Donate it, sell it, wait for the city, drive it to Creedmoor yourself, or have it hauled — five free-ish routes and one paid one, and the right answer depends entirely on whether the piece is still good, whether you can lift it, and whether an HOA is watching your curb. Here's the practical Austin version, with real numbers on both sides: a sofa hauled is $126 flat, a full garage clear starts at $241.
Snap a photo — flat quote back in seconds, we donate what's usable
Upload a Photo & Get Quote →If the piece is clean and functional, donation is the best outcome — it stays out of the landfill and helps someone. In Austin, Goodwill Central Texas, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, the ARC partners, and local charities take furniture in good condition, and some offer pickup for larger items (call ahead — pickup slots fill up). Around the UT summer move-out, the city's MoveOutATX program runs donation stations near West Campus to divert usable goods. The catch: donation centers are selective (no rips, stains, pet damage, or broken frames), and hauling a heavy piece there yourself is its own project. When we do a pickup, we route the usable pieces to donation for you — no separate trip.
Worth knowing which door to knock on: the Austin Furniture Bank specifically places household furniture with families leaving homelessness or crisis housing, so a solid dining set or dresser does more good there than in a thrift bin. ReStore wants furniture plus cabinetry, doors and building materials. Goodwill and ARC Resale take the broad mix. One item is universally refused everywhere: a used mattress, on hygiene grounds — that one needs its own plan.
The City of Austin offers on-demand bulk pickup, but it comes with real constraints: it's limited to a few pickups a year with a volume cap, it's curbside, and it's on the city's schedule, not yours. That's fine for a single small item at a city-of-Austin address. But it's a problem in the HOA suburbs — Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Circle C, Georgetown — where leaving bulk at the curb between pickups can earn a fine. And some things can't go out with regular bulk at all: appliances with refrigerant (fridges, AC), electronics/e-waste, and hazardous materials.
Two details decide whether the program is even open to you, and they're worth checking before you plan around it. You request the collection at austintexas.gov/service/ondemand, and eligibility is limited to City of Austin residential curbside-trash customers — the households the city already bills for garbage service. Apartments and condos are excluded outright: multifamily properties here contract private haulers, so there is no city bulk service for those residents at any point in the year. Between that and the suburb cities running their own separate collection, a very large share of the metro simply cannot use this route.
Marketplace and Buy Nothing groups genuinely clear good mid-century pieces, solid wood dressers and anything from the "04" that photographs well. What they clear badly is the big stuff: a buyer who says they'll bring two people and a truck for a sectional very often doesn't, and you spend a fortnight rescheduling around a piece that's already in the way. Rule of thumb here — if it fits in a hatchback and looks good in a photo, sell it. If it takes three people down a staircase, don't build your move-out timeline around a stranger showing up.
The DIY route is real and sometimes right, especially if you already own a pickup. Texas Disposal Systems publishes a 2025 gate rate of about $60 per ton for municipal solid waste at its Creedmoor landfill with a two-ton minimum — so a sofa and a dresser still bill you the two-ton minimum, and Creedmoor is a genuine drive southeast of the city. The City of Austin resident drop-off is much friendlier at roughly $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard. Both assume the hard part is already done: getting the furniture out of the house, down the stairs and into a vehicle without wrecking a door frame or your back.
A scheduled haul makes sense when the piece is too big to move, too worn to donate, when you need it gone on your timeline, or when you're in an HOA neighborhood and can't risk the curb. We come to you, carry it out from wherever it sits (no basements in Austin, so it's the garage or upstairs), and haul it straight from the garage — never the curb. The price is flat and quoted from a photo, with the labor, the drive, and disposal already in it; usable pieces are donated and appliances have the refrigerant recovered.
