Having a nice couch that you can put in your living room is important. You need a comfortable place to sit when you just want to relax at the end of a long workday.
Often, people wind up with old furniture that they don’t know what to do with. If you’ve upgraded and bought a new couch recently, you might have an old couch that you’re stuck with.
When you don’t have any use for an old couch, it can be frustrating not to know what to do with it. Are there any good options that you should consider?
Read on to learn what you can do with an old couch. There are many things that you can do with old couches and you’ll have a good understanding of which option will be best for you once you’ve read everything.
1 – Find a Use for the Couch
Finding a use for the couch might be the first thought that you have. Many people own or rent homes that have many rooms where you’d want to place couches.
Your old couch might be able to be placed directly in a spare bedroom or den area. If you’d like to have another sitting area in your home, it’ll be handy to have another couch.
Some people like to make sitting areas in their finished basements. Perhaps a couch would look good down there and you could start using the area for more than just storage and laundry.
Of course, this all depends on how much room you have in your home. If you don’t have another place in your home where you can put a couch, it isn’t going to make sense to hang onto furniture that you don’t need.
Just make sure that you don’t get rid of a couch when you could still use it in your home. If you’d benefit from using the couch elsewhere, simply find a new spot for it.
2 – Clean the Couch up
The couch might not be in great shape, but this doesn’t mean that it’s junk. You can look into ways to make the old couch look better.
Cleaning the couch might make it more practical to use it in your home somehow. You’ll be more interested in finding a new spot for the couch if you can clean it up some.
Try using a steam cleaner on the couch to get it looking nice again. This will work well for couches that are covered with fabric, but it won’t be possible for leather couches.
You can get rid of many types of stains by using a steam cleaner. It’s also possible to buy couch covers that will help to cover up certain imperfections.
Going to the effort of cleaning the couch will make it easier to use it in a spare room. If the couch is in very bad shape, you could look into having it reupholstered as well.
This will cost money, but it’s up to you to decide if the investment is worthwhile or not. For some, it will be well worth the time and money.
3 – Sell the Old Couch
Before going any further, you might wish to consider selling the old couch. You could make a little bit of money and get rid of the couch without having to move it yourself.
It’s common for people to sell furniture online these days. Many online marketplaces allow you to list furniture items.
You can sell the couch online by posting it on a local hub. Interested parties can send you a message and you can come to an agreement.
Generally, the buyer will come to pick the couch up from your property. This makes it very simple since you don’t have to carry the couch out of the house yourself.
So long as you list the couch at a reasonable price, it’s likely that you’ll sell it. Of course, you probably shouldn’t try to sell an old couch if it isn’t in decent shape.
4 – Donate the Couch
What if you don’t want to go through the hassle of selling the couch? You can always look into donating the couch to a local charity store.
Many charity stores allow you to donate items. You might have businesses such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army in your area.
It’s common for local charity stores to take donations as well. You donate items and then these stores sell the items to people at rather low prices.
This is a good way for people to get furniture without having to spend a lot of cash. If you’re a religious individual, there might even be donation options that are affiliated with local churches, synagogues, or mosques.
You might be able to have the charity store come to your home to pick up the old couch, too. Some stores will pick up large items while others will require you to deliver everything to the store.
To learn more, contact the local charity store that you’ve chosen to donate to. This will ensure that you understand what you need to do.
5 – Give It to a Friend or Family Member
Do you have any friends or family members that might need a couch? It’s possible to give couches away to people that you know without donating them to thrift stores or charity organizations.
Perhaps you have a young family member who is just starting college. They might be able to utilize an old couch in a dorm room.
You could give the couch to a family member who simply can’t afford a couch right now. Perhaps a friend needs to upgrade their current couch and your old couch will be a good choice for them.
If you know anyone who could use your old couch, it makes sense to offer it to them. When you’re not worried about monetary compensation, it’s usually pretty easy to get rid of an old couch.
Have someone come to your home and pick up the couch. They can haul it off and use it as they see fit.
You’ll feel good knowing that your old couch is going to a good home. Also, it’s nice to help people that you know.
6 – Throw the Couch Away
What if the couch is in really bad shape? Perhaps your couch has been clawed by cats and it looks as though it has seen better days.
