Mint.com made a post recently about how someone was able to furnish their entire house for $716.
I started shopping furniture websites and realized I’d have to spend $4,473.73 to get just the basics. That wasn’t happening, so I took an alternate path through garage sales, flea markets, and clearance racks – and I saved a ton of money. Here’s how…
…What I learned: The beginning of the school year (around the end of September) is the best time to look for clearance deals on furniture and home decor at mega-stores like Wal-Mart or Target. Why? Because those stores stock a ton of accent furniture and home decor items to sell with their dorm collections. Since they don’t keep the dorm-room sections open year-round, the leftovers get put on clearance after school starts.
Lesson Learned:
There are some fantastic tips here on how to get furniture at a decent price, a good chunk of which I never even thought about before. There are a lot of resources out there available to help you find items and even sale events on the cheap. A little shopping around and patience can pay off, to the tune of $3,000 in some cases.
For my money, the only furniture I would buy new is a bed. Invest in a good bed — and maybe bookcases — and everything else can be found on Craigslist or Freecycle. I made the mistake of buying a new sofa, chair, and ottoman when I first moved here, but I never really cared for it and eventually disposed of it for a decent price through Craigslist. A few months ago I found a used sofa and loveseat that I LOVE for only $50, then I paid $140 to have them cleaned. They’re as good as new now.
That’s awesome Jenni, very good advice. I’ve found many a great things on Freecycle, and saved hundreds on a cedar chest off of Craigslist once (I paid $140 for it, fully restored).