Dee asked a great question - what do those donation places take?
Good one!
Usually the two that call me on a regular basis are Cerebral Palsy and Diabetes Association although others have as well - they will usually take small household items (I read that to mean, toys and books and working small kitchen things and especially old coats, boots and mitts) and all the clothes you can pack in. What they do - from what I understand - is sell them to places like Value Village and other thift stores for money and the money goes to their charity.
I guess you could ask them when they call about a certain item if you have one set aside for a donation - or - you can just put it out on the day and if they don't take it from you, move it to the curb. You can also drop things off at thrift stores in the bins they place outside. If it is bigger furniture pieces, I am pretty sure you can list free items on Kijiji and just arrange to leave the item out if someone calls. I am more apt to just stick a "free" sign on things for the whole Sat or Sun (my garbage day is Monday) and almost always the stuff gets picked up by someone who wants it.
That way is just as effective in getting it out of your house.
One day this summer, we put a bunch of baby stuff out there one time (stroller, bouncy chair etc) and a family who was just moving here from Newfoundland stopped and took all the baby stuff as they had a little one already. It seemed like they were moving here without a lot of belongings. My husband was outside when they stopped, got chatting and even found more stuff from the garage that we were gearing up to get rid of and he loaded it right in their car. They were really grateful and we were feeling really blessed and glad that our things enjoyed by our babies weren't going to end up in a landfill somewhere...
Either way - you don't need it anymore... pass it on! Great question Dee!