Where to Donate Old Furniture Before You Move?

Moving is the time of revision of all the items that you own. From the smallest sentimental clutter to the largest items such as furniture and appliances, it is important to decide what to do with them. When you are preparing for a move, you are faced with an inevitable question about what to do with unwanted items and old furniture. If it is not broken, stained or torn you can donate old furniture to charity. Most of the time they will come and assess the condition of the items and arrange a free pick-up. And you will do a good deed before you move elsewhere.

Why should you donate furniture?

There are dozens of charities where you can donate furniture and almost as much good causes for which they are working. Helping homeless people, addicts, the military, and unemployed people is truly remarkable. So, as we already mentioned doing a good deed is truly the main purpose of the donation. And all you have to do is make a few phone calls. Furthermore, when you donate the furniture to a charity you can have the money deducted from your tax at the end of the year. Plus, you won`t have to pay for moving heavy items, which significantly improves your finances.

Goodwill

Goodwill Donation Center

With more than 3000 stores across the U.S., there are pretty big chances that there is a store of theirs near your home. Once you donate your old furniture to Goodwill they sell it and use the money for educating people. If you make a donation to Goodwill, you will help fund employment training and new job opportunities. Last year alone they funded trainings of over 240,000 people. They accept old furniture, but also dishes, cars, electronics, and accessories.

Habitat for Humanity

If you want to help in building new homes for people in need, Habitat for Humanity is the right organization where you should donate your old furniture. They will come and pick up the furniture for free, as well. Habitat for Humanity resells the furniture and other items such as building materials, accessories, appliances, cars, and motorcycles and builds new homes or repair the old ones. You can find them in 50 countries across the U.S, so this is a great opportunity to help build someone`s new home.

Pick up Please

This organization accepts the donation of many items, except large furniture. If you want to donate smaller pieces of furniture such as nightstands, chairs or similar, they are an excellent choice. Their mission is to help Vietnam Veterans of America. If you are not sure whether they can accept your furniture always call beforehand to confirm. If everything is alright, within 24 hours someone will come to pick up all the items that you have prepared. They will leave you a receipt for a tax deduction as well.

Furniture Banks

Furniture Banks is the association that helps people in need have proper furniture. Immigrants, unemployed people, people that work but are poor, or the homeless are all groups that this association is helping every day. They offer free pick-up as well. If you have furniture that is in good condition but will not fit into the interior of your new house, donate it to Furniture Banks. It will go directly into the hands of people in need. Helping others by donating is the most beautiful thing that you can do before the move. It will help ease the moving stress because you will know that you made someone happy.

The Arc

The Arc is continuously helping people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. With a free pick-up option, they will sell your old furniture in their stores and use the money to help people in need. They also accept donations in clothing, shoes, electronics, kitchen appliances, books, and other things. If you choose to make a donation to any of these nonprofit organizations, make a phone call and ask what do they accept. You can even choose to donate different items to different organizations to support various causes.

Homeless shelters

Homeless Shelter

Are there any of the homeless shelters near your home? Donating to homeless shelters is very noble and let us say necessary. Go online and check whether there is a shelter near you and see if they will accept your items. They usually sell the items that are donated in order to provide for food, shelter, shower and other things for the homeless.

Download the Nextdoor app

If you haven`t already, download this app and get in touch with your neighbors. Maybe some of your neighbors are in need and would like a new piece of furniture. You will be able to easily arrange for this donation as the app will connect you to people living in your immediate vicinity.

Theater organizations

Theatres often need different pieces of furniture in order to create the sets for their plays. And, since the money can be an issue more often than not, your donation would mean a lot to them. You can google amateur theatres in your area, and contact them. They would appreciate any piece of furniture. While they may not offer free-pickup for the items, you will know that you have helped culture grow even a little bit.

If the organizations do not accept the furniture that you have

 

Usually, non-functional pieces of furniture will not be accepted, or items with stains and odors. However, even if you cannot donate, there is no reason why you should not do a good deed. This is the situation in which you can go green, and support the planet. Take your furniture to the nearest recycling center and they will know how to deal with it.

Leaving furniture outside your home, or in some dumpster is not a viable solution. When there is a possibility to help someone or do the right thing, you should always opt for it. Whatever organization or charity that you choose, you will know that you helped someone in need.

