They won’t take the old ones away!

[Amethyst]

So, we went back to furniture store today. We had gone two weeks ago. We wanted to be sure this was the sofa/love seat for us. Yes. Let’s do it. We’re ready to buy. Give them the Visa, transaction is done. Then DH remembers to ask “ok, so they’ll take the old one away, right?”  
 

Nope. 
 

Saleslady says “are you on facebook? Someone you know will take it”. Um. No they won’t. Or put it on the curb … someone will take it. Umm. No. And I won’t put it out on this rainy day. And the new one was going to be delivered in 3 days. So, we’d have to get rid of it quickly. 
 

I’d pay a fee to have them take it away! But that’s not even an option! I can’t have 2 sofas and 2 loveseats in this room while I figure out what to do with the old ones. I’m so mad. I just spent $300 to have 800GotJunk haul away 2 TVs and a computer that have been sitting in my garage for YEARS because no one will take them. And now furniture companies won’t take away old stuff?! I bought these sofas from this company. She had exact dates of when I bought them. They’re the only game in town or I’d buy somewhere else. 
 

Yeah yeah, I know. We have too many material possessions. I get it. But sometimes things wear out, springs break, replacements are needed.

[Amethyst]

And don’t even bother suggesting places like Salvation Army. We checked. They won’t take them. Which we suspected would be the case because dh volunteers at some place similar, and he saw about 17 sofas when he last went. Nobody needs them, I guess?

Edited March 25, 2023 by Amethyst

[Storygirl]

Check with Restore if there is one in your area. We put extra furniture in our garage until they could come to get them.

I don't think that any furniture delivery people have ever carted away our old furniture. Mattresses, yet (we paid extra for removal). Appliances, yes. But furniture, no.

[Amethyst]

And do I really want to foist this old furniture off on somebody? There’s a reason we’re getting rid of it. It’s useful life is over. 

Edited March 25, 2023 by Amethyst

[Amethyst]

2 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

I don't think that any furniture delivery people have ever carted away our old furniture. Mattresses, yet (we paid extra for removal). Appliances, yes. But furniture, no.

Really? This surprises me. I fully expected to have to pay a fee nowadays, but they’ve always taken it away before. We’ve used the same HUGE company for years. 

[kokotg]

Will your trash pickup people not take it for an extra fee? Our city has bulky trash pick up for $20/item.

[rebcoola]

We have several thrift stores that will do pickup for large items like that.

[Katy]

Our city takes it for $10/item if you call in advance 

[wintermom]

We just put old furniture items at the curbside. Either the municipal garbage takes them, or other people take what they want. 

We've taken full advantage of items left at neighbours' curbs! 😄

Another option in my city is "Freecycle," where I believe designated locations act as the hub for people to bring unwanted items, then you can simply take what you want. I'm not sure who looks after the stuff that doesn't get taken, though. 

[marbel]

We also have never had anyone take away old furniture. And I get that thrift stores don't necessarily want it - they don't want stuff they can't resell. But we can schedule an extra pickup with our township to have it hauled away. It's about $10 here. 

I don't think this is an indication that you have too many possessions. Yes, stuff wears out, breaks, etc. Everyone has to deal with that sometimes. 

[Amethyst]

34 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

Check with Restore if there is one in your area. We put extra furniture in our garage until they could come to get them.

Thanks for the suggestion. ReStore accepts new and “gently used” furniture. I’m not sure this qualifies. Maybe a frat house? Lol. 

[Pawz4me]

If your garbage service won't take them for a reasonable extra fee then check on FB for local haul-away people (not the franchised places). They're probably going to be a lot less expensive. We used a local man for a mattress and box springs that were too old.to donate to the one local rescue mission that accepts used mattresses. He was here within an hour of our phone call and we thought the fee was very reasonable. We have a truck and could have loaded them up and hauled them to the dump ourselves, but what he charged wasn't worth our time, effort, gas, and the dump fee we would've had to pay.

And chiming in to say that yes, every furniture place we've ever dealt with has always hauled away the old stuff for a reasonable fee. But we haven't bought anything new in a very long time, so I don't know if the places around here still do it or not.

 

[Amethyst]

24 minutes ago, kokotg said:

Will your trash pickup people not take it for an extra fee? Our city has bulky trash pick up for $20/item.

We used to be able to do that. They recently switched trash haulers and the new company doesn’t do that

[Amethyst]

15 minutes ago, Katy said:

Our city takes it for $10/item if you call in advance 

Oh man I wish! My little township doesn’t do anything for us. 

[math teacher]

We recently bought new recliners. The store had a list of delivery people for us to call for the recliners to be delivered. It was just a single guy, and he took the old ones for $25 extra.