Don’t try to sell or give away a couch that you wouldn’t want to use any longer. No one will likely want the couch if it’s not in good condition.
Instead, you can throw the couch away. You’ll need to ensure that the waste disposal company in your area will take the couch before you drag it to the curb, though.
Some areas have government waste disposal options while others are handled by private companies. You’ll need to look up the rules about what the waste disposal workers will take on the garbage truck.
If your waste disposal company won’t take furniture items, you can haul the couch to the dump yourself. There should be a local dump where you can drop the couch off.
While you’re at it, you might wish to throw out other items that you don’t need any longer. This might seem inconvenient to have to haul an old couch to the dump, but it will ensure that you’ll have it out of your way soon enough.
7 – Recycle the Couch
Perhaps the idea of throwing the couch away or taking it to a dump leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Have you considered recycling the couch instead?
Couches have many parts that contain recyclable materials. A couch can be broken down into base materials and you can recycle the various parts of the couch.
There are a few ways to go about doing this. You could break the couch down yourself and then recycle all of the materials individually.
Another option is to look for local businesses that offer couch recycling services. Some companies in the area might offer such services, but not every area will have such a company.
Regardless, it’s worth looking into the recycling options. If you’re someone who cares about making environmentally conscious choices, it makes sense to recycle the couch.
What to Do with Old Couch Cushions
What should you do with old couch cushions that you don’t need anymore? Perhaps you bought new cushions and now you’re stuck with a bunch of old cushions.
There are many things you can do with couch cushions that you don’t need. Many people choose to donate them to thrift stores so that others who might need them can get them at low prices.
It’s also possible to find practical uses for old couch cushions at home. For example, a couch cushion can easily be used to make a pet bed.
If you need a new pet bed for your dogs or cats, using couch cushions will be just fine. Surely your pets will find the couch cushions to be comfortable and they should be the right size for many types of cats and dogs.
Some even keep couch cushions around so they can use them as packing materials. When you’re moving, it’s important to be able to pack items safely.
Couch cushions can protect certain types of fragile items to ensure that they won’t get jostled too much while in transit. You can use old pillows in the same way.
If you’re someone who likes to spend time gardening, it’d be useful to have a comfy gardening cushion. You could sit on the couch cushion while you’re pulling weeds or pruning your plants.
Did you know that couch cushions can be used to seal up drafty doors? You can block the drafty door using couch cushions so that air doesn’t escape your home.
You could also utilize them as simple seats for your kids. Many kids like to sit on the floor while playing video games.
They could sit on the couch cushions instead of the floor itself. As you can tell, there are a number of uses you might find for old couch cushions.
How Long Will a Couch Last?
Are you curious whether your old couch is still good? How long are couches supposed to last, anyway?
It really depends on the type of couch that you have and how well it has been taken care of. A couch has the potential to be used for decades before breaking down.
Even so, the average amount of time a couch will be used before breaking down is between seven and fifteen years. This is quite a range of time.
If you do a good job taking care of your new couch, it’ll last for a long time. Those who are careless might have a worse experience.
It’s likely that you’ll want to replace your couch after you’ve used it for a long time. You could also repair the couch so you can keep on using it, but that will cost money.
Final Thoughts
After learning about what you can do with an old couch, you’ll have a lot to consider. It might even be best to keep using the old couch in your home.
Even if you have a new couch, the old couch might come in handy. It could provide extra seating or you could place it in another room.
If you don’t need it for your home, it’ll be wise to see if any of your friends or family members need a couch. They might be willing to take it off of your hands.
You could donate the couch to a local charity organization if you’d like to. Some companies will even come out to your home and pick the couch up.
Selling the couch is a good way to make a few extra bucks. Only do this if the couch is still in decent shape.
Recycling the couch is something you can look into and so is throwing the couch away. You can get the couch out of your home if you truly don’t want to keep it around.
I have two Associate’s degrees, one in Medical Assisting and the other in Computer Technician, and I am roughly five classes from a bachelor’s degree. Though I never ended up working in the medical field, I have five and a half years of experience in IT. I recently became a stay-at-home mom to my two young boys, and I’m so excited to start this adventure with them! In my spare time, I love to bake and read pretty much anything I can get my hands on.