2020 Best Apps For Selling Your Stuff Online

You have finally made the decision to downsize and move to a smaller house. You have created a home inventory and now you are surrounded by numerous things that you don’t need anymore, items that will not fit in your new home and duplicated items. A garage sale is a great option but you will not be able to sell or donate everything you want during one garage sale. Selling and donating your stuff online is one of the most convenient modern world advantages when you are moving to a smaller home. It will help you get rid of all the unwanted stuff and it is also a great way to make some extra cash during the moving process. There are numerous online apps for selling items online and we have created the list of 10 most popular ones to help you choose the one that works for you. All of them have their own features, and you will find one more suitable for your needs than others. We advise you to list your belongings before contacting a professional moving company. Remove the items that you don’t want to bring with you from the inventory list to make sure that your movers have the accurate information for all of their services, especially if your plan is to get professional packing services.

We have also included 2 apps that will help you organize and notify your neighbors about your garage sale.

garage sale

These are the apps that will make your downsizing process easier:

1. Letgo

LetGo is one of the most popular Craigslist alternatives. It is extremely user friendly and easy to use, you simply snap the picture of the item you want to sell and it will be listed very quickly. If you are a seller, you need to use the app to sell your stuff while the buyers can view your listing on the desktop website.

2. Decluttr

Decluttr is one of the fastest online selling apps, your items like DVDs, CDs, cell phones, tablets, textbooks or similar can be sold in a few minutes and you will receive your payment the next day. Your items have to pass the quality control and after they are accepted you only need to scan the bar-code and you can begin the listing process.

3. OfferUp

OfferUp can be described as a local version of eBay. It has a lot of important features that other apps don’t, like leaving feedback. There is also an in-app chat feature that you can use to ask questions about the item you want to buy. This app is free, and listings can be searched by category, proximity or by entering the zip code or the city.

4. Carousell

Carousell gives you the opportunity to sell anything from clothing items to cars in one place. It is a widely used app that will offer you an opportunity to share your listings on social media for a better online presence. Carousell is free to use, and it takes only 30 seconds to list a product.

5. 5Miles

Apart from your items and unwanted things on 5Miles you can also sell services. This app allows their users to filter their listings to within 5 miles of their current location, you can also list your garage sale on this app.

6. Bookoo

Bookoo app is part classified, and part social media platform. You need to make a profile whether you are a seller or a buyer and you need to friend other users. Your profile will show all of your listings, all sales that go through Bookoo are local so you don’t have to worry about shipping anything. If Bookoo is not active in your city yet you can request it.

online sale

7. VarageSale

VarageSale is similar to Bookoo. You also need to make a profile and build trust connections with other users. This app has selling communities all across the globe, you can use it to sell your items or to trade them for free.

8. Poshmark

Poshmark is mostly used to sell clothing items. The listing is free and listings are known as closets, shoppers can browse your entire closet. You can sell your clothes all around the world and this app sends you a free pre-paid shipping label when you make a sale.

9. Shpock

Shpock is short for “Shop in your Pocket.” This app is similar to Pinterest, only visually, it showcases your listings with large pictures. The picture will be the first thing that your buyers see and after they click on it they can read the further specifications of a product. This app is simple and free, suitable for both Android and ios.

10. Craigslist

The Craigslist app is very similar to the Craigslist website. It is widely used, and it has a large audience, which means that you have a higher chance to make a sale. It is not the most user-friendly app but it has a great network of potential buyers.

yard sale

If you have listed all of the items that are worth selling online, you can start planning a garage sale. You need to organize your items and let your neighbors know about your sale, there are several online apps that can help you in this process.

1. YardSailr

YardSailr is free to use, you can list your items and sell them through this app too, and you can share all your listing on social media. By doing so you will let your friends know about your garage sale and they will be able to see what you have to offer and decide will they come to visit or not. Your listing will also appear on an in-app map, and that will help potential buyers plan the route.

2. Yardsales.com

Yardsales.com is one of the most thorough garage sale apps. There is an in-app pricing tool that will help you determine the price of your items. You can also hire helpers through this app and there are a lot of options for advertising your sale.

small apartment interior

Downsizing a home also means that you have to downsize your stuff. Decluttering can be a long and exhausting process and there is no need for you to do it all by yourself. Make a home inventory and start listing. Throughout the moving process, you will find numerous things that you don’t use anymore but you have created an emotional connection with, it will be hard to give some of those items away, but just remember, somebody relly needs those items and they will be sent to a good home. Embrace the minimalist lifestyle and enjoy your new home.