[prairiewindmomma]

No, they don’t anymore. 
 

We ended up renting a dumpster last summer in order to be able to dispose of a number of things. We went through the house, made a list of what we wanted to dispose of, and then calculated volume so we could order the right size of dumpster. 
 

Because it’s harder to dispose of things now, we really had to recalculate what we hold onto and why. We only wanted to pay that $350 fee once, iykwim.

[Renai]

7 hours ago, wintermom said:

We just put old furniture items at the curbside. Either the municipal garbage takes them, or other people take what they want. 

We've taken full advantage of items left at neighbours' curbs! 😄

Another option in my city is "Freecycle," where I believe designated locations act as the hub for people to bring unwanted items, then you can simply take what you want. I'm not sure who looks after the stuff that doesn't get taken, though. 

Freecycle is just a way to post what you have available. The giver and receiver decide on where to meet up for the trade-off. A lot of people around here label the stuff with the person's name and leaves it on their porch for them to pick up within a certain amount of time. There is no specific hub for people to drop things off. Another similar thing is Trash Nothing.

We just rented a Uhaul and took everything at once to the dump.

[Shelydon]

Furniture stores have never taken away old furniture.  We take our old furniture apart and put it in the trash piece by piece over a few weeks. Rip off the fabric, pull off stuffing then use a sawsall to chop up the rest. It's a pain but we don't have a bulk pick up option 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Shelydon

[GoVanGogh]

I am in a local “buy nothing” group. People will take almost anything for free, even old furniture. 
I am a reseller and sometimes do auctions where I get a “lot” for x amount because I want one or three items out of a dozen in a lot. I often list things up on the buy nothing group. This has connected me with several people who volunteer with organizations that help settle refugees in to apartments or homeless people into housing. They seriously need everything and to someone that is trying to settle here from another country or someone living on the street, they may be very grateful for most anything. 

[Grace Hopper]

Well, depending on what your regular trash takes (ie, number of bags, size of a roll to curb bin), you could just part it out. 
 

Edited March 26, 2023 by Grace Hopper

[TechWife]

For future reference, both office max and Best Buy will take old electronics free of charge. 

[Spryte]

9 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

No, they don’t anymore. 
 

We ended up renting a dumpster last summer in order to be able to dispose of a number of things. We went through the house, made a list of what we wanted to dispose of, and then calculated volume so we could order the right size of dumpster. 
 

Because it’s harder to dispose of things now, we really had to recalculate what we hold onto and why. We only wanted to pay that $350 fee once, iykwim.

Oh! This has been my most recent fantasy. Not a vacation, or winning the lottery. Renting a dumpster. Ha!
 

You’ve just inspired me.

 

[mommyoffive]

5 minutes ago, TechWife said:

For future reference, both office max and Best Buy will take old electronics free of charge. 

What do they take?

[gardenmom5]

re: electronics.  SOME places will take them.  Check your area for who will take "recycled" electronics.  
I've not known furniture stores to take old furniture.  (mattresses yes.  and large appliances for a fee.)

Charities will take wood - tables, bookcases, etc. - NOT upholstered stuffed pieces.  I've usually been able to get rid of them on FB or craigslist.  Usually for a small fee.  (people are skeptical about "free" items, so if you ask $20, they'll be more likely to talk to you.)   Only once did I toss a couch in a dumpster because we were having a new roof at the same time and there was still space in the dumpster.

[prairiewindmomma]

3 hours ago, Spryte said:

Oh! This has been my most recent fantasy. Not a vacation, or winning the lottery. Renting a dumpster. Ha!
 

You’ve just inspired me.

 

Honestly, it was money well spent. We had donated or recycled what we could, and just having stuff gone was lovely.  Our dump charges by the pound and we had some heavy stuff to get rid of—it financially made sense to get the dumpster. We arranged for next day pickup so our driveway wasn’t blocked for long.

[Pawz4me]

7 hours ago, TechWife said:

For future reference, both office max and Best Buy will take old electronics free of charge. 

Around here Staples will, too. We just took an old printer and laptop for e-cycling.

[Amethyst]

8 hours ago, TechWife said:

For future reference, both office max and Best Buy will take old electronics free of charge. 

Not here they won’t. We asked

[TechWife]

9 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

What do they take?

Computers of all types, keyboards, screens, tv’s, stereo components, phones - basically anything electronic. 

[Faith-manor]

9 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

Well, depending on what your regular trash takes (ie, number of bags, size of a roll to curb bin), you could just part it out. 
 

