So when I first moved into this apartment many years ago, my uncle and aunt gave me a twin sized futon bed that could fold in on itself like an inchworm to become a large chair. I used it as a bed until I got a real mattress.
Now I haven’t used it for anything for a good many years except as a place to put stuff when I was lazy, and I’m trying to figure out what to do with it. It’s in too good shape to toss. No charities will accept it due to bedbug worries (which I didn’t even think of before I went to the bother of getting it out of my apartment and urgently calling my uncle for help, more fool me). It’s too big for me to put into my car (thus my needing help from my uncle). It’s also too cumbersome for me to move by myself without requiring a huge amount of effort on my part (again, thus me calling my uncle, although I did so when I already did most of the work and found it wouldn’t fit in my car).
Thus, my options are more limited. My friends don’t seem to need it, nor do my uncle and aunt from whom I got it.
Make it cheap enough (or free) and somebody from Craigslist will come pick it up. Post it tonight, and I guarantee you it’ll be gone by tomorrow afternoon.
It will be gone within hours. Since you probably don’t want strangers at your door, put the thing outside the door. Once you do that, you lose control; hence the FREE!.
Tempting, but my uncle thinks it’s worth much more than free. Though it’ll probably be my fallback should I not find a way to actually get money for it. It’s not like I wasn’t preparing to donate it anyway.
Have you explained to your uncle that you can’t even give it away to charities for free, because of the potential for bedbugs? Or politely offer it back to him to sell, and say he can keep the profits as long as he transports it.
Then sell it to him for half that, let him take it away and … profit.
Folks that don’t have any downside always think other people’s leftover crap is worth lots more than it is. Get him to put some of his skin in the game and he’ll be far more realistic.
You mentioned apartment…how many apartments are in this building/complex?
Enough to market this furniture?
Because if you could sell it or give to someone in the building…
If you don’t want to carry it somewhere…disassemble it and discard 1 piece at a time. Tell your uncle you sold it and got big dollars because it was collectable… and he had his chance to get rich but he procrastinated…you snooze… you lose, pal… sorry about your luck.
Market it as a pet bed.
Discard the frame and keep the soft stuff for…camping. The cushions will store under your real bed and you won’t even know it’s there.
It’s a complex, not just one building, so there are quite a few people. One possibility is that the website for the management company (through which people can pay rent and request maintenance, so it’s generally useful) has a classified section. It’s empty, so it may not be read, but I may put this thing in as the first, just to see if anyone will see it. Might be better than a sign anyway.
The only question to answer for myself before I do is, do I offer it for free, or for what amount?
Yes, I know. I have no idea how many people use the site; it may be many, but I don’t know how many read THAT section.
But it wouldn’t take me more than a few seconds to post to, as long as I knew what my initial price point should be, so it seemed like a thing to try that wouldn’t take any effort, and at least I’d know that the only people to see it would be residents of this place.
Unlikely that you’re going to get anything out of an old futon. They aren’t exactly big ticket items to begin with. Assuming you’re not destitute, it’s not even worth the effort to try to sell. Personally, I would immediately take it down to your apartment’s dumpster and throw it in. You’re done.
Otherwise you’re going to try to sell it, which has a pretty slim chance of success. After that you’re going to try to give it away for free, but since you’re hesitant about the Craigslist option that’s not going to work either. So, you’re going to have the thing sitting in your home the whole time this is going on. You could take it down to the curb and put a “Free” sign on it, but at that point you’re basically just putting your garbage on the street (and that makes you kind of a lousy person), so go ahead and throw it out. Someone will fish it out of there if they really want it, which they won’t, and don’t, because it’s a skeevy used futon.
A while ago I had an old futon from IKEA. The “mattress” went to one of the dogs. She is still using it. The “frame” I took apart. The wooden slats were used in a project, the metal went for scrap.