The Random Shit They Left Us

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Good morning blog friends! Brian and I spent the weekend painting with my second mother (my mom’s best friend who just taught me how to paint a room). She and I also made our way downtown to a very depressing Bears game. And then back for more painting.

This is my backyard. Before it was my backyard. But it's pretty, right?
This is my backyard. Before it was my backyard. But it’s pretty, right?

So as I’m writing this (Sunday night), I’m covered in paint, in dire need of a shower (don’t ask how long it’s been), and beat to hell (is it nap time yet?).

But I really wanted to share this little gem of a story with you. Because I think it’s amusing.

The sellers of our house left us lots of helpful things to get started with our first homeownership adventure. I know that they were thinking of us when they left these things, because they sent a message through the attorneys asking if we wanted them to leave paint and extra fixture-type thingies. (Someone please tell me why EVERYTHING has to go through attorneys and real estate agents instead of just people to people? Because the games of Telephone that we had to play in this whole house-buying process was a giant pain in the ass.) We said “sure.”

Not that we wanted the extra paint in the rooms we would be painting over as soon as possible. But you never know.

So they left cans of paint and stain for the cedar siding. They left light bulbs and extra sticky tiles from the 80’s/90’s. They left bubble wrap and packing boxes. They left a bunch of normal, helpful stuff.
And then they left a whole bunch of random.

Like the brand new, unused skylight flashing dated back to 2004, which would have been PRETTY useful under the skylight that we have to get fixed because it has no flashing and was instead sealed with roofing tar and leaked into our attic/master bathroom (before we bought the house-we knew about it…no money pit here, yet). You know…useful stuff.

Even the curtains, while not really my style at all, are helpful...even if they are getting replaced asap. (By the way, feel free to note the paint color. Next to it is a blue family room and what was a salmon kitchen. Hence the weekend painting.)
Even the curtains, while not really my style at all, are helpful…even if they are getting replaced asap. (By the way, feel free to note the paint color. Next to it is a blue family room and what was a salmon kitchen. Hence the weekend painting.)

Or the insulation paper, which conveniently made the perfect tarp for painting.

painting tarp?

Or the strange yarn/belt/beady thing that I have no idea what it is.

It's like 5 feet long.
It’s like 5 feet long.

Or the magical mystery Ocen Spray cranberry juice bottle filled with some creepy, unlabeled brown liquid.

Juice? Maaaybe not.
Juice? Maaaybe not.

Which I assume is some sort of stain due to the close proximity of other stains and paint.
Paint and things
Which is mostly strange because they labeled fucking everything else. (This was one of Brian’s favorite features of the house. Labeled duct work.)

They also left the piece de resistance next to the bubble wrap in the basement…
Bubble wrap
Can you spot it?
Tighty Whities
Don’t worry, I took a close up. Of the tighty whities. Which I can only assume/hope are clean and were used as a cleaning rag of some sort. Brian and I are fighting over who has to remove them from the basement. I feel like they’re going to stay forever with the current standstill…

Of course, as people move out, they choose to take things with them.

Our sellers took the avocado green clothes dryer (and the washer) – we knew they were taking those. And the shower curtain rod. And the canned goods from the bathroom closet.
Canned goods in the bathroom
And the confederate flag.

I'm not upset that they took that with them. And they did a bangup awesome job of cleaning things up down there. So I'm not complaining. Just musing.
I’m not upset that they took that with them. And they did a bangup awesome job of cleaning things up down there. So I’m not complaining. Just musing.

Blog Friends, have you moved into a new place to discover strange things left behind? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve seen in a house? Have you left strange things behind? Would you do it just to be funny?

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26 Responses

  1. Okay, I never do this because it’s typically in bad form to stop by someone’s blog and leave a comment like “great blog post, check out one I did… LINK” and I’m not an asshole. HOWEVER, since we are friends in real life I have to share a post I did when we were buying our current house because it was a total WTF moment of what they thought we might want them to leave us: http://www.pocketfulofjoules.com/chug-chug-chugging-along

    But again, congrats on your new house!!! YAY! And don’t drink that juice.

  2. they mystery brown liquid – ewwwwwww! The undies?? I ahve moved a lot, but have never found such odd things left behind! This was hilarious!

  3. I second the identification as the rope beady thing as a macrame plant hanger. My mom had one when I was a kid and to my horror, had a hanging Spider plant in it. I HATED IT. But it’s very late 70s/early 80s

      1. Ok spiders freak me out so spider plants? I kept thinking the babies would fall off the plant and land on me. No joke. I’m a wimp. But if you have a spider plant, the macrame could work for you because when they hang they do look cool in a creepy kinda way.

  4. I’m trying to remember if we were left anything weird. Just paint and stuff, I think. Oh, and the undisclosed water problem in the basement (grumble grumble.) That was an expensive lesson. Sigh.

  5. When we moved into our apartment we were able to secure a discount on the first months rent if we cleaned out the stuff left behind by the previous tenant. Among the random clutter and half-empty bottles of soap, we scored a great desk and a couple older TVs. However, the downsides were all the food in the fridge/cupboards and the pieces of a dead squirrel that I found in the kitchen. Fun times! I know so much about someone I’ve never met, just based on the junk they decided to leave behind!

  6. I’m glad other people knew what the plant hanger thing was. I knew it looked familiar, but the only thing I could think was it looked like something to flog yourself with as some sort of ritual penance… but I knew that couldn’t be right.

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