Effective Ways to Get Rid of Old Furniture After Renovation

If you’ve recently renovated your home or office, you probably had to send some items into storage during the construction. Now that your renovation is completed, your old and worn items don’t fit with the new and modern design. So do you just chuck them out on the curb or in a landfill? Not necessarily. Here are some effective ways to get rid of old furniture after renovation.

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Repurpose and Recycle

If the piece you’re trying to get rid of is in decent shape and you are a creative type, you can often find a way to spruce it up and give it another use in your newly designed space. Check out DIY websites for turning shabby and distressed pieces into functional and attractive additions that can complement your new décor before you get rid of it or spend money to replace it.

Recycling furniture is another great option to minimize the negative ecological impact of throwing your used furniture to the curb. Parts like wood, cushions, cotton, fabric, foam core, and springs can all be salvaged and reused. Can’t do it yourself? There are services that will take your furniture to a recycling facility and get it done for you.

Ask Your Friends and Family if They Want It

You may know someone that needs a couch or a sturdy desk. Ask around and see if anyone that you know has any use for any of the old items. You might have a friend whose child is about to head off to the university that could use an old futon or a relative that needs a filing cabinet for their new business. You can offer the items for free or for a small fee and quite possibly help them out.

Read more: How to steam clean a couch

Yard Sale

Yard sales are a great furniture disposal method that allows you to score some extra cash in the process. Make sure you advertise some of your big-ticket items to draw more people. You might also pair your furniture with other small household items and clothing that you were planning to get rid of anyway and bring in even more money.

List it On a Sharing Site

Listing furniture items individually on a sharing site like Nextdoor or LetGo can be a great way to get rid of unwanted furniture items. It might take some time to set up the listings, but it’s one of the best ways to get the most money for your used items. People looking specifically for similar items are willing to pay more for the items that they need, and if they’re searching for a gently used bed-frame, they’re willing to pay more than someone who just happens upon it at a yard sale.

Donations

If you’ve given up on trying to get any money for your items and just want to get rid of them, consider donating the items to a local charity. There are plenty of options available from those that sell the items at a discount to those in need, to others that sell the items to raise money for their efforts to assist in other ways. Most of them will offer free pickups from your home, and they often offer a receipt for your taxes as well.

Among the many organizations that will be more than happy to come and pick up disposable furniture from your home, there is the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity Restores and the Furniture Bank Association of North America (FBANA).

If none of these appeal to you, remember that homeless shelters are always looking for donated or recycled pieces of furniture that they can use. Gently used furniture is often desperately needed at shelters or at other non-profit community-oriented charities. Items like beds, dressers, couches, chairs, and dining tables can almost always be used to turn a shelter into a home. Call around to organizations in your area to see if anyone can use anything you are getting rid of before you dispose of it.

Junk Removal Service

If you’ve exhausted all of the options for selling or giving away your items, and you still need to get rid of them, you may need to contact a junk hauling service to come and pick them up. You may be charged a small fee, but they will not only come to your location to pick up the items, they will also take care of removing it and loading it, saving you quite a bit of time and energy. For example, 1-800-got-junk is a junk removal company that thrives on this line of work.

Dumpster Rental

Don’t want to work with a furniture removal service? No problem. Hire a dumpster from a local waste management company. We’d suggest you look for an eco-friendly contractor, though, so you can be sure your furniture doesn’t end up in an unethical landfill. 

The good part about renting a dumpster is that you can deal with furniture disposal at a pace that works for you. You can hire a dumpster from a day to up to 4 weeks with most companies. The size of the dumpster you will need will depend on the number of large items you’re trying to dispose of. 

Depending on the size of the dumpster and the duration, you could end up spending anywhere between $100 to $1,000.

Weigh Your Options

Finding homes for your used furniture might take some time, but there are plenty of options available to help you remove them after a home renovation. Whether you choose to keep it, sell it, give it away, or pay someone to take it away, you aren’t going to be stuck with it. So weigh your disposable options and choose whatever is most convenient.

Written by Melanie Saunders. September 29, 2018

Melanie Saunders is a blogger and content manager at 1300 Rubbish – experts in the field of rubbish and junk removal. Personally, a huge fan of sustainability and green living.