MOVING HOUSE MIGHT mean you all of a sudden find yourself in possession of a lot of old furniture that you no longer need.
Getting rid of clutter can be a cumbersome process, and can prove time consuming and costly. If you’re struggling to get rid of your grandmother’s old Hoosier cabinet, here are a few options available to you.
The most obvious solution for most people looking to get rid of old unnecessaries from their houses is to dump them.
This can be done through facilities operated by the local council. In Dublin, there are two sites for doing this. One on Pigeon House Road in Ringsend and another in Shamrock Terrace on the North Strand.
If you want to dump old items with the local authority, the cost of doing so will depend on the size of your vehicle.
In Dublin, a saloon car will cost €15 (good luck getting a sofa into one of those); a hatchback or estate, €20; a single axle trailer costs €40 and to get rid of a van-load of stuff, it’ll cost you €70.
In Galway, the Council operate a ‘Bulky Goods Collection’ service. It charges for the collection of individual items and ranges from €9 for an armchair, up to €52.50 for a fireplace or piano.
The Council in Cork will dispose of a carload of domestic waste for €20; this goes up to €30 for a people carrier and €70 for a double axle trailer.
However, just chucking away your old furniture is a bit wasteful, and unless it really has had all its use worn out of it, you could potentially be missing out on its value.
And even if you no longer want it, it doesn’t mean someone else doesn’t.
Which brings us to…
Your old furniture could go on to become prized items in another home – and even make some money for a good cause.
Oxfam is one charity that takes donations of furniture – and operates two shops in Dublin. One on Kings Inn Street and the other on Francis Street.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Áine Killeen, deputy manager of the Kings Inn branch, explains:
We take most stuff. The furniture has to be in resalable condition and it can’t be damaged – as it goes straight out onto the shop floor. It just has to be in condition for people to bring straight home from them.
There are however a few items they are not willing to accept.
“Office furniture, for example, doesn’t sell well. People just don’t want to buy it… also, we take beds but we can’t accept mattresses. That’s for health and safety reasons,” said Killeen.
The cost of donating could work out cheaper than dumping your old furniture. Oxfam works with two local couriers in Dublin who will take a way a van load of furniture for €30.
Donations can help generate funds to contribute to the charity’s work internationally.
A few months ago a man donated a really nice antique hunting table and that went for about couple of of thousand – which really helped us with the work we carry out around the world.
In Cork, the Irish Cancer Society operate a furniture shop on Cornmarket Street that operates on donations, and will collect furniture for free if it is in good condition.
In Galway, the Simon Community Furniture Shop will also collect good-condition furniture for free.
While you may not think too much of certain pieces of furniture – they may still have value to someone else.
For the cost of €35 an item and €10 for every item after that, Busybee’s Furniture Recycling will take your furniture off your hands, refurbish it and sell it on.
Although this does not profit the person getting rid of their furniture, store manager Bernie Walsh would often encourage people to sell their pieces themselves online.
Sometimes people ring and think they are going to get paid – but we have our own costs. What we would often say to people is that they can put items onto websites like Done Deal or Adverts.ie.
Although it isn’t for everyone.
If they are patient enough selling online is good. Although some people don’t like buyers coming into their house and looking at their stuff, and then deciding maybe they don’t like it! It really depends.
For some people it may even be possible to improve the value of their furniture.
“If it is nice old furniture – you can upcycle it. You can paint it or improve it – people aren’t really into mahogany anymore – but it paints up lovely. A lot of that painted stuff really goes well now,” said Walsh.
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