I do not want people to think i'm a wet blanket for writing this... but PLEASE be sure that if you buy fabric, blankets, clothing and especially furniture at yard slaes or estate sales....you WASH and dry in very high heat all of the fabric items... as for the furniture, i'm not sure... My reason being........... my SIS... who has gotten some fantastic fabric and other items this way.... purchased a beautiful, not too used looking chair at a very nice consignment shop... after a few months... she found "bed type bugs".... she has had to have a total fummigation TWICE... this was a ton of work for someone with a disability... next week they are going to "HEAT" her house to about 160degrees, to be sure they are gone....this means finding a place for her birds to go as well..... This has been a nightmare... they took her bed (they had gotten into the frame)and cut up and disposed of her chair that she loved.... they came in via. the chair...She's been told they like to hid in the folds of fabrics and are horrible to get rid of once they enter your home...I Love seeing all the great bargins of fabric and figure that lots of "our children" (mine will be some)... are left with the collections of their parents... and we never know just where this stuff was kept or how long it was around.... so... Just be careful,,, the washing is a given, i'm sure, but the "hot" drying, might be a good idea... regardless of the shrinkage issue.... hope this is taken as a helpful suggestion.... My Sis is without a bed and chair until she can afford one...we "skyped" last night and she was crying and saying she's never had much, but she never really felt as poor and ashamed as she does now... people are even treating her differently.. she is a person that does so much for others and it's so unfair ...............

Thanks for the suggestion!!!

I hope they can get rid of her bugs!!!

Please tell you sister none of this is her fault. Give her hugs from me and tell her to hang in there, things will get better eventually.

Kat

My son's nurse told me that at his former job before he became a nurse, he used to work for an apartment complex and they were given box cutters to go out very early in the morning and cut up furniture that the tenants had put out. They had had a bad infestation of bed bugs and couldn't get rid of them because people that had the bugs would put out the furniture and the other tenants not thinking, would bring it into their homes and start the infestation all over again!

hugs to sister

That is so terrible. Hope the bugs are gone after this treatment. Makes you wonder if others are having the same problem after shopping at the garage sale. Tell her we ate all hugging her across the miles, and things will soon be better.
Sue

thank you all so much... i'm going to send her a link to here tomorrow... it will make her heart sing!!!What a great group!!!!!!!!! hugs Barbara

Oh, that is so sad. It's not her fault, it has nothing to do with her housekeeping. Let s/he who daily dry steams the entire house (a 10-16 hour process for an average size house) cast the first stone.

Sadly, bedbugs are a growing problem in some areas (mostly the East Coast but in other areas as well) and they can hide anywhere. I've read media reports of swank, upscale hotels who have quietly had to go to very expensive measures to get rid of bedbug infestations. Office buildings, too. And, rumour has it, at least one theatre on Broadway.

This is one reason why I always pre-wash. It comes into the house and goes straight into the washing machine. If it can't withstand one hot wash and dry on high heat, it just isn't worth it to me to keep around.

I hope that your sis will take hope. it is not her fault. it is the people who set out the chair for the shop. they should have known better. I am so sorry that she has to go through this. Bed bugs are boogers to get rid of. I don't ever buy anything that can not be sterilized from consignment shops for this reason. hugs to her.

How sad. Stories just like your sister's have been making the rounds for several months now. A local news station told of a woman who thought she'd gotten a great deal on Craig's List - an entire bedroom set for $200. Dresser, nightstands, bed frame, queen mattress and boxsprings, and another piece. I don't know what it's called, it's like a desk but has a mirror and you sit and put makeup on. She's since spent $2000 on trying to get rid of the bedbugs that came in with the set. Some deal.