What To Do With Old Dorm Furniture

Every spring, the weather gets warmer, the birds build their nests, and dormitory parking lots across the country are filled with “gently worn” dorm furniture. These desks and couches huddle around dumpsters, coated in dorito dust and coffee rings. While these implements of educational assistance carried young academics through countless hours of intellectual pursuits in addition to even more hours of Netflix binging, they are often discarded as though they weren’t the only support (often literally) these students had during some of their most challenging trials.

So what should a young scholar do with an assorted collection of bean bags, office chairs, bookshelves, and desks? Spring means that school is done and the time for taxing the mind has come and gone. Which would explain some of the otherwise inexplicable crimes committed against dorm furniture.

What Not To Do:

There are 3 popular methods that are inadvisable at best and illegal at worst. Whether celebrating the end of finals week or the defeat of a hated rival, lighting couches on fire is not how anyone should treat a couch. No matter how the Predators perform, furnished infernos are not a reasonable response. Morgantown, West Virginia, has actually gone so far as to outlaw outdoor furniture because an estimated 3000 street fires have been started as a result of Mountaineers fans celebrating. It is a bad idea.

A second popular route for many male college students is to drop their furniture from a great height. The motivation behind this concept is the spirit of science; what happens when you drop a couch from 4 stories up? Despite the nobility of the drive behind this dorm decor disposal method, it is not really a great idea. It leaves a lot of trash to clean up, it is usually a lot of work getting the furniture up high enough, it is over far too quickly, and worst of all, it never looks nearly as cool as it should.

The most common dorm furniture disposal method of all is to just take it outside and leave it in the general vicinity of the dumpster. Often this is despite the “No Large Objects” signs posted nearby. This is a popular option because it is easy, convenient, and probably where the furniture came from in the first place. But it really is an inconvenience for everyone, especially the summer students who have to break it apart so that it will actually fit in a dumpster. Obviously, if the dorm furniture is now older than the academic institution itself, or possibly has already been dropped from a great height, and lit on fire by the student or previous owners, then it is time for the couch to enter into its final rest. However, if it is still in serviceable condition or was a new purchase from Target/Ikea at the beginning of the school year, there are several better alternatives.

What To DoWith Old Dorm Furniture Instead:

The ideal solution would be to sell the old dorm furniture. Craigslist is always an option, and Buy/Sell/Trade groups on Facebook have increasingly grown popular. Any cash that can be made in exchange for furniture is a positive. However, there are a few downsides to this solution. Selling dorm furniture takes time. The end of semesters and graduation season are the busiest times of the year for students and graduates and letting a bean bag sit on Craigslist for a month may not be an option. Additionally, there are some safety issues with inviting strangers over to look at your furniture. But if time is available and there is a safe place to make transactions, then this is a great solution.

Another good solution is to donate the furniture. ThriftSmart is a great place to give away old but quality furniture. This is the most convenient solution since ThriftSmart’s two stores are drop-off locations and they even have free pick up service (just fill out the form HERE). The best part is that donating to ThriftSmart is a great way to give back to the community. Not only does it provide options for other people looking to save money or who are on a tight budget (such as recent college graduates), but ThriftSmart also is proud to partner with other charities so that proceeds from ThriftSmart sales benefit people around the world.

So this spring, consider the smartest way to clean out your dorm. The ThriftSmart option saves time, and benefits others. Even though classes are over, the smart decision is still the best one!