If you're moving house or upgrading your existing stuff, it's common to end up with unwanted furniture. But what to do with it?
Here are five ways to thoughtfully and thoroughly dispose of your old furniture.
1. Sell it. Whether sold at a school garage sale or through an online marketplace, there are several ways to make some money from your old furniture. Snap a couple of good quality images of your unwanted stuff and advertise it through Gumtree, Trading Post, or eBay. If you have a Facebook account, Marketplace is another great option.
If you don't mind waiting until the year's end to sell unwanted goods, join up with the Garage Sale Trail for Australia's biggest weekend of garage sales.
2. Donate it to charity. Depending on the condition of your old furniture, you may want to consider donating it if you're not able to find a buyer. Various non-profit organisations and charities will happily take in your unwanted furniture to sell it to those who need it most. Depending on your location, some organisations may pick up unwanted furniture for free. If not, contact the organisation for where to drop off unwanted furniture. For donating non-furniture items to charity, check out this Smoothmoves post on how to donate unwanted items in Australia.
3. Give it away. An alternative to donating old furniture is giving it away. Freecycle is an online non-profit organisation where users can post items they no longer use for collection, in addition to requesting things they need. Made up of more than 5000 local town groups with over nine million members worldwide, Freecycle can breathe new life into your furniture.
4. Recycle it. Not everything can be sold, saved or reused. But before you begin throwing things out, consider recycling old furniture. PlanetArk hosts a handy portal for locating recycling near you for residential and commercial entities.
If you want everything done for you, consider hiring a home removalist for unwanted furniture removal.
5. Throw it away. In Australia, hard-waste collection is organised by local councils throughout the country and can be arranged at any time.
Some councils have a transfer station where you can leave your unwanted furniture (check your local for possible fees), while other councils regularly hold a free disposal service (individual collection services may incur a disposal fee.
While one man's trash is another's treasure, and you may find some items will be taken before collection, be sure to double-check collection dates, as fines apply for illegal dumping.
