<p>I bought about $1000 worth of Ikea furniture in August that cannot be used in DD’s living situation next year. It’s fairly nice stuff (Malm) and we’d like to keep it. Is there any cost effective way to ship a 5 drawer chest, a large shelving unit, a bed and a few smaller pieces?</p>
<p>Can it be dis-assembled and then shipped flat?/wrapped in boxes/paper. Then perhaps it could be handled by a freight shipper…
Alot of Ikea furniture is particale board/MDF–and it may be damaged if shifted/torqued while assembled…</p>
<p>otherwise maybe selling it locally is a better bet than shipping…</p>
<p>Ugh! It would not survive disassembly, except the bed. </p>
<p>It’s pretty popular stuff; would it be crazy to attempt to trade for same between major campuses in the two states?</p>
<p>If there is no time constraint perhaps you could check with movers and see if it can be pony backed with another shipment coming east…although I can’t imagine too many people are moving TO Michigan these days. I fear that even dismantled the shipping costs will be several hundred dollars if it’s heavy.</p>
<p>Ideas off the top of my head…as shipping can be expensive. You might be able to recoup your costs by selling the furniture (ie-Craigslist) or DD’s roommates or college bulletin board?..or…offer to cover some of the gas/truck rental to a student wanting to return to Detroit?</p>
<p>Second APOL’s suggestion of selling the IKEA stuff via Craigslist. Not worth shipping but if you really cannot part with the mass produced, factory quality furniture, available in every major city then rent a small UHaul, hitch it to your car and drive it back home. It will sell like well on Craigslist, and hopefully, you will recoup a good portion of your 1 K.</p>
<p>Definitely sell on Craigslist!!! Or post info on student board and sell to other students. I have some Malm furniture. If you treat it gently and don’t move it, it lasts very well. Move it, and it gets dinged and damaged… bad news. Better sell it!</p>
<p>Okay…so we’ll sell. Oh well. She’s moving into a sorority and even a complete loss on the furniture puts us way ahead…it just kills me to sell it after less than a year.</p>
<p>Donate to an organization that gets furniture to families in distress and collect a tax donation chit. We have a local group that helps battered women get a new start – often they need everything.</p>
<p>Actually the donating idea is not only easier and a really nice feeling that it will go to a home, but you can also probably claim a higher donation credit than you will get in resale. Great idea there.</p>
<p>Donating it is a great idea!</p>
<p>Can you just hang onto it until your D’s done with college? Eventually she’ll need furniture when she’s done and moves into a place of her own. If you don’t have room for it assembled maybe take a shot at disassembling and storing flat. This Ikea stuff is usually easy to disassemble. Take photos of it beforehand so you can get it back together someday.</p>