A young Goodna couple struggling to clean two flood-ravaged family homes say they face the added anguish of seeing salvageable goods, including antique furniture, jewellery and hidden cash, unwittingly thrown away by volunteers.

Paul Smith said he and his wife Sarah were urgently called away from their house, which resembles a mud pit, to tend to his mother-in-law's home amid concerns well-meaning strangers were throwing out valuables and thousands of dollars in cash hidden in ruined items.

Paul and Sarah Smith are concerned valuables may be thrown out by well-meaning volunteers. Credit:Michelle Smith

His mother-in-law is too devastated to return to the house after losing all her belongings in a fire in the 1980s, and an army of helpers had taken over.

Mr Smith said as he tried to control the situation there, the contents of his own home were turned out onto the footpath by volunteers who had ignored his attempts to cordon off the property with rope and a “no more help needed” sign.