How to Get Rid of Old Furniture

How to get rid of old furniture: sell it! We sold five pieces of furniture from our two bedroom apartment. We sold that furniture and have so far not replaced it. One of the big benefits of minimalism and having less stuff is that you don’t need as much furniture to store things.

All five pieces were part of a massive house sized bedroom set that my husband had before we were married. It was a country pine aesthetic that was not my taste. The night stands were emptied out last fall when we first got into minimalism. Since then the two chest of drawers were half full and the chest was just holding a few pieces of sports equipment. My snow shoes are now in the front hall closet and we have a laundry basket of clothing that needs a home.

Do we really need to replace this furniture?

I was all set to hunt down a night stand and dresser on Craigslist, items with a more modern look that would go with our bed. Then my husband asked me, do we really need to get a dresser? Made me think. I’m not so sure we do. Maybe we can make it work with just a night stand.

The extra space in our bedroom is heavenly. I forgot that we actually have a large master bedroom for a condo. We can fit a King size bed in it and a few pieces of furniture. Most condos max out at a Queen size bed with barely any room to walk around the bed. With all the furniture gone we’re enjoying the view of False Creek again. And if I could do I cartwheel I now have the space.

How to get rid of old furniture when your house is feeling cluttered.

Sell it. Use Craigslist or your local buy and sell or find a local buy and sell Facebook group. Always show a picture of what you are selling. It will attract more buyers and allow you to sell it quicker. If it’s in need of repair always disclose this on the listing. One reason you might be stuck on how to get rid of old furniture is that it’s in disrepair. If the furniture is vintage people will sometimes buy it to repair it themselves.

Donate it. Call up Big Brothers or another local charity that accepts furniture donations. This can be especially helpful for large furniture as some of those charities will come and pick the furniture up. Getting rid of old furniture can be a way to support organizations in your community.

Is the furniture in terrible shape? Maybe it should go to the dump. One thing people struggle with when considering how to get rid of old furniture is how to move that furniture. Old furniture is often very heavy and requires professional movers or equipment to move. If you don’t have a car large enough to transport it or the person power to move it, hire a company to do it for you.

Companies like 1800GotJunk.com will come to your house for a fee and move out furniture and other items and dispose of it. If you’re employing one of these companies it could be a great time to get rid of a lot of stuff at once. Spend a weekend sorting and identifying and then set up a company to come and remove everything. It will be worth the price!

Getting rid of old furniture will make your home feel spacious and inviting.

Why do people upsize their home? Because it feels cluttered. So often we look to create more space by moving into something bigger. But there is another cheaper and easier way. Reduce your furniture. Reduce your stuff.

If you’re swimming in storage units and storage furniture: reduce your stuff. This is the heart and bounty of decluttering. Once we no longer needed extra dressers to store all that clothing we weren’t wearing, we suddenly have more space.

Some quick steps to declutter so that you can part with old furniture:

If you haven’t worn it or used it in a year, get rid of it. Use your things or take a hard line and give them away or sell them. If you have beautiful things that you are saving for ‘someday’ – start using them today!

Only sell things that you can get more than $20 for. Here’s some hard truth: your stuff isn’t worth what you think it’s worth. If you are holding onto old furniture because you think you can sell it for a lot of money: you’re probably wrong! Take a quick look at the buy and sell. Old furniture, unless it is antique or from a sought after period, is hard to sell. Give it away or send it to the dump. You’ll feel better immediately and have more space at home.

Think of someone that really needs your stuff and give it away. Get into the spirit of charity and give your things away to those that need it. Donate baby items to a women’s shelter or furniture to a refugee support organization. Think about how the stuff that is sitting in your home and not being used, could be a huge blessing to someone in need.

Getting rid of old furniture feels awesome. Just the thought of it can weight you down and cause stress. Let it go.

More posts about how to get rid of old furniture:

How to get more space without moving. 

Downsizing from a 2500 sq ft house to 650 sq ft. 

  • Fantastic!!!! I am getting rid of my dresser too (it’s already empty – I’m just waiting for the right day to move it), and I convinced my fiance to get rid of his (which is currently sitting next to me in the living room – going to a new home later today)! Enjoy your new space!!!

    • Nice work! Going to keep my eye on Craigslist and see if anything comes up that would fit. We can fit all of my clothes in the closet but my husband’s are a squeeze.

  • My husband works for Global. I am going to email him right now to see if he can get you a copy of the segment. 🙂

  • Wow, congrats on the news segment, that should be fun! We had some furniture that looked very similar to yours. We sold it on craigslist and did end up replacing it with something more modern. That was before we were trying to reduce, purge, and declutter.

    I’ll be interested to hear what you do with that laundry basket of clothes. Maybe make some room in a closet or something? We added a closet shelving unit to one of our closets and it made much better use of the space.

    • It would be pretty tight to keep everything in the closet. I’m going to give it a go and see.
      Looks you are continuing on with de-cluttering over there. Nice work =)

  • Wow, that must feel great to have so much extra space after letting go of all those pieces of furniture! We have one of those small master bedrooms you alluded to 🙂 and we’ve made do with just one small dresser for my husband and I for the last 7+ years, and it’s just enough for us. I loved your piece on the G&M, especially how you outlined all of the great benefits you’ve reaped from living more minimalist. Good luck on tv on Sunday morning!

    • Nice work on the small dresser! I think we’ll end up with a small dresser that will double as a night stand. Still staring at our laundry basket that is holding all the homeless clothing.

  • Congrats Rachel!!! Loved the article in the Globe and so excited for your tv interview! Hopefully I’ll be able to find it on-line after the broadcast! Good luck and have fun!

  • Okay that plea for help got my bottom in gear… starting a post about meal planning tonight – no more procrastination!
    Loved Tammy’s post about the fridge – that is a serious accomplishment (if she pulls it off…) I know I couldn’t do it, milk would be the first and main problem, meat secondly – although I could go vegetarian – that wouldn’t be a issue for me. Interestingly – I will be following closet and may well try it for a week to see if it can be done – with no plans to do it full-time. Just an experiment.
    Main thing I want to comment on however is about Global News – Rachel I was so excited when I read that I nearly pee’d my pants (or pirates of Penzance as Richard Gere would say). You go girl! If you have any idea how I can access the footage please let me know (we don’t have cable – is there access via internet?) – Jo

    • Thanks, Jo. If I can find the segment online I’ll post a link.
      I’m still unsure of how Tammy will keep her cold pack frozen. Won’t she need to put it back in the freezer for a bit? Will be interesting to read about her results.

  • I have been trying to get rid of stuff, but reading your article in the Globe gave me an extra push…. not minimalist by any means, but just getting junk out of the house. posted many many items on kijiji yesterday and 2 sold already. Thanks for the extra prodding. I have to think- am I really going to take up sailing again and use that wetgear?

    • I sold my road bike when I was pregnant yet still had some of the gear for it. If I get back to road biking some day, I’ll buy things used. I’m not holding onto things for years that just collect dust!
      Good luck on de-cluttering. I loved the cash in hand we made from selling our never used things.

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