It happens all the time. People move, sometimes by choice, sometimes not, and cannot take all their furniture with them. Moving is often a time of stress and time crunches, and good enough furniture ends up left out on the curb or near garbage bins, probably with the hope that someone who needs it will pick it up and give it a good home. In some neighborhoods, such as student neighborhoods or other poorer neighborhoods, that hope is often realized. But in other neighborhoods, furniture that could be put to good use sits outside in the elements, soaks up rain, sleet, or snow, gets bleached and blistered by the sun, and eventually ends up rotting in a landfill or vacant lot. There are better alternatives.
It takes only a little planning to place furniture that cannot be taken into a new home. Many organizations exist to help with the process. Utilizing these organizations requires minimal time and planning, usually only the time it takes to post a free on-line ad and receive responses, or make a phone call and arrange a pick-up date. A list of several follows:
- Craig's List
- The Freecycle Network
- FreeSharing
- Goodwill Industries
- National Furniture Bank Association
- The Salvation Army
- Society of St. Vincent de Paul
- Volunteers of America
Local churches, mosques, synagogues, and cultural centers often accept donations and provide assistance to people in need, as well. These can be located via web searches, yellow page searches, or local centralized resource referral organizations.
Benefits to givers using charitable organizations to rehouse good enough used furniture include free pick-up of furniture donations, tax deduction receipts, and the personal satisfaction of having helped someone else. Benefits of using on-line networks include recipient pick-up and possible financial exchange. Benefits to recipients of good enough used furniture include coming into possession of much needed furniture without significant cash outlay, improved quality of life, and decreased financial stress. Benefits to the environment include reduced landfill strain, reduced overuse of natural resources, and reduced release of manufacturing toxins into the natural environment.
A word of caution, however, for using on-line networks for the rehousing of good enough used furniture: while by far most transactions using these networks have taken place safely and without major problems, a few criminals have used these networks as springboards for crime. There is no real way to tell whether or not the person responding to one's ad is legitimate and above-board.
Celia Javadi - I have most people's good at heart. I believe that if a person can improve one other person's life, a person can improve the world.
Join the Conversation