Too much of the usable stuff I no longer want either seems to sit around for years or end up in the garbage.
Craigslist, eBay, Freecycle, and various thrift shops will enable you to rid yourself of your unwanted but still usable items.
Thrift store. Or if it’s old electronics, look for an e-waste donation site nearby.
Usable unwanted stuff goes off to Goodwill.
In my area, we have charities that actually come pick up our usable stuff at the curb on certain days.
Gets repurposed. A desk that still is usable goes on the patio. Replacing the kitchen shelf means it gets put into the bedroom. An office chair had the back removed and is now an ottoman/stool.
Once its broken, i usually save nuts, bolts, and washers and put the rest on the curb. I have tons of Alan wrenches from cheap furniture, so i got a set and throw the extras out.
I’ve put some things out by the street with a sign that says “FREE” - it’s usually gone in short order. Other than that, online ads if it’s worth enough, or freecycle/goodwill if I don’t want to be bothered with selling.
Salvation Army. They do a lot of good in the world.
Best Buy will take a lot of electronics, including old TVs and CRT monitors that you otherwise might have to pay a fee for disposal.
This. I recently got a new fridge. The old one was in perfect working order (cosmetically seen better days). I could have taken it to the dump and paid to dispose of it, or held onto it until the bulk pickup day for my borough (would have had to call to find out when that is), or taken it to the scrap yard and gotten maybe $10-$15 for it. It was just easier to put it on the curb with a “free” sign. Gone within the hour.
I don’t usually worry about whether or not something is usable or not. If I no longer have a use for it, I get it out of my life (I’ve often said I’m the opposite of a pack rat). But I try to donate items that do have some use rather than just throw them away. Clothes and shoes are easy because those drop bins are everywhere (at least where I live). Honestly, if donating is too much trouble, I just throw it away.
In general, we’ll take stuff down to Goodwill, which is just down the street. But we have lots of donation trucks come through the neighborhood. If the donation truck calls and we’re not in full-on clean up mode but have stuff set by to give away, we’ll set it out for them.
I have a local recycling center, Goodwill, thrift shops, the library (for old books) and various other institutions nearby who are happy to take the usable stuff I don’t want anymore.
In my area, the local animal no-kill shelter has bazaars and yard sales to raise $. I always donate to them if I don’t know anyone who wants what I have. I’ve noticed every other month or so I totally clean out closets, etc, getting rid of everything I was saving for who knows what- and without fail, as soon as items are beyond the point of return, I remember why I wanted it.
I’m in the process of cleaning out my late in-law’s house. My stepmother is helping me. We have a system of boxes: keep, donate or trash. She drops the donate boxes off at the Salvation Army on her way home. There’s a lot of trash, a lot of donate, and not so much of the keep, so far.
Everything we don’t want to keep and isn’t trash will get donated one way or another. If we end up calling 1-800-GOT JUNK, they donate anything usable that they take away.
Depending on where you live you could have gotten some money ($25-$50) from your electric company, which would send somebody to come pick it up. It’s part of their program to encourage energy efficiency (something they wouldn’t want to do–but the state forces them).
Every other month or so some charity truck comes through. We save up the stuff, label it, and put it out the night before. They come get it off the porch and leave a card where we can fill in the value of what we donated.
Some of the shopping centers have boxes set up - kind of like a mailbox only bigger - where you can drop off shoes, clothes, or books.