Furnishing a new home cheaply

loanranger_4

Hi

We're moving to a larger property and only own a couple of items of furniture. We'll be looking for a 3 piece suit, dining table, fridge etc. only problem is that we'll have very little money left over (at least for a couple of months) ! What do people do to furnish new homes? Do you :

use a furniture rental company,
borrow furniture from friends/relatives,
use freecycle.org,
get the cheapest stuff from ikea to tie us over
get a 0% credit card and put a couple of 'essential' items on there

Of course we'll get the current owners to leave anything that they don't want

Thanks

squeaky

loanranger wrote:

Hi

We're moving to a larger property and only own a couple of items of furniture. We'll be looking for a 3 piece suit, dining table, fridge etc. only problem is that we'll have very little money left over (at least for a couple of months) ! What do people do to furnish new homes? Do you :

Thanks

Charity shops often have furntiure for sale, and of course there are plenty of second hand shops around. This is where I bought the basic necessities and then, later, one by one as I could afford it, replaced them with more expensive stuff I really liked. Not that you have to buy total rubbish to start with - just buy the things you like best among the cheaper options open to you. If everything you tramp round to see is awful then yes buy what you like from a retail supplier of your choice.

calleyw

Do you have a local freebie paper. In the back there are always people trying to get rid of stuff.

In the Bristol area there is a paper called trade-it and people put free ads in for stuff they don't want. Do you have a local paper like that.

Also do you have any charity shops local. We have one that is full of sofa's and stuff like that. We also have a second hand furniture shop in the local town. So when I know what extras I want I will be popping down there to have a look.

We too have just moved but we have enough to keep us going.

And to me if if has managed to get to be second hand and still looks good then it must have been good quality in the first place.

See what you can borrow from people. Espcially if it is only for a 6 months or so until you get organised and can afford to upgrade.

I knew of someone who moved in to a flat with nothing and got given 2 tellys. 3 hi-fi a sofa coffee table etc.

Some people maybe glad as it has saved them from a trip to the charity shop.

Don't worry if it does not match the other stuff you have. It will do until you get around to upgrading.

And well done on moving in to a new place as well. Enjoy.


Yours

Calley

bluemoon_3

Hi there,

You could see if there's a local Furniture Re-Use Network listed on http://www.frn.org.uk/code/find/map.asp

They were a God-send to us when we moved into our first home (we had a whole home to furnish). I'm not sure if you have to be on a low income to qualify, but it may be worth checking out, if only to get you started for a few months, then you can replace things as and when you can afford to.

As well as the big stuff, our local place also offered curtains, microwaves, cutlery, crockery, pans . . . anything that people may have donated. Everything was free, apart from electricals (we paid £15 for a fridge-freezer), and they delivered free too.

Eek, this is my first post, and it sounds like an advert, lol. It's not, I've been lurking for a while, but I registered so I could reply to your post.

Good luck.

Kippsy

You can buy a book called the Good deal driectory and it is basically filled with factory shops outlets etc etc and they sell all the top range furniture at much lower prices!!

The stock is always changing because it can be end of line stuff or cancelled orders I think it is £9.99.

There is also a website called thegooddealhouse.co.uk and the author of the above book bought a house and furnished it with stuff from all the factory places and saved around £17, 000 (working the RRP and what she actually paid). It also means that the stuff you buy is brand new.

If you do buy old furniture espcially armchairs sofas etc that over 5-10 years old I think they might not meet fire regs, so (heaven forbid) if they burn the smoke they produce is really toxic!

Hope that helps. Take care

spend money to save money.

Edinburghlass_2

while i wouldn't buy the cheapest sofa from ikea, you can't go far wrong with them for the flat pack stuff.

Norma_Desmond

No need to use a credit card at all - just find out where your local auction rooms are; we virtually furnished our massive old house through auction sales last year! A few examples of what we got..........Victorian solid mahogony dining table and chairs, £45, big old beautifully battered leather chesterfield sofa, £80, virtually new electric cooker, £50, THREE lovely solid pine wardrobes, £80.........and other stuff too numerous to mention! Good luck in your new home!

lipidicman

Get a fridge from the dump! Seriously, travel to a nice area and you will find fridges in great condition dumped by owners probably off to buy the latest smeg. You can often get a hotpoint and clean out the drainage channel (a blockage makes the salad tray flood and people throw them away - use some cotton buds and it is all better!)

dougk_2

Car boot sales - you can get everything you need and can haggle over the price!
If you wait till the end of the sale as people are packing up to go , you can get some real bargains as they don't want to take them home!

cyclegypsy1

Ebay would be another option. I have a friend in Bristol, currently selling off furniture for a fraction of the price it cost him on ebay. Mainly lounge stuff, not just ordinary either, some wonderful pieces you won't find anywhere else. As long as you can pick it up. A fantasitic and cheap way to go. His stuff is in the lounge section.

ET03

lots of local supermarkets have a notice board where people sell items for good prices