Dinkytown
UMN Student Move-Out Cleanout in
Dinkytown
The lease is up September 1, the whole block is moving the same week, and there's a twin mattress, a mini fridge, and a couch of unknown origin that all have to disappear. That's Dinkytown in late August, and we've got it. Book ahead, split the job with your roommates, and we'll clear the whole rental house in one trip — a twin mattress is $82, a mini fridge $115, a full house goes by truck-fill from $241. Send a photo, get the exact flat price, with Minnesota sales tax already inside it and the usable stuff routed to donation, not the dumpster.
How a Dinkytown move-out cleanout works
Three steps, built for move week, and the carry is ours:
- Send a photo and pick a time. Show us the room, the apartment, or the whole rental house and tell us your lease-end date. During the late-August rush, reserve a slot early — the last week of the month books solid.
- Get the exact flat price. Single items are cheap — a twin mattress $82, a mini fridge $115, a futon $111 — and a whole house is a truck-fill from $241 (quarter) to $732 (full). The number already covers the carry, the disposal, and the roughly 9.025% MN sales tax.
- We carry it out and haul it. A vetted, insured crew lifts everything from the room or house — up or down the stairs of an old rental, out of a cramped student high-rise — and routes what's still usable to donation. You and your roommates just split the flat price.
The late-August rush: why you book ahead
Dinkytown, Marcy-Holmes, and Como sit at the center of the University of Minnesota's ~50,000-student rental world, and almost every off-campus lease turns on roughly the same date. Most run to about September 1, so the last week of August is a citywide scramble — everyone's moving out, everyone's moving in, and the curbs fill with abandoned mattresses and broken IKEA shelving. (There's a smaller bump at May graduation too.) The move itself is chaotic enough; the junk doesn't have to be. Reserve a slot in advance and we'll be there on your lease-end day to clear the mattresses, the mini fridge, the futon, and the rest — so you get your deposit walkthrough done and the next tenant walks into an empty place. Same-day is often possible, but during the surge the students who book ahead are the ones who get the time they want.
How much does a student move-out cleanout cost?
Flat and photo-quoted, before we show up. Every price already includes the carry-out, the disposal, and MN sales tax — the number you see is the number you split.
| Item / Job | Flat price |
|---|---|
| Twin mattress | $82 |
| Full mattress | $94 |
| Mini fridge | $115 |
| Futon | $111 |
| Cheap sofa / loveseat | $126 / $119 |
| Desk / bookshelf | $83 / $72 |
| Dresser | $126 |
| Single room's worth (quarter truck) | $241 |
| Whole rental house (half–full truck) | $431–$732 |
$75 minimum. Splitting a whole-house truck-fill among roommates usually beats pricing each item. Carry, disposal, and MN sales tax included.
For reference, traditional full-service junk companies typically quote $150–$600+ per truckload after an in-person estimate. We quote it flat from a photo, up front, tax included — so the group knows the split before booking.
5 ways to clear a Dinkytown rental at lease-end
| Option | Cost | Speed | Who carries it | Donated? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City Large Item Collection | 1 free/yr, then $30/item | Next pickup, 2/week cap | You — to the curb by 6am | No |
| Leave it on the curb | $0, but a fine risk for the house | Sits for days or weeks | Nobody — it just piles up | No |
| Rent a truck, haul it to a Hennepin drop-off | Truck rental + ~$55/ton + item fees | Your move day, if you have time | You and your roommates | No |
| Traditional full-service junk company | $150–$600+ per truck | Scheduled, 1–3 days out | Their crew | Sometimes |
| JunkRabbit | From $75, whole house split flat & tax in | Reserved for your lease-end day | Our insured crew, up/down the stairs | Yes — Bridging & Goodwill |
The punchline for a house full of students: the two-items-a-week city program can't clear a whole rental at lease-end, and the curb pile earns the house a citation. One booking, one crew, one flat price you split — and the good stuff gets donated.
Does the City of Minneapolis pick up move-out furniture?
