What to do with old furniture?

[smartrock]

My mother-in-law passed away a few weeks ago and I spent last week trying to organize and deal with her belongings. In all our years, I guess I haven't really replaced much furniture and had to decide what to do with the old stuff. There wasn't enough stuff to have an estate sale or yard sale, and she lived in a retirement community, so yard sale was not a choice anyway. We put some items in storage, some things like small appliances and small items of furniture got donated to a local thrift store and some things went to a junk removal service that tries to find new homes for usable items. I just felt like I didn't know all the options. If you've gotten any new larger pieces of furniture, like a sofa, or bedroom dresser, large upholstered pieces, what have you done with the old furniture that no one wants?

While my mother in law seemed reasonably lucid in the months leading up to her death, some things still came as a surprise. For example, we found over 120 rolls of toilet paper, not counting the ones waiting on the back of the toilets. There were also 25-30 boxes of tissues, 3 unopened bottles of dish soap, at least 8 cases of adult diapers or other incontinence products, 4 unopened cases of bottled water. It's not like some toilet paper was in one closet, some in another so she couldn't tell how much she had, it was all together in the same closet. Same with the dozens of boxes of tissues. My husband laughingly calls it his inheritance. I guess we will definitely be saving money on paper products for a while!

It was a long few days. It really makes me want to clean out and organize things- we have too much stuff. I don't know if I'll be getting rid of furniture, but if you've found a way to dispose of old furniture that you feel good about, please let me know.

[Dividizzl]

It depends on the condition of the stuff.
You could try either selling it on Craiglist or Kijiji
If it's very old and outdated you could try just posting in the free section... SOMEONE might just take it away.
If it's in really bad shape then the dump would be your best bet.
You could also try checking in non profit organizations or homeless shelters if the stuff is in decent condition.

Honestly whenever we have had new stuff we usually get them to take away our old stuff when they drop off the new because it has been in such bad shape. Our stove we sold on Craigslist.

As for the excess amounts of stuff.... i don't know what to say about that. However my old manager told me that her stepdad purchases toilet paper whenever he leaves the house for fear of running out and as a result they have a whole room literally filled with TP. I tell her if there's ever a zombie apocolypse or shortage of TP in the world i know where to look.
We found some interesting things when we cleaned out my grandma's stuff after she died as well.

[janedoe]

First of all, I'm sorry for your loss.

When my mother in law passed, she left quite a bit of furniture, much of which had been left behind by old tenants or that she had collected thinking she would reupholster it. We sold some of it through yard sales and consignment. Some was taken by just leaving it out with a "Free" sign on it. There were a few pieces that we had to break up and put in a dumpster. You could try to put it up for free on Craigslist but that might attract unpleasant people.

Best of luck. I can say though that, in my experience, it's best to get rid of it sooner rather than later if you're paying for storage or even if it's causing an inconvenience. Unfortunately, we found that not many charities or thrift stores take furniture any more.

[dogmom]

My sympathies for your loss. I had to deal with my mother's home and all it's contents recently. She had lived in this house over fifty years and quite honestly, it was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced. We sold some furnishings, stored some, donated all the small appliances to an organization that provides assistance to victims of domestic violence. Clothing, shelter, housing, etc. Find an organization you feel strongly about and find out if they could use any of the belongings.

[SunDance]

My mom and in-laws were all living in a retirement community when they passed and we left the furniture and drapery (custom made for truly weird windows in Mom's apartment) for the community to have. I forget if they allowed residents to take what they wanted or if they actually had a sale....and don't remember what they did if the items didn't get taken/sold. You might want to ask if the community where your mother-in-law lived has such a service.

I'm sorry for your loss.

[Blackboy98]

Habit for Humanity will take most furniture and other goods if they are in useable condition. Also, Good Will.

[Jeff]

If your looking to sell it see if there is a second hand store that does consignment. We have a store here where I am at basically you take the furniture in and the put it on the showroom floor for like 20% of what they sell it. Ever couple weeks they mark it down until it sells or if it hits a certain tax deductible rice then it goes to good will. Interesting store, I go in once a month you never know what you will find.

[smartrock]

Thanks for the ideas! We had a fairly short window of time to get the apartment emptied out. They want to get the apartments cleared out and ready for new tenants and we didn't want to have to pay to keep the apartment for another month. We could rent a storage unit for a few years for less than paying for another month to keep the apartment. It's out of state from us, so it would have been more time consuming to explore all options. But, I can certainly use those ideas for anything I need to dispose of around here and for emptying the unit in the near future.

A friend of mine said her mother died over 10 years ago and she's had everything in storage- 3 large temperature and humidity controlled storage units- ever since then. I don't want that to be our situation, although it's my husband's mother's belongings, so I also have to convince him we should find a way to rehome that furniture. One of our kids lives in the city where Grandma was, so sometime when we go to visit, hopefully I can schedule someone with a truck and some strong men to come and take most of the furniture to good homes. It's old (not antique) but quite usable, we just don't need it.

[BaconsMom]

In my area we have a program called Bridging that refurbishes old furniture and gives it to families in need. I would check for a group like that in your area. I know Lupus foundation takes old furniture as well

[POPTOP]

So very sorry for your loss. My brother went through the same thing as he lived close to Mom and Dad when they passed.

There are several charities around here who take furniture and household items to help those in need. One is a shelter to battered woman and their children. When the women find a place and go to move out of the shelter, they often don't have a thing.

Maybe the retirement center could use the adult diapers and give them to other members of the community who may need them.

Don't know if you have anything around you, but a local college here takes in old TVs as class projects. Maybe there is a school, etc., who could take in the furniture as projects. This are normally given away to those in need when the class project is finished.

Guess we know what family members and friends are getting for holiday gifts, TP!