Furniture Removal and Disposal

Furniture removal and disposal can be an overwhelming task, especially getting started . It might be challenging to know how to rid your home of massive, unwanted objects while relocating, purchasing new furniture/appliances, or decluttering your home.

The worn-out couch, the refrigerator that runs continually and is as noisy as a fighter aircraft, and the dangerous trampoline in the backyard. 

Can you just toss them on the curb and expect trash management to pick them up? Do you have to find a means to bring such things to the landfill, just to pay an always-inconvenient price to get rid of them?

During DIY home renovations and remodeling, many people have been presented with this dilemma several times in the last few months. They’ve been perplexed about how to dispose of anything that doesn’t fit in their trash can. 

Techniques of Removing Heavy or Bulky Items from Your Home

We’ll walk you through some ideas and techniques to help you get rid of your bulk garbage faster and easier; though, to be honest, it will still take some time and effort – this is significant, odd-sized shaped, and heavy stuff you’re trying to get rid of!

1. Make a donation and have it picked up for free.

If your belongings are in good shape, thrift stores like Lee’s Summit Social Services, Salvation Army, Hillcrest, and others will take them up. And Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore will take up items such as appliances, toilets, etc.

But use your common sense; don’t donate a filthy couch to Lee’s Summit Social Services. Only use this option if the item is in good condition and may find a good home with someone else.

2. Determine whether your trash management/local scrap yard will accept bulky goods.

Determine whether your garbage provider will take big goods; simply sit at the curb on trash day. They don’t consistently haul furniture away, but occasionally you’re lucky, and they do. Occasionally you can obtain such information on their website, and sometimes you have to call. You don’t want to bring a couch out to the curb to have the collectors disregard it, forcing you to haul it back into the garage or basement.

The acceptance of large trashed items by waste management will vary greatly depending on your residence. You may sometimes call and schedule a special “bulk pick-up,” but it usually costs $50 and $75. They will occasionally accept furniture left on the curb, but not household appliances or anything with a computer or electrical components.

In some areas (and with some waste management companies), you can purchase a particular tag to attach to a bulky item and pick it up on your regular collection day. Tagging items for a pick-up is usually less expensive; it can be as little as $10 per item for easily disposed of items like mattresses, tables, etc.

Scrap yards are another fantastic alternative for metal things, but you’ll usually have to pay a modest charge to have your bulky junk items taken up. However, sometimes you may even be rewarded for the metal scraps if you can get them to a nearby scrapyard willing to pay. That is clearly a significant bother, but it may be worthwhile.

If you must pay a charge of any type, do so only as a last resort if none of the other choices below work for you.

3. If you’re replacing it with something new, check if you can get rid of the old items.

When you get new furniture or appliances delivered, the delivery people will often cart away the old things for free. This is especially true for extensive equipment such as refrigerators and washing machines. Be careful to read the fine print on these agreements or phone the business ahead of time to check if specific stipulations exist. For example, they carted away the old fridge and dishwasher for free when new ones were put in, but for some strange reason, the old appliances had to be removed by the owners first.

This agreement is less typical with furniture delivery, although you may sometimes pay cash to entice those folks to take the old items.

4. Set it out on the street with a “free” sign.

This is a typical urban move: throw something out on the curb, turn around to walk back inside, and by the time you look out the window, it’s gone.

This strategy does work on occasion, but only under limited circumstances. You should only do this with goods of moderate size. Chairs, filing cabinets, little tables, and so on. Any more significant, and people driving by won’t be able to quickly stop and place it in their vehicle. You should also make sure you’re in a high-traffic location. It’s not a wise strategy if you live in a tranquil cul-de-sac.

You should just give this relocation a few days at most. Beyond that, you risk becoming a local outcast. Don’t be that person. If you’ve left anything on the curb and it hasn’t been claimed after 1-2 days, consider a different strategy.

5. List the thing on the internet, even if it’s old and disgusting.

You’d be surprised at what you can advertise on Craigslist and get it removed from your hands. When the price is “free,” you can get rid of nearly anything (the exception, perhaps, being a bag of stinky diapers). An old toilet that only partially works? We’ve advertised these in the past on Craigslist and had dozens of offers to pick up the next day.

Unfortunately, you are more likely to receive folks who will snub you and not show up or even return your emails when you offer something for free. Anecdotally, We’ve heard that it’s preferable to put a price on things, even if it’s very modest, so those answering have a bit more skin in the game. We haven’t tried it, but give it a chance if you’re having trouble at first.

This has been an excellent go-to method for getting rid of too-large items to fit in a garbage container. List the oversized item on Craigslist or a local Facebook marketplace, and you could make some money from your furniture removal and disposal efforts.