Barely, for a student house. Minneapolis Large Item Collection gives municipal garbage customers one free bulk pickup a year, then $30 per item, and takes up to two large items a week if they're at the curb by 6:00 a.m. on the collection day (schedule at 612-673-2917). A cleared rental house is a dozen large items — mattresses, a futon, a couch, desks, dressers — so at two a week it would take a month and a half, long after your lease is up and the next tenants have moved in. And leaving a pile at the boulevard between pickups can land the property a nuisance citation. Your other self-serve option is renting a truck and hauling it to a Hennepin County drop-off (Brooklyn Park at 8100 Jefferson Hwy or South Hennepin at 1400 W 96th St, Bloomington, ~$55/ton plus $25 per mattress). We come on your lease-end day and take the whole house in one trip.
What we clear on a student move-out
- Mattresses & box springs — twin, full, queen; carried down and recycled. See our mattress removal page.
- Mini fridges & small appliances — the dorm-and-apartment staple, plus microwaves and window ACs.
- Cheap couches, futons & loveseats — the hand-me-down living-room set nobody's taking home.
- IKEA & particleboard furniture — desks, dressers, bookshelves, and bed frames that won't survive another move.
- Whole-house rental clear-outs — the entire place emptied at lease-end, split among roommates.
- General move-out junk — bagged clutter, broken stuff, and everything left in the basement of an old rental.
What happens to it after pickup
Move-out week generates a staggering amount of still-usable furniture, and we'd much rather donate it than dump it. Reusable couches, desks, dressers, and mini fridges are routed to Bridging (the Twin Cities furniture bank) and Goodwill–Easter Seals Minnesota, and mattresses go to be recycled so the steel, foam, and fiber are recovered. Hennepin County's tipping fee is moderate — around $55 a ton — and much of the region's real waste is burned for energy at the downtown HERC plant rather than landfilled, so keeping the good stuff in circulation is easy and it doesn't inflate the price. Your old place gets emptied; a load of it goes on to furnish someone else's first apartment.
When you need a move-out cleanout
- Late-August lease-end — the whole rental cleared before the September 1 turnover.
- May graduation — leaving the U for good and clearing four years of accumulated furniture.
- Roommate change mid-lease — clearing the furniture of the person who's moving out.
- Upgrading a hand-me-down — the sagging futon or the questionable couch, gone before the new one arrives.
- Landlord unit turnover — a property owner resetting a Dinkytown rental between student tenants.
Why UMN students choose JunkRabbit
- Roommate / whole-house split — one flat price for the group, cheaper than everyone going solo.
- Book ahead for your lease-end day — a reserved slot during the busiest week of the year.
- We do the carry — up and down the stairs of an old rental; you don't touch the curb.
- Flat photo-quoted price — the exact number before you commit, MN sales tax already in it.
- Donated, not dumped — usable furniture to Bridging and Goodwill, mattresses recycled.
What UMN students say
"Four of us in a Dinkytown rental house, lease up September 1, and a garage full of dead IKEA furniture. We split one flat price, they cleared the whole place in a morning, and it came out to way less than renting a truck. Booked it a week ahead like they said to."
"Graduating and leaving the state, so everything had to go — mattress, mini fridge, futon, my desk. Booked from a photo, flat price with tax included, and they hauled it down from the third floor. They said the couch was going to Goodwill, which I loved."
"I manage a couple of student rentals near Como and the late-August turnover is brutal. These guys clear a whole unit same-day when I book ahead, so I can get the next tenants in. One price, no surprises."
Dinkytown move-out questions, answered
How much does it cost?
A twin mattress is $82, a mini fridge $115; a whole house is truck-fill from $431 to $732, split among roommates. $75 minimum, tax included.
When should I book?
Early — late August fills fast because every lease turns on September 1.
Can the whole house split one job?
Yes — one truck-fill, one flat price, split among roommates; usually the cheapest way.
Do you take mini fridges and IKEA furniture?
Yes — mattresses, mini fridges, futons, cheap couches, and particleboard desks and dressers.
Is any of it donated?
Whatever's usable goes to Bridging and Goodwill; mattresses are recycled.
Is MN sales tax extra?
No — the roughly 9.025% tax is already inside your flat, photo-quoted price.
Minneapolis cost & comparison guides
Ready to Get It Gone?
Send a photo and get one flat price back in seconds — carry-out, hauling and disposal are all in it.
Upload Photos & Get Your QuotePrefer texting? 💬 Text (612) 493-1155 — send a photo, get the price.