Dear Prudence,
My husband and I live in a one-bedroom apartment with our three girls. To be blunt, we can’t afford anything else (and our income is too high to afford assistance but I can’t quit my job without losing our insurance). We “walled” off the living room and put in bunk beds. Our next-door neighbor is very, very kind, but clueless. She loves to bargain hunt and bring back books, toys, and random crap to give to our girls.
When she asked at first, we didn’t see the harm. She had an eye for things that interested our daughters (including our difficult reader). She also got up at the crack of dawn for a month to drive my husband, our girls, and me to work and school. We had one car and it went kaput.
I genuinely like this lady, and I cannot afford to burn any bridges. But it is so much stuff! She is wasting her money because as soon as the shine wears off, the stuff gets tossed into a bag and taken to the charity shop. And she very much likes giving the girls gifts but not so much spending time with them (I offer for her to join us for dinner or go to the park and she always declines). She is very, very nice, but it is too much stuff! My husband tells me to let it be. They know me by name at the charity shop now. Help!
—The Neighbor Is Too Nice