Junk it. It sounds awful!

OP here - UPDATE: Thanks everyone for the suggestions, however the 1800-got junk was soooo expensive! They asked $250.00 to come pick up our sofa and get rid of it - I didn't hire them because the new sofa is from Ikea (Ektorp) and because of that I thought spending over half of the price of the new sofa to get rid of the old one was "a bit too much."

The private trash company that serves our condo does not provide this kind of service and the condo association suggested another company - they asked $150.00. There were not takers on cragslist, so I asked the guys who delivered the new sofa if they could take the old one away, and the guy immediately said "yes, sure!" I asked how much he charged and he said "what about $40.00?" I thought he was so cool that I ended up giving $60.00 - I am so relieved!

Thanks again!

call:


prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington by:
Phone: (202) 234-1010-
they picked up my dinning room set and we got a tax write off.

Put in on the curb and then post a curb alert on craigslist, preferably with a photo. Either somebody will drive by and take it or somebody will see it on CL and come by to get it. You'd be shocked what people will take, really. I'm sure your common sense would tell you this but just in case-- be sure you don't put it out on the curb on a day when rain is expected. You definitely don't want to get stuck with an old, wet couch.

Where did you purchase the new one from? Just yesterday I purchased a new fridge from Sears. I initially had asked them to move the current kitchen one to the garage to make room for the new one. Then I remembered we needed our old garage freezer hauled away. I went back in, and asked the salesman, he made a quick call to the delivery company, telling them to move one, and haul another (in addition to installing the new one). No charge. It is worth a try, but might be different with furniture than appliances. I will say, I would not bother trying to donate it, a few years back I donated a couch that was in very good condition, and seriously had to call 5-6 places to find one that would take it. They are very specific about it having little damage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But on trash day, i watched the trash guys on their regular weekly route pick it up, put it in the back of the truck, push a button, and something came down that cut the sofa in half and it fell into the back of the truck. It was impressive.

No WAY! I demand that OP do this and post video!

That is what they did with our couch too. We were a bit surprised as often with bulk pick up/free they have a separate truck. We tried free cycle and bulk pick up and no takers. A few emails with promises but after so long we just gave up.

Anonymous wrote:But on trash day, i watched the trash guys on their regular weekly route pick it up, put it in the back of the truck, push a button, and something came down that cut the sofa in half and it fell into the back of the truck. It was impressive.

No WAY! I demand that OP do this and post video!

I second putting it on the curb. I have done this with many pieces of furniture. Sometimes i put a curb alert post on Craigslist, sometimes i dont. Every time I have done this other than once, the item was taken within 12 hours. Someone once rolled a used refrigerator away before I even had time to go inside and write a "free" sign.

That said, it turns out that Arlington County trash will take a sofa! I was amazed. I had this sleeper sofa on my curb that I thought I was going to have to pay someone to take to the dump--I posted it on CL, Freecycle, and no dice. But on trash day, i watched the trash guys on their regular weekly route pick it up, put it in the back of the truck, push a button, and something came down that cut the sofa in half and it fell into the back of the truck. It was impressive.

Put it on craigslist. I'm sure someone will be happy to come pick it up. I've done it with furniture damaged by animals.

Anonymous wrote:You live in a condo? Call the office, all condos I've lived in have protocol for getting rid of furniture.

Which office? The home owners association?

You live in a condo? Call the office, all condos I've lived in have protocol for getting rid of furniture.

Where do you live?

I put anything I don't want anymore out on the street with a FREE sign on it. It's usually gone within a day.

We did not have luck with CL. Free really diminishes people's investment in coming to pick up the item. I wasted a lot of time trying to get rid of it, until I just put it on our curb and someone drove off with it in a few hours.

if you take pictures and offer it up for free on craigslist, you may get some interest.

or else you could try "bribing" the movers of the new couch to take the old one for you. offer them a nice tip?

p.s. when I got out of college I remember taking a couch from a parent's friend and she sounded just like you "I feel so bad giving this to you with it all ripped up by the cats" but to me it was in pretty good condition and we kept for probably 10 years. FF and now I'm the person who's not sure anyone wants my beat up kitchen table and couch....