The annual cycle in Ann Arbor is completely predictable. In the fall, a horde of new students and faculty descend upon town to make their home here, and in the spring a horde of them head out of town to head to their next location in life.

A big piece of moving out is getting rid of stuff that isn't big enough for your car, won't fit in your shipping container or that reminds you too much of your current life to make you want to take it with you. Here's some suggestions for gently discarding your unneeded possessions in ways that don't fill more dumpsters.

Books

Books are heavy and bulky, and are often one of the things that can get put to new uses when you're done with them. If they are in good shape, with no mold or mildew, there are several good places to give them a new home.

The Friends of the Ann Arbor District Library takes in over 200,000 books a year. The books are sold at the library book shop in the basement of the downtown branch to raise money for Ann Arbor District Library programming. In a 2008 piece, Greg Peters wrote about clearing his bookshelves and dropping off the book at the loading dock of the downtown branch of the library.

The annual American Association of University Women fall book sale generally starts collecting books for the sale in the summer time. Melissa LR Handa's review of the 57th annual sale from last year gives you a sense for the scene. The three day event raised almost $40,000 for the group, which provides scholarships for girls and women attending local and national higher education institutions.

If you're looking to get cash for your used books, a notable local service is Books By Chance, a consignment bookstore based in Ann Arbor that will pick up your collection, sell it online for you, send you your share of the proceeds and donate the unsold or unmarketable books for you.

Furniture and other bulky items

Furniture is often too bulky to ship, so people will often leave it behind or find a new home for it rather than paying to take it cross-country with them.

The Ann Arbor Kiwanis sale has furnished many a student apartment. Its location at the corner of Washington and First streets accepts saleable donations on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Contact them at 734-665-0450 to arrange a pick up.

If your furniture has resale value and you're looking to get some cash for it, look to Treasure Mart on Detroit Street near Zingerman's Deli. The store just celebrated its 50th year in business, and it's worth a walk through the store to see the vast variety of vintage and antique items for sale there. Treasure Mart takes items on consignment, so you'll get paid a portion of the proceeds when the item goes back out the door.

Household goods

Ann Arbor's "resale row" is a good spot to know about if you're looking to put smaller household goods back into circulation. This stretch along South Industrial Highway is home to several resale and reuse stores which will happily help you unload a trunk full of gently used items into their inventory.

The Ann Arbor Salvation Army thrift store on at 1621 S. State St. at Stimson near the intersection of the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks is an enormous warehouse of a store, with clothing, furniture, toys, and household items for sale. Donations are accepted behind the store.

The Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop at 2280 S. Industrial Highway takes donations, which are sold at the store which provides funding for PTO activities in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. It's an exceptionally good place to go for kids' winter clothing, so if you're leaving town for somewhere warmer they will happily pass along your parkas and mittens to the next kid who isn't used to winter.

Your third must-see stop along Resale Row is Recycle Ann Arbor's ReUse Center at 2420 S. Industrial Highway. This location is noted for its inventory of reusable building supplies and larger appliances. If you have a working stove in a Harvest Gold color that no longer matches your new kitchen decor, or if there's a perfectly good sink or vanity that just got removed from your bathroom, they'll take it within reason.

St. Vinnie's

I have a soft spot in my heart for the St. Vincent de Paul Society store, affectionately known as St. Vinnie's. In small towns in the Upper Peninsula, a St. Vinnie's store in an old department store can be the only general store in town, selling you everything you'd need to make it unnecessary to drive an hour or more to the nearest big-box retailer.

In Ann Arbor, the St. Vincent de Paul Society store is at 1001 Broadway St. on the north side of the Broadway Bridges. It carries an assortment of used books, clothing, toys and household goods. The used clothes are unusual in that they are relatively well tagged and sorted, and there's almost always a sale of some sort off of their usual low prices. The book collection occasionally has a steal of a deal like nickel paperbacks. See their donation list for guidelines on what to drop off.

Lots more

I've only just scratched the surface for reuse and resale shops in Ann Arbor and the area.

The City of Ann Arbor maintains a list of reuse and resale centers through its solid waste unit.

The Arborwiki page on resale shops, while not complete, is still useful.

Edward Vielmetti has furnished his Ann Arbor home in part from the cast-offs of years of University of Michigan students who couldn't manage to take everything with them when they left. Contact him at 734-330-2465.