When you are decorating on pennies like I am, you rely on hand-me-down furniture, and great discount shopping sources!
I know I tend to rejoice over those ridiculously discounted finds in my posts, and I’ve gotten quite a few emails and comments asking “where did you get it?” and “how can I find it at that price?”! *grin* I always use to hate it when someone else seemed to get these great finds and I couldn’t catch a break! I figured I had bad luck… turns out I just didn’t have the 411 on where to get those “fantastic finds”. Now I’m reveling in my new found “good luck”, and I thought it was time to pass it on!
In my last post “Barely Budget Decorating” I shared my tricks to frugal decorating, but I thought I should give you a few more details on how to find that must stop shop to aid in that endeavor.
Used & Vintage Goods
We all know the perks of a great garage sale, estate sale, or thrift shop. But what about other shops that may not fall under the google search “thrift stores”. To start, broaden your internet search to key words like “resale shops”, “consignment” + ” furniture”, “vintage” + “home goods”, etc.
The difficulty is that these small businesses often do not have a very large online presence (if any at all), which often makes them hard to find, and you will have to visit to see how good the shop is.
A great example of a center that sells great goods at great prices is the Habitat for Humanity Restore! ReStores can be found all over the U.S. and in Canada, click here to find one near you.
ReStores are a DIY’ers dream! Not only do you find used furniture there, but they often carry old doors & windows for projects, closet systems, building materials & paint, cabinets & hardware, and many many other home goods!
New Home Goods
I love a great home goods store, but lest you think you are getting their rock bottom prices during sales, think again. Often stores like Marshalls, Kohls, Ross, Target, and more, will hand their unsold items over to an outlet, warehouse, or discount center where you can find the same new good for a fraction of the sale cost.
One great example is an awesome discount center a friend introduced to me not far from my mother-in law. Every holiday season that we visit, I reserve one afternoon to make a run over to the Frese Discount Center in Dowagiac Michigan. Moral of the story, when you can’t find that great discount store nearby, just hit one up when visiting your friends and relatives! *grin*
The Frese Discount Center gets quite a bit of goods from Target (one of my favorite stores for home goods!), and they slash the original price (even store sale tag prices) in half! Can it get better? YES! They are great about “haggling” and often mark or round it down even lower at the cash register!
Just a few (of the many) fantastic items I’ve found at Frese at a fraction of the original cost.
I hope you are convinced to look for your own local “must stop shops” and keep your money where it belongs…in the bank!
Leave a Reply