living, dining and kitchen. And a basement which came right out of a Steven King novel. I did keep an old oil lamp that I found in the crap in the basement. Still have it, It’s very nice.