Think of how much you have invested to get that 6x6 square-meter apartment. Does an old cabinet take over 1/36 of your space, or 2.7 of your investment? However, what could be a nuisance to you is a huge relief to others. Your best option to free that space in your room is to donate furniture that you no longer need. Whether we like it or not, one or two of the furniture in our homes have already outlived its usefulness.



Auctioning that good old furniture on eBay is a wonderful idea. However, no one living 20-kilometers away would seriously pay attention to buying it when they have to pick it up from your home. They would rather buy a brand new one with free delivery services.

Who Will Benefit From Your Donation?

An old table may enable a poor family who just moved in to a new apartment face each other during meals. Between many priorities such as food, clothing and education, an ordinary wage earner could hardly decide to buy a dining table right after moving in.

Many children do not have the luxury of making their homework on a comfortable desk. They do it lying face down on their living room's floor. For a child, this is not conducive to learning the proper way to write. An old sofa could save a poor child from sleeping on a cold concrete floor. It could also afford an elderly something convenient to rest a tired back.

Whom to Call To Facilitate A Donation?

There are many organizations accepting furniture donations. In the United States, the National Furniture Bank Association networks throughout the country to collect and distribute unwanted old furniture to the needy. Another non-profit organization, Reuse Development Organization or ReDO, encourages reusing of discarded items. Orphanages and centers for homeless people would be very glad to accept your donation.

Some organizations have trucks or similar appropriate vehicle that could pick up your donation. Some have put up a collection depot to store and sort furniture donations before these are shipped out to qualified recipients. Check your local directories to find the ?Salvation Army?, ?Big Brothers, Big Sisters? and the ?Military Order of Purple Heart?. Check out also if there is a ?Goodwill Industries? building near your area.

There are websites such as Freecyle and FreeShare who are networking to accept furniture donations.

Some Ethical Considerations

Keep in mind that the organizations accepting donations are not junkyards. They do not have a hired hand to clean your donations either. As much as possible, clean and sanitize furniture donations. Apply disinfectants and thoroughly clean any furniture donation before having it picked up or delivered to a drop-off point.

It would be best to fix slight damages before handing over your donation, although recipients are expected to that. It has been said from the beginning that discarding unwanted things redeems lost space, but this should not be the entire reason. We must donate furniture not just to get rid of junks. We do it for charity.