How To Find Affordable Furniture for Your New Home

Buying a home can be a very exciting time. However, it can also be quite hard on your finances. As if a brand-new home wasn’t already expensive enough, now you also need to furnish it. Depending on what pieces you need, this can get expensive very fast, especially if you’ve never lived on your own before.

Fortunately, we’ve put together a list of some tips on how to find affordable furniture for your new home. That way, you won’t break the bank while settling into your new abode.

Focus on Needs, Not Wants

Before you get anything for your new home, you must sit down and figure out what you need for your space. Do you need somewhere to sit and relax in your living room, or are you missing a big enough bed for your primary bedroom? These are crucial problems you need to fix right away. Some pieces of furniture are more crucial than others.

Things you want but don’t need should wait for now. For example, a bench to sit down on when you’re putting on your shoes is nice, but you can sit just about anywhere to do that. You can buy something like that down the road when you have more money.

Another type of want you don’t need to focus on currently is style and design. It’s okay if your home has a mishmash of items—no one expects a home that looks like it came straight from HGTV, especially while you’re moving in. Trying to stick exclusively to a specific interior design will cost you a lot of excess cash, which isn’t something you need currently.

Aim for Quality Products Over Cheap Ones

One mistake that many people make when buying furniture for their new home is getting whatever is the cheapest. While this does keep things affordable, it will end up catching back up to you down the road. Finding a ridiculously cheap couch could save you a ton right off the bat. But if you need to replace it in a few years due to its low-quality materials, it will be a much larger waste of money.

Sometimes, spending a little bit more to get a product that will last you for years to come is better. Even if you don’t love how it looks, you’ll be able to get more for it if you ever decide to resell it in the future. That makes it a more worthwhile investment.

Reach Out to Friends and Family

Now that you have these goals in mind, it’s time to start looking for affordable furniture for your home. The best place to start is always close friends and family. Many of these people will likely have extra furniture they don’t need anymore. In many cases, they might even give it to you for free, but even if they don’t, they will likely heavily discount these items for you.

Although these pieces of furniture might break our rule of focusing on getting quality products, you can’t argue with free. Even if the furniture breaks down on you a year later, you at least put off an expensive purchase for longer than you would have otherwise.

Build Your Own Furniture

If nobody has anything to give you, the next cheapest option is to build some furniture yourself. While complex items like a recliner will be off the table, especially for those who are more inexperienced, something like an end table will be much more possible. The cost of materials needed to build simple pieces of furniture is surprisingly low. If you don’t have a tool kit, most of those will also be fairly inexpensive.

The thing that keeps most people from attempting DIY projects is a lack of experience. However, we live in the information age, where tutorials and guides from pros are a simple click away and won’t cost you a thing. At the very least, you should look up a couple of videos to see if building some of your own furniture is a possibility.

Shop Around Online

Of course, the internet can do more than show you how to build furniture. It can also help you find retailers you would have never thought of on your own. The days of driving around and checking out nearby furniture stores are over. With a couple of searches, you can use the internet to shop online with ease.

Even though some people like to see furniture in person before buying it, online stores offer many options for making sure a product is right for you. With detailed dimensions and AR phone apps, you can easily determine if a piece of furniture will fit in your space. Plus, some retailers have return windows that allow you to try products out for a certain number of days risk-free. Regardless of what a company offers, buying affordable furniture online has never been more straightforward and reliable.

Wait for Sales

One of the best tips we can suggest is waiting for sales when shopping. While you’ll need to buy some furniture pieces immediately, you can hold off on others until a decent sale comes up for them. While all retailers provide sales according to their own practices, one industry norm many follow is short holiday sales.

Whether it’s for Labor Day or the Fourth of July, many furniture stores take holidays as an opportunity to generate buzz and sales. You can usually score some satisfactory deals if you play your cards right during these holidays.

Search for Pay-As-You-Go Plans

If you simply can’t find a good sale, try to make sure the company you buy from has a decent financing plan. The problem with furnishing a new home is the individual costs can stack up quickly. However, if you can pay as you go, you can spread those costs out a bit, making things much better for your bank account.

If the place you buy from has a no-interest plan for you to use, that will make things even better. During that time frame, you can pay the furniture off however you want without fear of overpaying for it. Interest can add up quickly on big-ticket items.

Pick Up Furniture When Possible

If it’s possible, another way to save some money is to pick up your orders. Shipping can add up fast if there aren’t any free options, so picking up your furniture will save you a ton. Even if you don’t own a large vehicle, many retailers ship their products disassembled. That means many of them can fit inside even the smallest cars. Just make sure you know the dimensions of the box before heading to the store.

Buy Secondhand

Finally, the last option we have for you to consider is buying secondhand. This option can also conflict with our focus on quality products, but some older items might surprise you. Some old furniture was truly built to last. And since people who want to get rid of furniture typically want to do so quickly, you might be able to find some great deals on outstanding used products.

Thanks to places like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, used furniture has never been easier to find. You can still visit secondhand shops and garage sales, but finding cheap items online is quite a reliable way to save some cash.