A 24-year-old man has ditched a near $90,000 accounting career to make money from old couches, as a growing number of young Aussies turn to hard rubbish, Facebook Marketplace and kerbside cast-offs to get ahead in an increasingly brutal housing market.

For Bailey Garbett, the path to property wasn’t going to come from climbing the corporate ladder.

The Melbourne man was on track for a stable, well-paid career when he walked away from one of Australia’s biggest accounting firms in May to flip second-hand lounges full-time.

Now, instead of spreadsheets and audits, his days are spent buying, cleaning, photographing and delivering used couches across Melbourne – part of a broader wave of Gen Z trying to turn other people’s trash into a deposit-saving opportunity.

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A 24-year-old Bailey Garbett has walked away from a near-$90,000 accounting career to flip old couches full-time, turning other people’s unwanted lounges into a surprisingly profitable business. Source: TikTok/Baileys_Bargains

Garbett, from Melbourne’s outer east, said the decision left plenty of people questioning whether he’d lost the plot, including his accountant mother and his uni-minded mates.

“People thought it was a bit stupid because I was one term away from becoming a Chartered Accountant, but I’d really just had enough,” he told the Daily Mail.

Before quitting, he had spent Two-and-a-half years in audit after completing an accounting degree, as well as time working in bankruptcy.

But one train ride to work forced a rethink.

“I’ve always wanted to work for myself, so I’m just going to bet on myself for once and have a crack,” he said.

By that point, couch flipping had already become a profitable weekend side hustle after he came across a Canadian creator doing the same thing online.

Bailey recently purchased this couch for $50 off Facebook Marketplace and sold it for $500. Source: TikTok/Baileys_Bargains

Using his ute, his dad’s shed and a $40 online course, Garbett began sourcing unwanted lounges from Facebook Marketplace in September last year.

What started as a way to make extra money outside footy season quickly turned into a business model he believed could rival his full-time wage.

“Based on my projections, I’d only need to flip around 15 couches a month at the most conservative numbers to make what I was making,” he said.

He said his average profit sits at about $400 a couch, though some flips have delivered much bigger returns.

Now that’s what we call a profit. Source: TikTok/Baileys_Bargains

His biggest score so far came when he picked up a large L-shaped lounge from a family who urgently needed it gone.

“I picked it up, gave it a quick vacuum and steam clean, took some better photos and it sold in four days – that one made me around $850,” he said.

More Gen Z are joining the trend

Garbett isn’t the only young Aussie using couch flipping as a way to build financial breathing room while home ownership feels increasingly out of reach.

Another Aussie, Ethan, has been documenting his own couch-flipping side hustle on social media as he works towards buying his first home.

According to his latest video update, he is hoping to put together $50,000 and had already made $6355 in 10 days.

His formula is simple: collect couches that would otherwise end up at the tip and keep costs low, with fuel among his biggest expenses.

Gen Z Ethan is also flipping couches to help him save for a home deposit. Source: TikTok/@ethaantries

The trend comes as more Australians look beyond traditional income streams and towards “street bounty” – salvaging hard rubbish and kerbside throwaways – to help cover bills, boost savings or chip away at a future home deposit.

New research from furniture and homewares retailer The Furniture Trader has identified the suburbs where Australians are most likely to spot valuable preloved furniture waiting for collection.

Victoria’s Canterbury topped the list with a score of 91.36 out of 100, followed by City Beach in Western Australia on 90.2 and Warrandyte in Victoria on 88.32.

New South Wales dominated the national top 10, with Wahroonga, Pymble, Northbridge, Haberfield and Turramurra all making the cut.

Sinnamon Park and Chapel Hill in Queensland also featured.

For younger Australians locked out of the market or scrambling to save, those discarded pieces are becoming more than just roadside junk – they’re a chance to turn sweat equity into real money.

And furniture isn’t the only way some are doing it.

Woman turns hard rubbish into a house deposit

Sydney woman Sinead King has built her own profitable side hustle collecting scrap metal from hard rubbish piles, sharing the process with Instagram followers as Australians search for new ways to make extra cash during the cost of living squeeze.

“In my spare time, I collect people’s scrap metal and turn it into money,” she told her social media followers.

“What started out as a fun hobby helped to fund buying our house and now contributes towards extra mortgage repayments.”

Sydney woman Sinead King is turning scrap metal into serious cash. Source: @sineadscraps

King said the returns can be serious for just a few hours’ work.

In one video shared on Instagram, she said a six-hour collection run netted more than $900.

In another, she revealed she made $457 in less than three hours collecting steel, a dishwasher, trampoline poles and even pots and pans.

She collects everything from fencing and roofing sheets to car batteries, bed frames, whitegoods and old taps – anything with scrap metal value that might otherwise be dumped.

“You’d be surprised how much there’s out there in your community that’s either going to the tip or is sitting in people’s backyards,” she said.

“You can’t be afraid of a bit of hard work when you’re getting this done.”