 

This is what I would do. Put out the maximum allowed number of garbage cans at the road. Cut the fabric apart, get a sledge hammer and saw, destroy the furniture into smaller pieces, and fill the garbage cans.

[Grace Hopper]

10 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

 

 

Oops

Edited March 26, 2023 by Grace Hopper

[kirstenhill]

12 hours ago, Renai said:

Freecycle is just a way to post what you have available. The giver and receiver decide on where to meet up for the trade-off. A lot of people around here label the stuff with the person's name and leaves it on their porch for them to pick up within a certain amount of time. There is no specific hub for people to drop things off. Another similar thing is Trash Nothing.

We just rented a Uhaul and took everything at once to the dump.

We have "Buy Nothing" groups here, and people want surprising things sometimes, even things that don't seem useful to me (like broken items, because they want the item for parts). 

I don't think we would have the patience for parting something out.  Our county waste facility takes larger items for $15-25.  That plus borrowing or renting a truck for a couple hours is probably still cheaper than a junk service. 

[I talk to the trees]

20 hours ago, Amethyst said:

[ETA: Oops, looks like I somehow cut out the quote about a frat house!]
 

Said in jest, and yet…

Never underestimate the desperate nature of broke college students. In the town where we used to live, it was known as “shopping at Curby’s.” 😂 If it isn’t completely falling apart, and you live in a city/town with a college, post on Craigslist, slap a “free to good home” poster on it, and I bet it will be off your hands before the new ones arrive.

Edited March 26, 2023 by I talk to the trees
I messed up the quote.

[Amethyst]

14 hours ago, Renai said:

 

We just rented a Uhaul and took everything at once to the dump.

We were just talking yesterday that this is what we might end up doing. Well, probably not rent the U-haul, but maybe put them in the minivan and drive to the dump. But it would probably be two trips, so two charges. Maybe the u-haul. We’ll check it out. But I feel like I should make the most of it and dump lots of other stuff too, if I rent the U-haul  Maybe a good motivator to FINALLY clear out the kids toys and homeschool portfolios etc that are taking up too much space in our basement ! I’ve been planning on cleaning that basement every summer for the past five years!

 

[Amethyst]

1 hour ago, I talk to the trees said:

 

it was known as “shopping at Curby’s.” 😂 

Lol. I love it!

We do have two colleges nearby. But it’s a funny time if year. If it was Aug or September someone might be wanting a sofa. My dd actually took a pic and asked some college friends but they said no thanks

[katilac]

15 hours ago, Renai said:

 There is no specific hub for people to drop things off. Another similar thing is Trash Nothing.

Not program-specific, but many areas do have locations at the local police station for this purpose. 

They will usually be called something like safe trade spot, safe trade station, safe exchange zone. 

Search "MY CITY safe exchange zone" and just go through the possible names. 

[Teaching3bears]

Offer it for free with a free $20 if they take it away.  Someone with a truck might take it if they want the money.

[Guest]

Yeah, I face this annoying issue too. I have new furniture coming in April and they don’t haul the old. We’ll have to take it to the dump or have the Got Junk folks get it. 

[DeainUSA]

Dh cut us our small enough for them to take.

[dsmith]

I've never had furniture companies take away old furniture, only appliance companies. If it's in bad shape we disassemble it and put it out a bit at a time. We keep it behind our bushes and put some out every trash day. Sometimes they will take the rest from behind the bushes for us, which is why we take very good care of them at Christmas time.🙂

[Renai]

On 3/26/2023 at 9:37 AM, Amethyst said:

We were just talking yesterday that this is what we might end up doing. Well, probably not rent the U-haul, but maybe put them in the minivan and drive to the dump. But it would probably be two trips, so two charges. Maybe the u-haul. We’ll check it out. But I feel like I should make the most of it and dump lots of other stuff too, if I rent the U-haul  Maybe a good motivator to FINALLY clear out the kids toys and homeschool portfolios etc that are taking up too much space in our basement ! I’ve been planning on cleaning that basement every summer for the past five years!

 

Yes, the renting a Uhaul was part of a bigger project! The first time, we had to quickly move out of our place and rented the Uhaul to take things to storage rooms. We put things to the side to take to the dump at the end of our time with the truck. The second time, as we were moving things into our new rental, we realized there were things in storage we really actually didn't want. We made another dump run when we finished moving what we could to the new place.

 

On 3/26/2023 at 11:04 AM, katilac said:

Not program-specific, but many areas do have locations at the local police station for this purpose. 

They will usually be called something like safe trade spot, safe trade station, safe exchange zone. 

Search "MY CITY safe exchange zone" and just go through the possible names. 

This is a nice idea!