Unless you want to spend thousands of dollars to furnish a new home, or take out expensive loans with monthly payments, you need to get creative. Lucky for you, there are a lot of ways to get the job done that will still allow you to stay within your budget. Ready to see what they are? Let’s take a look.
1. Check Thrift Shops
Furnish your home and help support a charity like the Salvation Army or Goodwill. You can get some great furniture for just pennies on the dollar. Get a bedroom set for 100 dollars when it might have cost 600 at the store. You are not going to want a used mattress of course but a nice headboard, footboard and perhaps some night stands for that price would fit the bill. At most, they might beed a little touch up paint or a re-stain, super easy.
2. Shop Garage & Estate Sales
Get the truck and go cruise the garage sales that are around every Saturday morning. A lot of good stuff to be had for cheap.
Avoid fabric items like beds obviously. Couches should be examined carefully for cleanability and to make sure that there are not any pests present
Be prepared to haggle a bit and have cash in hand, most will not hold things for you. Shop bright and early for the best stuff, it goes quickly.
3. Furnish For Free
You probably know a lot of people who have furniture that they want to get rid of, they are just not advertising the fact. It is there waiting for you to come get it.
Make a post on Facebook saying that you are looking for furniture to put in your new bedroom, game room, kitchen, etc. Even if your direct friends don’t have anything, their friends might or even their friend’s friends.
There are probably dozens of people in your circle will stuff that they want gone. You just have to do the hard work and go get it.
4. Work Your Ikea Magic
If you have an Ikea near you, go check them out. If not, go look at them online.
You can find plenty of reasonably priced and very functional furniture that is incredibly cheap. We are talking sofas for $400 and dining room sets for just $200. You can not beat it.
Sure, the stuff is a bit smaller than your typical American piece of furniture but it will get the job done. With some clever shopping, you can furnish your home for 2000 to 3000 dollars when it might have cost 10000 dollars at a conventional furniture store.
You are also going to have to assemble it but that is just part of the whole experience.
5. Shop Craigslist
There is a lot of hidden treasures to be found on this website. Some people tend to think that they deserve full retail price but most are just happy to get a few bucks for something that they would otherwise throw away.
Be sure to also check the free section, as a lot of people will just put furniture on the curb on a first come first serve basis.
6. Re-purpose Items As Furniture
Get your creativity hat on and think of some out of the box ways to turn common and often thrown away things into furniture. A giant wire spool becomes an outdoor table, an old pallet becomes a bookshelf or maybe an old door becomes a tabletop.
You can make a lot of great furniture for nearly nothing if you just use some creativity.
7. Look At Furniture Store Clearance Sections
Almost every store has a clearance section that you should check out. These are usually items that were damaged slightly during a delivery or things that they just couldn’t sell. Be ready to negotiate on the price. This works even better when you bundle items. You could easily get an extra $300 off of already low clearance prices if you bundle several rooms worth.
Clearance sections are usually at the far back of the store, you will have to go looking for them. Some stores will also send all of their clearance items to just one store, so call around and find out where to go.
8. Know When To Shop
Furniture goes on sale fairly often so you need to know when the sales are coming. You can save thousands on an entire house full of new furniture if you shop the right sale.
Most sales tend to come around major holidays such as Presidents day or Memorial day. If you intend to purchase new, wait for one of these sales to get the most out of your dollar.
9. Be A Minimalist
Every room does not have to be packed completely full of furniture.
If you are furnishing a guest room, a bed and a night stand is all that you need. You do not even need an expensive bed, just a basic metal frame.
For the dining room, why buy a huge dining set if you are just a family of four?
Overall, buy just what you need to get the job done for now. You can always add to it later and for now, a little decoration will bring it all together.
