Sleeper sofas. Infant car seats. Old computers. If you're playing the "Pyramid" game show, the answer would be, "Things you can't give away."
Just ask Susan Meyer. The St. Anthony resident and college professor tried to unload her big, old 26-inch TV on her students, friends with cabins, and even her mom, whose console TV is fading. "I keep telling her I'll bring it down," Meyer said. "But she's not going for it. I'm getting desperate."
The guilt from being a throwaway society makes us think that everything deserves a second, third or fourth life. When an item doesn't sell on Craigslist or at a garage sale, it's offered to friends or relatives. If that doesn't work, people call a charity. And then they call another and another until giving up.
When David Clark of Eden Prairie couldn't get rid of a 15-year-old treadmill at 2nd Wind Sports, Goodwill or the Disabled American Veterans, he asked me. After a search, I found several charities that take them, as long as they're in working order.
Besides exercise equipment, readers tweeted other examples of common household items that are difficult to get rid of. I found at least one solution for each of the top 10 most unwanted items. Some of the charities listed even pick up. Call for details and restrictions.
Artificial Christmas trees
St. Vincent de Paul thrift store (Mpls., 612-722-7882) accepts them now, but most charities such as Goodwill or Salvation Army won't start accepting them until October.
Computers