Moving-out cleanouts in St. Louis

The short answer

Book the junk pickup for the day before you hand back the keys, not the last hour. Price the leftover big pieces individually — sofa $126, queen mattress and box spring set $143, dresser $126 — or use a truck tier for mixed piles: quarter truck $241, half truck $431. City residents with three or fewer small items can use the monthly bulky pickup, but only if the collection week lines up with the move.

Why the City bulky pickup rarely fits a move

The City of St. Louis bulky pickup is monthly, during your designated collection week, out by 6:00 am Monday. It takes up to three items, none over 100 lbs, 6 ft long or 2 ft in diameter. A move-out usually has more than three pieces, the sofa is over 6 feet, and the lease ends on the 31st whether or not that is your collection week.

Leaving the extras in the alley after you move is not a plan: it is dumping under Missouri's RSMo 577.070 if it is outside the rules, and your landlord will likely bill the deposit for removal.

St. Louis move-out seasons

• May: SLU (17,059 students) and WashU (16,399) move-outs around the CWE, Skinker-DeBaliviere, Clayton and the Delmar Loop. SIUE move-outs in Edwardsville.
• Late July to August: lease turnover across the City, and medical residents and fellows arriving and leaving around the BJC/Washington University Medical Center.
• Summer: Scott AFB PCS season, with military move-outs in O'Fallon IL, Shiloh and Mascoutah.
• Month-end, year-round: the last two days of the month are the busiest for any move.

Book early in those windows. A move on the 30th or 31st of May or August in the CWE is about as busy as St. Louis gets, with loading zones full and elevators booked solid.

Typical move-out piles, priced

• Studio near SLU: mattress set, frame and desk, $143 + $68 + $83 = $294.
• Two-bedroom flat in Tower Grove South: sofa, dresser, TV and four trash bags, $126 + $126 + $68 + $35 + $35 + $35 + $35 = $460, about a half truck at $431 — ask which way prices lower.
• O'Fallon IL house, PCS move: the garage leftovers usually fit a quarter truck, $241.

Homeowners moving out of a long-held house

Not every move-out is a lease end. Many St. Louis County houses are being sold by people who have lived in them for decades: Florissant built around 18,000 homes between 1947 and 1980, and Kirkwood, Webster Groves and St. Louis Hills have plenty of long-tenured owners. A downsizing move leaves more behind than a renter's: the basement storage, the garage, the guest room, the extra fridge.

Plan it in two passes. First, clear what is not going to the new place, well before the movers come, so they are not packing around it. Then book a second, smaller pickup for the last-day leftovers after the moving truck leaves. A basement of old storage at a half truck plus a garage freezer is $431 + $146 = $577; the last-day pass with a sofa and a mattress set is $126 + $143 = $269. Each visit is priced on its own, shown before booking.

Building rules on move-out day

CWE and Clayton high-rises and Downtown lofts usually want a certificate of insurance and an elevator reservation for any hauler. We email a COI within one hour. Downtown loft buildings in the Washington Avenue district often have freight elevators and set move times. Cardinals home games and Soulard events can make parking and access harder, so plan around them.

South City flats have the opposite problem: no elevator, narrow stairs, and an alley shared with neighbors. Crews carry from any floor with no stairs fee. If your movers and the junk pickup are on the same day, book the junk first, so the stair and the alley are clear when the moving truck arrives.

A move-out plan that protects the deposit

1. Two weeks out: decide what is not moving. Sell or give away the good pieces.
2. One week out: photograph the leftovers and get the flat price.
3. Book the pickup for the day before the walk-through, in a two-hour window.
4. After pickup: clean, then do the walk-through with an empty unit.

If you are a landlord or manager doing turnovers, see landlord turnover cleanouts.

Sell, give away, or haul?

A quick test for each piece you are not taking:

• Would you buy it for half of what you paid? Then list it two weeks out. Late July and August are the strongest weeks near SLU, WashU and the CWE, when new arrivals furnish apartments.
• Is it clean, working and easy to carry? Give it away. Say which floor it is on.
• Is it stained, broken, particleboard that has been moved twice, or a mattress? Haul it.

Do not let resale hopes run into move-out day. A sofa that does not sell is $126 to remove, and it costs the same on Tuesday as on the last morning — but on the last morning it competes with cleaning, the walk-through and returning the truck.

Illinois moves: one extra rule

If you are moving out of Belleville, O'Fallon, Edwardsville or elsewhere in the Metro East, TVs, computers, monitors and printers cannot go in the Illinois trash, per Illinois EPA. Do not leave them on the curb on the last day. We recycle whatever we can, and electronics are routed accordingly. Start your quote from a photo at the instant quote page; same-day works when you book by 4 PM.

Frequently asked questions