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Every month, an average of 1.6 million bed frames get thrown away. Wouldn’t it be nice if getting rid of this bulky item was easy? Now, this article won’t do the heavy lifting for you, but it offers several useful ideas and good-to-knows that will help you get that old bed frame out of your house. Whether you want to make a few bucks off your old bed, donate it, or pay someone to take it away, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to see how!
How to get rid of a bed frame
The first step is to look at your bed frame. Inspect it on all sides and make note of any scratches, broken parts, presence of bed bugs, etc.
Don’t skip this step because what you can actually do with your frame depends on its state. So, yeah, don’t try to “donate” or sell a broken or rotten bed frame. Nobody’s going to take it.
Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can set some realistic expectations. Here’s a list of ideas on how to get rid of an old bed frame based on its condition (excellent, good, fair, unusable):
- Sell the bed frame (excellent, good)
- Donate the bed frame to a charity (excellent, good)
- Give it away (excellent, good)
- Repurpose or recycle a bed frame (all frames except the infested ones)
- Throw it in the trash (fair, unusable)
- Use a junk removal service (all frames except infested ones)
Sell the bed frame
Before you opt for selling as your final decision, I have to give you a heads-up. Frames don’t exactly sell like hotcakes. You’re buying one every ten years or so, right? If you need to get rid of it quickly, don’t rely on selling. But if you’re taking it slow, have enough storage, and don’t care when the money is going to come, you can proceed.
Use a platform such as Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, or OfferUp. Or all three. It’s not a bad idea to print a photo of your frame with a short description and paste it on a post in front of your house as well. Heck, you might even go all in and organize a yard sale.
To increase your chances of an online sale, make sure you:
- have a reasonable price,
- upload multiple pictures from different angles in a well-lit room,
- write a detailed description including the frame’s age, condition, reason for sale, materials, manufacturer, etc.
Bear in mind that people like to haggle, so it’s always good to post a price a little bit higher than what you’d be willing to sell it for.
You can offer the frame together with a used mattress unless you’re from Kansas, where used mattress sale is illegal.
Donate the bed frame to a charity
This might be a bit harder than it seems.
Beds are bulky and difficult to move and for this reason, some charities, such as the Salvation Army or some Goodwill locations (not all), do not accept bed frames or mattresses. The second reason is that due to federal laws, beds need to be refurbished and sanitized before being resold by organizations, and for charities, it’s not always easy to complete this extra step.
You can still check with local charities such as homeless shelters, the National Furniture Bank Association, battered women’s shelters, Donation Town, etc. Just make sure to double-check whether they take bed frame donations and if not, ask them to recommend a local place where people donate bed frames.
Give it away
A little mindfulness goes a long way for those near and dear to your heart.
If you think your friends or relatives could make use of a bed frame, ask them if they need it. Of course, they reserve the right to decline if they don’t like it, and you can always ask someone else. You can post it on social media or just tell your friends to spread the word that there’s a bed frame waiting to be picked up.
Finally, if there’s nobody you know, you can just make an ad on any of the websites for online sales I mentioned above and simply list it as a free item.
Finally, if you know a blogger or a YouTuber who restores and renovates furniture, you should contact them and ask if they are interested in your piece. They will restore it, document the whole process, and probably end up selling or keeping it. Old bed frames can really fit right into their projects.
Repurpose or recycle a bed frame
Wooden bed frames and metal bed frames are super-easy to recycle.
You do need to take them apart, but once you do, you can take them to a recycling facility nearby. Give wooden parts to a lumber yard and take metal to a scrap metal yard.
Alternatively, look at the newly disassembled parts and see if you’d need any of them for a new project. For one, screws cannot go to waste, you’ll always need those!
Then see if you could make a small stand or a top from the planks and boards. A bookshelf? Why not? A nice touch of wood could make your room, patio, or garage look better.
Use parts of a metal bed frame for large and sturdy items. Maybe you need a strong frame to help you hoist the roof of your Wrangler, or you could make a nice bench if you have a fancy iron headboard.
Throw it in the trash
If the frame is too old and beyond repair, you can throw it in the trash. If you know when exactly bulky trash is being collected, you can leave the bed frame out for the trash collectors.
Just don’t leave it on the curb indefinitely. Dismantle the bed frame and make sure you know when the disposal service will be around in your area and inform yourself about the type of trash that is ok for curbside pickup.
Don’t expect a new prospective owner to fall in love with an old curbside frame and pick it up. It’s just too bulky even for removal services, so your average Joe is more likely to just drive by, while your old bed frame will stay there to wind up passers-by and get peed on by eager pups.
Use a junk removal service
Junk removal services are a good option for the quick removal of any bulky items. You’ll have to pay for junk removal but first check to see which junk removal company would be willing to take your old bed frame. Bed frames are often an issue, so don’t surprise the junk removal company with such a bulky item.
Apart from doing all the heavy lifting, some removal services dismantle the bed frame and sell raw materials or take it to a local recycling center. Others might just take it to a local landfill. If you’re looking for the most eco-friendly option, you should go with a company which actually does something useful with old beds.
Does the type of frame make a difference?
It doesn’t make a difference if you’re going to sell it or throw it away. But if you want to recycle or repurpose your old bed frame, the bed frame’s material does play a role.
Getting rid of an old metal bed frame
Metal bed frames are often easier to deal with because metal is sturdier and thus metal frames use thinner pieces than wood frames. A screwdriver or an Allen wrench is usually all you need to disassemble your old bed.
Once all the parts are detached, sort them out, and keep what seems worth keeping. You can use legs to make a coffee table, for example. You can drive the rest to a local scrap yard or a metal recycling center nearby. Recycling metal bed frames is not an issue since they are made of pretty straightforward materials.
Getting rid of an old wooden bed frame
Wooden bed frames need a hammer and a screwdriver/Allen wrench to get dismantled. They are usually of simpler construction than metal frames, but wood tends to be bulkier.
So, after a few screws are removed and possibly a few rails knocked out, you should be ready for one of the local lumber yards. You can get rid of the wood by taking it to a recycling center or even selling wooden parts.
FAQs
Yes. Unscrew any screws with a screwdriver or an Allen wrench and use a hammer to knock any rails from slits. Remove the headboard, disassemble the side rails, and you should be done. Adjustable bases might be more complicated, so you should check the user’s manual.
With the proper equipment, yes. First, disassemble the frame, and then take large parts and cut them with a chop saw. Make sure to use eye protection the whole time.
If it’s one of the smaller bed frame sizes, such as a Twin, it could be relatively easy. Also, if you disassemble the frame and take it out in pieces, you can dispose of it yourself. Otherwise, large frames are too difficult to move around for a single person, and you run the risk of breaking something or damaging the frame badly if you were to try.
Conclusion
If you want someone to take the old bed frame from your home, you can sell your frame, give it away, or hire a junk removal service. On the other hand, in case you’re somewhat of a DIYer, you can disassemble the frame and either recycle the parts or give them a new life by creating something completely unique.
You can always dispose of your old furniture by trashing it, but sometimes it’s better to make some money off it or do something good by giving it to someone who might need it.
Next step: Read our guide to Japanese beds. I’m telling you, if you need a new low profile frame than Japanese beds are the only way to go. We go over the pros and cons of each brand so you can decide for yourself if it’s the right type of frame for you.
With over 5 years experience writing about sleep and mattresses, she's considered one of the go-to experts on the topic.
She likes cycling, nature, art, and languages. She pays special attention to providing you with accurate and useful information when it comes to your sleep quality.
After solving her personal sleep and tiredness problems, she is on to help others by sharing this invaluable information.
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