One bed, I thought no one would buy at our garage sale I put in front with a FREE sign on it. Took two days before someone got it.
One real ugly metal desk I put out yesterday with a FREE sign on it, was taken today.
That’s one way. Easy, just stick it out on the sidewalk with a FREE sign on it. People are cheap here even though its one of the most expensive areas in Calif.
Wanna make it disappear even faster? Put it out at the curb with a sign on it that says, “For sale, $20, inquire within.”
Leave it alone, and it’ll be gone before you know it.
E-bay, baby.
Then there’s the goodwill stores
Goodwill won’t take mattresses, so that wouldn’t have solved handy’s problem.
Yeah. When my now-wife and I moved in together, she insisted that my very cool bed was god-aweful and insisted that we buy another one. Goodwill wouldn’t take it, and she couldn’t help throwing that fact in to future conversations: “That bed was so skanky, Goodwill wouldn’t take it!”
I take all the stuff I don’t want and give it to my friends as gifts. I know, that’s tacky, but we always get each other dollar store gifts and each other’s stuff for fun. And since my one friend and I are artists, sometimes we decorate the stuff until it’s downright weird-looking.
The only bad thing is that sometimes we get the stuff back for our birthdays.
NYC has a great program called Materials for the Arts, run by the Dept. of Cultural Affairs and the Dept. of Sanitation. They accept donated goods from businesses and individuals, and make them available absolutely free to qualified arts groups, schools, theater companies, etc.
Naturally they accept second-hand furniture, old computers, and appliances that could go to the Salvation Army; but they also love cast-offs like cans of paint, bolts of fabric, lumber, foam rubber, boxes of odd paper, damaged mannequins (sp?), wire, etc. – things that the SA doesn’t want, and that would end up in a landfill otherwise.
Talk about win-win arrangement!
My boss had an old race car engine behind our shop. It sat there for 6 months rusting. One day he got around to putting a chain & lock around it. In about a week the chain was cut & it was stolen.
The point: If you want to get rid of something, put it outside with a chain around it, someone will take that as a challenge & steal it.
Yep, they won’t take beds.
Getting rid of a bed would be expensive. Ever try that? But you can also drop it outside a thrift shop at night, you know, like when they are closed? 
Don’t panic, I work for thrift shops,Im aware of this.
Also did a garage sale with my neighor, we did about $1100 & I gave away anything I thought no one would buy. People actually came up to me to ask me how much a horrible ugly desk, falling apart was & I told them its free
Goodwill and Salvation Army refused to take it, even if I brought it in (which I couldn’t do), because their “fumigator machine” wouldn’t take anything that big. Like I had cooties or something!
So I put an ad in the pennysaver ad got five calls, two people came out, and then they all asked stupid questions, like:
“Why are you getting rid of it?” Because I’m leaving the state and can’t take it with me.
“What brand is it?” It’s free, jerk. And Simmons.
“What kind of Simmons?” It’s free, jerk.
“Will you deliver it?” No.
The ones who came out had hoped for an eiderdown quilted top.
So I sawed it into two pieces to fit into two dumpsters.
Hurt my eco-pride, but waht can you do? If I’d left it behind I would have lost my rent deposit.