Have you heard about Trosa? Most people know them as a moving company that employs people in Trosa’s long-term recovery program. As they go through the program, some work in Trosa’s residential and commercial moving company to gain job skills. They can even work towards getting a trucking license.
But did you know that Trosa also has a thrift store and will pick up donations for free from your house?
I often suggest clients call Trosa to donate gently used furniture. (Please do not call them to take trash. If you would not sit on Grandpa’s musty chair, no one else wants to either. That’s a call for Junk Doctors.)
We recently donated a really nice futon to Trosa. I know those words “really nice” and “futon” do not typically go together, but my husband bought it to use as his bed in law school. He did not cheap out because he needed good sleep in law school.
It was a really thick, queen-size mattress. It was so nice that we had used it as our family room couch. Most recently, we used it as our son’s first bed. We moved him to a big-boy bed when he was about 20 months. The futon was perfect because it was big yet low to the ground. So if he fell off, no big deal. Here it is in his room while we were in the process of removing wallpaper.
But our son just turned 8, and it was time for him to have a nice, big mattress bed. In addition, we moved to a new house, where we decided to be even more minimalist than before. So the futon had to go.
I called Trosa, and they came to pick it up. The drivers actually mentioned how nice this futon was! Here it is in the truck.
My point in writing this is to show you it’s possible to live this philosophy I am preaching:
- When you buy things, buy the highest quality. Yes, that means it will be more expensive, but it will last. This futon lasted us since 2000, when my husband bought it for law school.
- When it’s time to donate, don’t hold on to items just because you have so many memories of it. The thing is not the memory. This was my son’s first big-boy bed. I could have been really sentimental and said we had to hold on to it. Instead, I let it go. I hope someone else can enjoy it as much as we did.
- Donate items as opposed to selling them. Everyone thinks their stuff is worth so much. I am sorry to tell you that a used bed and a used couch are worthless. It’s so much easier to donate it. We may have been able to get $10 for this thing, but we would have had to sell it to someone who could come with a truck that could fit this queen-sized futon. That would make for a difficult sale. I happily took the tax receipt, and I hope someone out there can put the futon to good use.
So if you have gently used furniture to donate, consider calling Trosa!