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

When my DD was a teenager, she went for a picnic with her friend. They took our cool box. When she came back she said she had left the cool box at her friend's house. Over the next few months I kept asking her to get it back. Eventually she got it back. A few weeks later her friend's dad called at our house and asked for HIS cool box back. Do you know what? Rather than argue, I gave it to him. What and idiot I was.

I sometimes hide books or DVDs when family are visiting because they like to browse through mine. A year or two ago DS borrowed a DVD still in cellophane wrapper that we were saving to watch on a rainy day. A month or two later I asked for it back but he had loaned it to his boss and didn't want to ask him for it back.
GC ask if they can take DVDs home and that doesn't bother me, they actually bring them back whem they are bored with them. They could teach the adults a thing or two.

I am always very wary when my daughter asks to borrow anything as it never comes back.
I lent her my boxed set of Game of thrones (series 1 to 7) and her boyfriend 'lost' one of the discs. The whole series is now spoilt for me as there are several episodes on each disc.

My Karcher washer is currently residing in her kitchen, I've asked for it back several times with no joy. I am just waiting for her to say the boyfriend has lent it to someone else or broken it - I will be absolutely livid.

I appeared to own the only decent step ladder and one fellow borrowed it so frequently I decided to get rid of it elsewhere- I was never going to use it and he was not the only one and the last lot lent it to another neighbour so in the end I went and picked it up.

Books, vinyl records and cassette tapes in those days.

I lent my cat basket to neighbours and they lost part of the door and cobbled it together but it was not safe.

A friend kept borrowing my car- he is insured to run it but it must have run on water because until I mentioned it he never put a litre in the car or paid me a penny.

soda try writing ‘stolen from sodapop’ on the fly leaves of books.?

Mainly books ( even if I put my name in them! )
Also money, not huge amounts but a tenner here, a fiver there, with family friends and neighbours.I think they just forget.

Same here Gillybob my husband is always out helping other people, meanwhile back at the ranch .............

I have learned not to lend out anything I treasure as these are the things never returned. Books are the items which are most often not returned. I sympathise with you over the Freddy Mercury biog. So annoying.

I lent a girl my School Friend Annual when we were about 8 years old. It had cost me 8 shillings and sixpence which I had won as a prize for something. After a long time I reminded her about this, turns out her mother had binned it in a clear out of her room! I was horrified, not just that I wouldn’t get my book back, but also that her Mum had chucked out a book without asking her , something my dear old mum would never have done as books were important to us.
So ‘never a lender or a borrower be’ has been my motto since . Well, I lend to DS but if he keeps anything too long I soon ask for it back.

I once loaned out a vacuum cleaner to a neighbour who had a very long haired dog. "I won't be long using it" he said, "I'll bring it right back" he said.

True to his word, he didn't keep it for long, returned it later in the day but failed to empty the bag and didn't tell me either. So when I used it the following day the air blown out through the vent absolutely stank of dog! NEVER AGAIN!

Many years ago I lent a beautiful top that I bought to wear to a wedding to a friend. She never returned it and when I went to visit her to ask for it back she came to the door wearing it. Not only that but she had been making pastry and the top was covered in flour.

Now was that “bunting”’you loaned out or a “bun tin” Maybelle ? bloody annoying whichever

Jeez I think we need to draw the line at lending out our other halves . Although my sister is always borrowing mine for some electrical/plumbing emergency or other .

I’m waiting for MissA to come on here and have me giggling ... !!

Mainly books, and once I leant my friend a newly brought, used only once, Bunt tin. Never saw it again. Months later she told me her DH had sold it that week down the pub for beer money ! She never even offered to replace it .
Another "friend" asked to borrow my DH to help with some DIY, stupidly I didn't go along with him as she made a very obvious pass at him.
Happily he declined and came home straight away to laugh over it with me. Needless to say I cut the ties of friendship !

We lent our lawnmower to a neighbour that we were very friendly with and he ran it over the cable ...
We lent a stepladder to a different friend and he managed to buckle it at the top.
Neither of them mentioned that they’d damaged the borrowed items.
But how do you say no to a friend in need? Luckily we haven’t been asked recently!

2 hoovers,both eventually came back broken . A garden spade . A cardigan . Bowls and plates . A brand new foldy up bed/chair ( left out in the rain ) Money !! All 'borrowed' by the same person !

We seem to own the only wine glasses in the village. We had a family party years ago and left it to late to borrow from anywhere so bought 3 dozen really cheap ones. I struggle to recall where they are if we need them but they are all still intact which wouldn't be the case if they cost a lot.

shysal - you're right about anything electric. We once lent our electric mower to a teenager who wanted to earn some money cutting people's grass.
I'm not sure how he did it, but it didn't work after a while.
But his Dad made him go and get it repaired.

Oh well you can kiss goodbye to them then kirkubbin oh dear.

My kids are forever taking dinners home in casserole dishes, plated up or in those clicking containers. I never see any of them again. My DGS even commented that they had some of the same plates as me at their house .....that’s because they’re bleedin’ well mine !

Last Christmas I lent my son all my wine glasses, nice dinner plates and some kitchen stools.

I have learnt not to lend anything out that I want back still working or in one piece. I have lost count of the stuff that I have lent and it has returned broken, not returned or has caused bad feeling when I ask for it back. It really annoys me when people ask to borrow stuff, I had to buy it in the first place and didn't go the cheap option and ask to borrow it off someone! Sorry no lending from me so don't ask. (helping my children out financially doesn't count and that is always gifted).

Oh crikey Auntieflo that’s taking the biscuit isn’t it?

I remember when I was a single parent in a flat (not a very nice area) my downstairs neighbour asked if she could “borrow” a couple of nappies for her daughter . It’s awful to say but they were scruffs and I didn’t have the guts to say no. Obviously they were never returned (thankfully) I couldn’t have re used them.

The first thing I remember lending, to a neighbour with a new baby, was Dr Spock's book! I never saw that again.
More recently we had neighbours, renting next door. He would pop round and ask for 'a loan' of wire wool? Paint brushes, spare wallpaper, a bit of magnolia paint etc, etc.
When I asked him about the paint, he said he had chucked it out, as there wasn't much left!
They turned out to be a nightmare, and we are glad they are gone.

I daren't think about it, yet I've never in my life asked anyone for anything !

GN - great niece, not Gransnet!

I have learnt not to lend anything mechanical or electric, I can guarantee that if or when it is returned it will no longer work!