Whether you’re moving out or you’re planning a little redo for your living room, you might find yourself trying to get rid of some old furniture. It’s time to say goodbye to that coffee table you spilled coffee on 154 times. There are many things you can do with your used furniture, and which one you choose will depend on what your needs are.
The first thing I suggest you do is to think about what you prioritize among the following: money, time, sustainability or effort?
Once you have the answer to that, you can figure out what to do with your used furniture. If you need money, you can return your furniture or try selling it either at a garage sale or online. If you think your furniture still has some life left, you can reuse it, give it to a friend, or donate it. If you need to get rid of it quickly, you can just dispose of it.
Covered in this page:
- Check The Return Policy
- Have A Garage Sale
- Sell it on Craigslist, Marketplace, or OfferUp
- Reuse It
- Give It To A Friend
- Donate It
- Disposing of It
Here are a few ways you can get rid of your used and old furniture:
1. Check the Return Policy
This is for the ones who really need their money back.
So this is obviously not going to work if you have had this item for several years. However, if you have purchased it within the last one or two years at some big store, you might be able to return it for a full refund. Stores like IKEA (yes, even if it’s been assembled!) and Bed, Bath & Beyond offer a 365-day return period if you are not satisfied with your product. As long as the product is in good shape and you have a receipt, it should be really straight forward.
So it doesn’t cost to check with your store. You might be able to get a full refund with a fairly hassle-free solution.
2. Selling your Old Furniture at a Garage Sale
This is for the ones who are trying to get as much money as possible.
Sometimes, especially if you are looking to sell multiple items, garage sales might be your best bet. If you are just trying to get rid of some stuff from your house and you don’t have any time constraints, a garage sale may give you the best return for your used furniture. Just pick a nice sunny Saturday, set up all your items outside, and spread some signs around. People will likely show up throughout the day, and while you won’t get a full refund for every item, you might make the most profit overall. If you’re a good negotiator, you might even get a few bucks for that little lamp that has been in your garage for years.
3. Selling Furniture On Craigslist, Marketplace, or OfferUp
This is for the ones who need money, and need it FAST.
In case you’re moving soon and are really just trying to get some money for some big items – couch, TV stand, mattress – this will be your choice. It’s really simple to set up – snap a couple of pictures, create your post, set up a price, and wait for the replies. People usually will send you offers within 30 minutes or so, and trust me, you get a lot of them. If you’re not getting any offers, it is probably a good sign you need to lower your price.
The hardest part about this is that many people don’t have a truck to come to pick the furniture up. If you’re organized, you set it up to deliver all the items on the same day, rent a u-haul, and drop them off. If you can overcome this barrier, you can actually get a good amount of cash back. Once, I was able to actually get $150 for a table I had paid $120 for!
4. Reusing Your Old Furniture
This is for the ones who want to save money and are attached to their furniture.
You might be wanting to give your living room a fresh look, but you’re still not ready to say goodbye to some of your furniture. We get it, there’s a lot of history in there. A lot of times you can actually reuse that old piece of furniture for your new living room. If you’re willing to put in a bit of work into it, you can actually save some money by not having to buy new items. There are a lot of DIY tutorials and Youtube videos that teach you how to turn an old-looking item into a modern one.
5. Give Your Used Furniture To A Friend
This is for the ones who have broke friends.
It might be worth checking with your friends who either live in the area or (even better) are moving to your area. Especially if your friends are in their 20s, chances are that they could use some free furniture. This will be a fairly hassle-free solution as you both can carry it to their car, and your friends will be very grateful. They might even be willing to give you a bit of money for it!
6. Donating Used Furniture
This is for the ones who have a big heart and are willing to go the extra mile.
A lot of times you truly just feel bad for dumping a decent piece of furniture into a dumpster, knowing that there might be someone out there who could use it. If that’s you, congrats: you can call yourself a good person. In that case, you can see what is the closest institution that is willing to take that piece of used furniture. Some of them will be willing to even pick it up, which is awesome. Below are some of the main national organizations that take used furniture:
- The National Furniture Bank Association
- Vietnam Veterans of America
- Donation Town
- Goodwill
- The Salvation Army
7. Disposing of Used Furniture
This is for the ones who don’t really care and just want to get rid of the furniture ASAP.
We’ve all been there. No time to do all this stuff, don’t want to go through the hassle to donate it, and pretty sure you can’t get anything for it anyways. In that case, the only thing you have left to do is to dump it. However, it’s important to know that there are proper ways to dispose of used furniture. Most regular waste management trucks are not equipped to pick up those items, so don’t just throw it out of the door. A lot of cities have a ‘Bulky Item’ removal service, and you can just google to see if your city offers it. If that’s the case, they’ll come to pick it up the next day.
