A home is one of the most important investments any person could have. However, it’s also usually—if not always—the most costly.
When purchasing a new home, it’s never easy to resist the urge to overspend. Everybody wants to show off their financial stability by purchasing something fancy, like a brand new TV or fancy workout equipment. However, most people don’t realize that these petty expenditures may soon backfire if they don’t curb their unhealthy spending habits.
Without further ado, here are seven simple ways to save money on furniture if you’re looking to purchase a new home:
1. Watch out for yard sales
In most families, there comes a time when they realize it’s time to let go of old furniture. Perhaps they’re moving to a new place, raising funds, or simply in need of extra space. Whatever the reason, yard sales provide a great opportunity for future homeowners to buy furniture on the cheap.
The main challenge in scouring yard sales for cheap furniture is knowing how to find them. Fortunately, there are now plenty of apps and websites you can use to look for yard sales near your area. The Yard Sale Treasure Map app for Android and Apple devices is a good place to start. But if mobile apps aren’t your thing, below are some alternatives:
2. Buy secondhand
Looking for yard sales near you isn’t always the best strategy, especially if you’re looking for a specific piece of furniture. Fortunately, there’s always a way for you to buy secondhand furniture with the help of the internet.
For starters, you can head to popular e-commerce sites, like Amazon and eBay, to find the furniture you need. If you still have no luck, you can try online listings on sites like Craigslist. The advantage of this is that you get to find sellers near a specific area.
3. Ask your family for old furniture
If this is your first time moving into a new home, or if you’re moving out from your parents’ house, then you should consider asking to own any excess furniture. There should be several things in your former home that can be of use.
The only thing that might be holding you back from asking is embarrassment. Here’s some advice – don’t be. In fact, your former housemates probably offered you some of the furnishings when you announced your intention to move out.
4. Consider recycling for furniture
You might be surprised how many things from your house can be recycled for furniture. While there are plenty of very elaborate DIY projects floating around on Pinterest, some recyclable materials barely need any work at all.
A mason jar, for example, can be used as simple vase for your corner table. You can also clean out, repaint, and reuse wooden crates as simple storage shelves. All it takes is a little creativity. Heck, you might even realize that small ladders can be used as shoe racks as well.
5. Automate price-watching
Searching for secondhand furniture online isn’t a walk in the park. With so many choices, it’s sometimes difficult to determine whether a deal is perfect for your budget. An alternative strategy is to automate price-watching using a tool like IFTTT – short for If This Then That.
Basically, what you need to do is setup automatic email alerts whenever a new listing is made on websites like Craigslist. Start by searching for the Craigslist service on IFTTT and choose a preset applet that matches your needs:
6. Be careful when buying fully-furnished homes
Just because a house is fully-furnished upon sale, doesn’t mean you’ll save money with the purchase. Most of the time, you’re only paying for the convenience of not having to buy the furniture yourself. Furthermore, buying or renting furnished homes means you’ll be missing out on cheaper alternatives to furnish your home, including the other tips on this list.
Even if you think you’re saving money, you should inspect the property yourself to be sure. Check the condition of the furniture, as well as the pre-installed appliances. Remember that the item’s brand name is useless if it’s a few weeks away from a breakdown.
7. Swap furniture
As a last resort, you can always fall back to the oldest means of transacting – bartering. Aside from those you know personally, you can also search online for people who could be interested in your belongings. In exchange, they might have that piece of furniture you’ve been looking for all this time.
Here are some websites you can use to barter online:
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Image Credits:
Craigslist screenshot taken by Vikas Agrawal in January 2017