The page you're reading is mostly about free options, so here is the honest counterweight: what the paid one costs, per piece, before anyone drives out. Flat, quoted from a photo, with the carry-out and disposal inside the number.
| Piece | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Bed frame | $68 |
| Bookshelf | $72 |
| Desk (standard) | $83 |
| Loveseat | $95 |
| Dresser (standard) | $126 |
| Sofa / couch | $126 |
| Dining table (large) | $129 |
| Sectional — 3-piece | $185 |
Past about four or five pieces it stops making sense to count them, so a whole-room or whole-garage clear is priced by truck fill instead: $241 for a quarter-load and $431 for a half-load, scaling on up to a full truck. The minimum order is $75. Send one photo of the room, or of the garage with the door open, and the lot gets quoted as a single number rather than item by item.
Third-party context for the DIY route: Texas Disposal Systems lists a 2025 gate rate near $60/ton at Creedmoor with a two-ton minimum, and the City of Austin resident drop-off runs about $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard — cheap gate fees that still leave you renting the truck and doing the lifting.
| Option | Cost | Speed | Effort | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City on-demand bulk | Free | Scheduled out | You drag it to the curb | One or two pieces, a city-of-Austin house, no deadline, no HOA |
| Donation (drop-off or charity pickup) | Free | Days–weeks | You transport, or wait for a slot | Clean, structurally sound pieces worth rehoming |
| Sell / give away online | Free (you may earn) | Days–weeks | Listing, messaging, no-shows | Small, photogenic, in-demand pieces |
| Self-haul to the landfill | Truck + gate fee — TDS Creedmoor ~$60/ton, 2-ton minimum | Half a day | High — you lift and drive | Truck owners clearing a big mixed pile at once |
| Traditional full-service hauler | On-site estimate; industry range commonly $150–$600+ | 1–3 days | None | People who don't mind learning the price in the driveway |
| Curbside app (Muvr from $99, Dropcurb $79) | Published upfront | 1–2 days | You stage it at the curb | Ground-floor homes, light pieces, no HOA covenant |
| JunkRabbit | $126 sofa flat · from $241 a room | Same day | None | Anything heavy, upstairs, in a tower, or in an HOA suburb where nothing can sit at the curb |
Competitor and municipal figures are third-party and shown for comparison. Our prices are flat and photo-quoted; $75 minimum, carry-out and disposal included, and the checkout total is confirmed before you book.
Furniture is the easiest category to keep out of a landfill, so it's worth knowing what a hauler does with it after the truck pulls away. Anything sound and clean goes to donation first: Goodwill Central Texas and ARC Resale for the general mix, Habitat for Humanity ReStore Austin for casegoods, cabinetry and anything building-adjacent, the Austin Furniture Bank for the household basics that get placed with families setting up a home, and the Salvation Army alongside them. Through July and August the city's MoveOutATX stations near West Campus absorb a serious volume of student furniture and housewares that would otherwise go in a dumpster.
What can't be rehomed gets separated rather than simply tipped. Metal — bed frames, filing cabinets, shelving, table bases — goes to scrap. Electronics (TVs, monitors, printers, computers) route to an e-waste processor, not the landfill. Refrigerant appliances — refrigerators, freezers, window and portable AC units — need their refrigerant recovered by a certified technician before the shell can be scrapped, which is why they're handled on a separate line from the rest of a furniture haul. Only what's genuinely spent goes to disposal, and it goes to a permitted facility.
The physical part is where plans quietly fall apart, and Austin has its own shape. There are no basements here — homes are slab-on-grade — so furniture that's out of use doesn't go downstairs to be forgotten, it goes into the garage. That's why a Round Rock or Cedar Park "furniture problem" is usually a two-car garage with a path through it, and why the honest unit of work is a truck-fill rather than a piece count.
In the HOA suburbs — Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown including Sun City, Circle C, Mueller, and the gated Lakeway and Bee Cave communities — covenants restrict how long anything can sit visible out front, which is exactly what makes "wait for a collection date" a trap. We load from inside the garage or the driveway on a scheduled window, so nothing ever appears at the curb. Gated communities usually want the vendor checked in at the gate; that's routine.
