Comments on: How to Donate Old Furniture

on 7/1/2008 www.choose2care.org picks up furniture nationwide. They pick up large items most other charities will not touch.
They are great, give them a try.

on 8/8/2006 It seems that in my community many people are grabbing up all the FreeCycle items and then hauling them directly to the Idaho Youth Ranch, St. Vincent DePaul, Deseret Industries, or other thrift-store type recyclers. What happens then is that they get a receipt for their donations, which can be used at tax time to reduce their income taxes.

While at first glance this seems unfair (free cycle items are supposed to be free and passed for no monetary exchange), but it does get unwanted goods back into circulation.

on 7/14/2006 I called Goodwill to pick up a 3 piece heavy sectional couch. All was fine until I told them that it was upstairs, then it all came to a halt. They said I had to take it downstairs in order to have it picked up. They do not carry donations from the second floor and above.

on 3/2/2006 If your item is not in good enough shape for the Goodwill to resell, they may not take it. You can always try Freecycle -- someone out there wants your item!

In Freecycle, items must be given away completely free. You do not get a tax deduction. But, the person who wants it comes to you and picks it up, usually within a day or two.

Just Google "Freecycle" plus your town name or county name (suburban areas often use the county name) to find the local freecycle network. It is a Yahoo group.

Join the appropriate Yahoo group, post an e-mail with your item's description -- no photo required -- and where you are located. Usually you'll have a taker in a minute or two.

This is also an excellent way to get rid of remodeling extras like half pieces of Pergo floor left over that you'd otherwise have to take to the dump. People will also want your old windows and working computer monitors that you'd have to pay to dump.

on 3/2/2006 I work for a non-profit organization, and we get a lot of calls referred from the Salvation Army - stuff they won't take, and they think we might.
The Salvation Army is pretty picky about taking furniture. Our organization, while not quite as picky, still won't take a single couch. We place furniture by dealers who pay us for the pickup, and if there's no market value for an item, we can't take it.