The Price is Right!

What is better than great used furniture at a really great price?  Great used furniture for free!  Even I’ve been surprised at how many great free finds I’ve found in a month that I can use in our house.  So here’s what I’ve found:

My son and I were walking the dogs and our foster children through the neighborhood one day when we passed a house with a free king size bed frame with rails sitting out at the end of the driveway.  It wasn’t fancy, but perfectly fine – just a wooden king mahogany-colored headboard.  No marks or scratches or anything.  Perfect!  We walked home superfast and I sent the boy back in the car to pick it up.  (Teenage sons are so useful!)

I was on the “for sale and free” section of the NextDoor website when I saw my neighbor (3 houses down) had posted a free fire pit.  She had just upgraded and put her old one out on the curb.  Score!  All it needs is a new coat of paint.  Unfortunately, this house was not in the works when she texted me asking if we wanted her pool table for free about 6 months ago.  It would have been SOOO perfect for the finished basement lake view room.  That was definitely one of the ones that got away…

The House of Goodwill has 2 kitchens; one upstairs and another downstairs in the finished basement lake room.  In the house inspection we received, one of the only things found wrong with the house was a non-functioning dishwasher downstairs.  When I was on craigslist one day, I saw someone had posted an older (but totally functional) dishwasher for free, and (miracle!) three days after it was posted it was still available.  So the teenage boy and I claimed that.

When we went for the dishwasher, we passed a house that had two plastic outdoor chairs and a table on the curb with their trash.  They just need to be pressure washed.  I actually knocked on the door to make sure we could take them, and got a yes.  You never can have too many extra outdoor chairs at a lake house, right?

About an hour ago I received a text from the man I bought the two red chairs and ottoman from.  He and his wife also had a (practically new) and barely used red and white sofa for sale for $200.  He told me they were wanting it out of the house this week and offered it to me for free.  Yes!!  Again, not the color I was envisioning but it’s ok, when the budget is small and the price is right you find a way to make it work. 

photo from craigslist