In the Downtown, Rainey Street and Domain towers there is no curb to use at all: furniture leaves through the loading dock, which requires a Certificate of Insurance naming the association and management and a freight elevator reserved several business days ahead. In the Hyde Park and East Austin bungalows it's narrow doorways, tight alley loading and the occasional sectional that has to come apart to clear the hall. And in West Campus it's three flights of stairs with no elevator, which is the same price as a ground floor because a stair fee is exactly the kind of surprise this model exists to avoid.
"This is a really great service. Very transparent and communicative team. Dwayne was fast and amazing."
"Communication was excellent, the haulers were so fast and efficient and work so hard. Very grateful for the help today!!"
"Prompt and professional. I will definitely use again."
Can I put furniture at the curb in Austin?
Only through a scheduled on-demand collection — a set number of free pickups a year, a volume cap, curbside only, city-of-Austin residential curbside-trash customers only. Apartments and condos are on private hauling and get no city bulk at all, and in HOA suburbs a piece waiting at the curb is what gets cited.
How much does it cost to get rid of furniture in Austin?
Sofa $126, loveseat $95, three-piece sectional $185, dresser $126, large dining table $129, bookshelf $72, desk $83, bed frame $68. A whole room or garage is truck-fill from $241. $75 minimum, carry-out and disposal included.
Where can I donate used furniture in Austin?
Goodwill Central Texas, Habitat ReStore Austin, ARC Resale, the Austin Furniture Bank and the Salvation Army, plus MoveOutATX stations near West Campus each summer. Several run pickups for big pieces — book ahead. We route donatable items for you when we haul.
Is it cheaper to haul it myself?
Only if your time is free. TDS Creedmoor is around $60/ton with a two-ton minimum, and the city resident drop-off about $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard — both after you've rented a truck and got a sectional down the stairs.
What can't I leave at the curb?
Refrigerant appliances (fridges, freezers, window and portable AC), electronics and e-waste, and anything hazardous. Refrigerant needs certified recovery; TVs and monitors need an e-waste processor.
Do I have to move it to the driveway first?
No. We start in the room the piece is in. No basements in Austin, so it's usually upstairs or the back of the garage — either way, we carry it, and nothing gets staged at the curb.
How do you compare with a franchise or a curbside app?
Franchises like 1-800-GOT-JUNK, College Hunks and Junk King quote on site in Austin, with the industry range for a truck-load job commonly cited at $150–$600+. Curbside apps publish upfront prices (Muvr from $99, Dropcurb $79) but you stage the furniture at the curb yourself. We publish the price up front and carry it out.
Can you clear a whole room or garage at once?
Yes, and it's usually the better deal — truck-fill pricing from $241 for a quarter-load, $431 for a half, up to $732 for a full truck. One photo of the open garage door is enough to quote it.
Only if your time is free. Texas Disposal Systems lists a 2025 gate rate of roughly $60 per ton for municipal solid waste at its Creedmoor landfill with a two-ton minimum, so a sofa and a dresser still bill as two tons. The City of Austin resident drop-off is about $4.33 per visit-cubic-yard, which is genuinely cheap, but both options assume a truck, a helper, and the muscle to get a sectional down a staircase first.
No. The crew comes to the room the piece is in and carries it out. Austin homes are slab-on-grade with no basements, so it is normally an upstairs bedroom, a living room or the back of a two-car garage, and that is where we start. Nothing gets staged at the curb, which is the point in an HOA neighbourhood.
Different models. The traditional full-service franchises in Austin — 1-800-GOT-JUNK, College Hunks Hauling Junk, Junk King — quote by phone or on site and confirm the real number once a crew is in your driveway, with the industry range for a truck-load job commonly cited at $150 to $600 and up. Curbside apps publish an upfront price instead — Muvr from $99, Dropcurb at $79 — but you have to drag the furniture out to the curb yourself first. We publish a flat per-piece price up front and still carry it out of the room.
Yes, and it is usually the better deal. Once you are past four or five pieces we price by truck fill rather than item by item — $241 for a quarter-load, $431 for a half-load, up to $732 for a full truck. Send one photo of the room or the open garage door and the whole thing gets quoted as one number.