What to do with garage sale leftovers
By Rory at Estate Sale Zone · Published
Written, edited and reviewed by Rory before publishing. How we make guides
Give what's left to neighbors through your local Buy Nothing group, book a free charity or city bulky-item pickup, and take paint, chemicals and electronics to a hazardous waste drop-off. Enter your ZIP code for the options where you live in San Diego, Los Angeles or Orange County, each checked on the organization's own website.
Or go straight to San Diego, Los Angeles or Orange County.
Give it away to neighbors first
A Buy Nothing group is a local group, usually on Facebook, where neighbors give things away. Its rules, from the Buy Nothing Project, allow no buying, selling, bartering, trading, advertising or marketing, so post each leftover as a gift rather than announcing your sale. You join the group for where you live: through the Buy Nothing app, or from the list of registered groups in your Buy Nothing account's settings.
Gifts go one at a time and people come at different times, so start the evening the sale ends and leave the rest for a pickup.
Book a pickup
Cities collect bulky items such as furniture and mattresses from the homes they pick up trash from, and the rules differ by city. In Los Angeles, LA Sanitation collects them free from the homes it serves; book at least one business day before your trash day on MyLA311 or at 1-800-773-2489. The City of San Diego's planned bulky-item pickup is paused until further notice, so in San Diego plan on a charity pickup, a drop-off or a paid hauler. Charity pickups are booked ahead and each has a list of what it won't take, so book before the sale and check the list.
What can't go in the trash
Paint, chemicals and electronics go to a household hazardous waste or e-waste drop-off; each metro page lists the ones for its area. In California, old mattresses and box springs can go free to a Bye Bye Mattress drop-off site.
After an estate sale
A house that has to be empty by a closing date usually needs a clean-out on top of donations. Some estate sale companies include one in their fee and others charge for it; our estate sale guide lists what Southern California companies say they charge. Junk haulers on the metro pages take everything for a price.
Haven't had the sale yet?
Post it on Estate Sale Zone for free, with printable signs and pictures for Facebook and Instagram. Once it ends, we'll email you the places on this list that serve your area.