What to Do With Unwanted Furniture When Moving House

Whether you’re downsizing, moving somewhere bigger or simply wanting a change of style, sometimes our existing furniture just won’t do the job in the new place. A huge farmhouse-style wooden table isn’t going to fit into a modern one-bed studio flat, for instance, and nor is a sleek glass coffee table going to look right in a chocolate-box thatched cottage. When we think of the term ‘unwanted’ we tend to equate it with ‘unloved’ but sometimes, it’s just that it’s had its time as useful furniture, and it’s time for something new!

So, you know that you’ve got furniture you want rid of, but what do you actually do with it? It would be easy to simply consign it all to the skip, and whilst that’s certainly a viable option, it isn’t the only option. In this blog we’ll go into the various options at your disposal, for your disposal! From charity donations to the auction house, from storage units to the skip, there are lots of options when it comes to offloading your unwanted furniture. The easiest is obviously to ask the estate agent helping you move if it is possible to leave it for the new tenants or owners, but the majority of the time the agent will inform you that it needs to go.

How Do I Sell My Furniture I Don’t Want Anymore?

Naturally, one of the most appealing options when it comes to getting rid of your furniture is to sell it; after all, you might as well try and make a bit of cash whilst you’re moving home – especially given what an expensive process moving homes is. Every little helps! There are a variety of places you can sell your furniture, including:

• Ebay

• Facebook Marketplace

• Preloved

Whichever platform you choose to sell your furniture, there are a few basic principles you should follow. Firstly – and it’s painful to hear – your furniture won’t be worth as much as you think it is. Do a bit of research online and see what other similar items are fetching, and then factor in your own item’s condition. Condition is everything when it comes to shifting furniture, and any wear and tear will affect what people are willing to pay.

Secondly, factor in delivery. Are you expecting to get it delivered, or do you want people to pick up their furniture? The latter is easier, but it might narrow down your demographic as some people are unwilling to drive long distances just to pick up a second-hand wardrobe, for instance. A top tip for selling your furniture: really take your time to get some good photos of your items. The right light and angle can make the world of difference between someone clicking on your item and purchasing it, and scrolling right on by.

Charity Donations

The most altruistic of the options within this blog post is to donate your unwanted furniture to charitable organisations like the British Heart Foundation or Emmaus. If you’re going to be getting rid of your furniture anyway, then it might as well go towards something that’ll make a difference!

Many of the larger charities will even offer free furniture collection services, so you don’t even have to worry about how on earth you’re going to transport that awkwardly-shaped chest of drawers.

Hire a Storage Unit

Just because you’ve got furniture you currently view as unwanted, doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll feel the same a few years down the line. People move for all kinds of reasons, and getting rid of your furniture adds a definitive sort of permanence that, actually, many people don’t necessarily want.

People might want to ultimately get rid of their furniture when moving home – whether by selling, the skip or by charitable donation – but then again, they might not. This was clearly true from our time working with estate agents based in Leeds, we found a lot of their clients were constantly requesting what the best route to take with storage hire was. Hiring a storage unit for your (at present) unwanted furniture gives you a bit of breathing room, and time to think about what you really want to do with that dining table, bed or wardrobe. In other words, it gives you options.

The Skip/Tip

Whether you know it as the local skip, tip or anything else, this remains a viable final option for getting rid of your unwanted furniture. Many modern tips also double up as recycling centres, so just because you’re taking your furniture to the ‘tip’ doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not being put to good use.

Final Thoughts…

Moving is an immensely stressful time, whichever way you look at it. Even the most straightforward of moves are bound to add a wrinkle or two to your brow, at least temporarily. The question of what to do with unwanted furniture when you’re moving is a common one, but as we’ve outlined above, now you know that there are actually a fair few options available to you!