Pros and Cons of Downsizing to a Smaller Apartment

Downsizing to a smaller apartment is not a simple task when you decide to buy a smaller home than the one you already have you will need to make a lot of adjustments. If you own a lot of stuff you will need to organize them and decide what will you take with you and what will you give away, the organization is the key to a successful downsizing process. The downsizing practice started because of the “The Less Is More” concept, and most of the people that decide to downsize are doing so for money related reasons, but of course, the reason can vary. If you decide to downsize you will experience numerous advantages, but you need to be prepared for disadvantages too.

While most of the people are trying to reach the goal of upsizing, downsizing keeps offering so many different options.

small apartment

When should you downsize:

The perfect time to downsize can be at any time, and it depends on your current situation. Maybe your current home is too big and related costs are hard to deal with, maybe your kids have moved out and you have too much space and the house feels empty or maybe you simply have the need to change your lifestyle and you want to save more money for traveling or other costs that are not related to housekeeping.

Whenever you decide to take this step you should do a lot of research first, you need to be sure that you will be happy in your new place, and you need to lookup downsizing tips and tricks. Our advice is to be realistic about how many personal belongings you own, and start thinking about what will you keep. Most of the people get shocked by the amount of stuff they own when the moving process starts, so you need to make an inventory list before you contact your movers, because you won’t be moving everything. Selling, donating or throwing away the things you don’t need will be the most important step in the process of downsizing. Selling your belongings is even more important if you are moving because of your financial circumstances.

Downsizing Pros:

money

1. Increased Money Flow:

Spending less on a mortgage payment and other housekeeping costs means that you will have more money to allocate to your other needs. You will finally be able to spend money on things you want and desire rather than on the things you need.

2. More Free Time:

A smaller home means fewer rooms, fewer rooms means less time will be spent on cleaning. Downsizing can extremely reduce the time that you send on household tasks which will leave you with more free time to do something you actually enjoy, you may even pick up a new hobby. This is one of the main reasons for downsizing among younger generations.

3. Traveling Lifestyle Opportunites:

Traveling often can be a big burden if you own a big home, not only because of the amount of money and time it requires but also because of the security. If you decide to downsize from a standalone house to an apartment or a condo not only that you will be able to travel more it will also be less stressful.

4. Less Consumption:

A smaller home means that you will have less storage space so it is highly likely that you will go shopping less often. You will acquire fewer consumer goods, and you will spend less time and money on shopping.

5. Lower Utility Bills:

Your utility bills will be smaller, it costs less to heat or cool a smaller home without wasted spaces. Typically there is no wasted space, such as vaulted ceilings, in a smaller home.

6. Saving Energy:

Less square footage decreases the amount of energy expended. A smaller home will reduce your family’s carbon footprint meaning that smaller homes are more energy-efficient.

7. Family Bonding:

Smaller houses will create a special environment where you will need to make more compromises and work with your family as a team. Opposed to spread out floor plans small homes will create a cozy, warm atmosphere.

Downsizing Cons:

messy room

1. Space Restrictions:

Sometimes it will be hard to find your own peace in smaller homes. You will probably miss having lots of space to escape and your new home may look too crowded at first until you get used to it and find ways to organize your belongings.

2. Guest Space:

If you have a lot of out of town friends they will need to forget haveing their own room when they come to visit, they may even have to stay at a hotel. Also, hosting big family or holiday dinner parties will be tricky.

3. Change of Lifestyle:

Some people will need more time to get used to a new lifestyle. Adapting to changes can vary from person to person but you will definitely need to forget some old habits and make new ones.

4. Fewer Belongings:

Moving to a smaller home would probably result in selling, giving away, or throwing out multiple personal items. If you are one of those people who form an emotional attachment to your belongings this may be quite a challenge.

interior

There are numerous things that you will need to do before moving to a smaller place. You should always start with making a home inventory, this is the first step that will help you decide what to bring with you and what to leave behind. You will definitively keep your valuables and our professional movers can help you with art handling during the move. Sort out all your items, find and sell or donate duplicates.  Make a garage sale or sell your items online, there are numerous apps that can help you with this step. You can also use “Free Books” tactics and put all the things that aren’t worth selling in one box label as “FREE”. You will need to organize your closets and storage spaces carefully.

One of the most important steps will be measuring your new space and your furniture. You need to be extremely precise while doing so. You don’t want to move your heavy furniture across town or state only to find out that it can not fit properly.

Downsizing will save you a lot of things, including time and money, it will teach you how to organize your belongings, it will help you have more control over your possessions and it will make you a more efficient person.

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