I'm moving across half of the country to take a new job and I have a storage unit full of household and miscellaneous stuff. Was planning to move everything to the new place but the moving companies' estimates are way higher than what the stuffs are worth for. So am now thinking maybe just move some key pieces of furniture and get rid of everything else (kitchen stuff, plates, etc.). Don't have time for yard sale (no yard anyway). What's the best way to dispose of the unwanted household and miscellaneous stuff? Thanks!
4 Answers
Check your local charities that deal with reselling household stuff. At last where we live, some also offer dissolution of households as complete services (e.g. in case of deaths). They will either resell, refurbish and then sell, or dispose of everything left behind.
An organization near you may be interested to take over your stash „as is“. Even if they don’t do that as a standard procedure, a church could for example ask their youth group to volunteer with the transportation and then deal with the items like they would with regular donations. While you wouldn’t gain anything, you‘d save time, effort and - if applicable in your locale - garbage fees. Throw in a donation, if you like, especially if the expected resale value is low.
If you can manage it, you could also deliver your donations yourself.
It may not be the best ethical answer, but whatever you leave behind in a storage unit may become the property of the managers/owners of the unit. Our local storage units advertise frequently of auctions of unpaid rentals' contents. Check your rental agreement to ensure that you would not be charged a cleaning fee if you abandon your property.
This will depend on where you live & what your local authority has in the way of disposal/recycling facilities. Where I am in London, all of this can be taken to the local authority's recycling centre [& in fact would be an offence to leave it for someone else to have to deal with.] They will even pick up items too large to be easily transported.
Again, depending on where you live, anything you leave in the storage after cancellation of the contract & final clearance could a) be sold to the highest bidder, or b) be the result of a summons to court for abandonment & restitution.
Place an ad online. Craigslist or Facebook LOCAL buy sell and trade groups. If you don’t have Facebook I would say creating an account for this purpose would be worth it if you don’t have friends/family to post for you. Make sure to put “must take all”. You could say free or ask for an amount of money. I would place an ad saying “all storage contents $50 must take all TODAY “ or something similar. I do odd jobs and have helped many people move cross country and they mentioned high moving rates and besides me taking stuff for them the ads have worked best. Within a day everyone I have helped has resolved the too much stuff situation by utilizing social media or Craigslist. Don’t let anyone pick and choose, stick to must take all and just be careful about meeting people, do the buddy system and only take cash if selling.
