One of the biggest burdens when you move into a larger home or move into your first home is trying to get all of the furniture to put into it. Furniture is an investment, but you also don’t want to be blowing huge amounts of money on it, but sadly that’s a hard thing to avoid when you have a lot you need to buy. While there are some things you’d never want second hand, like a mattress, it’s important to consider your options when you’re purchasing furniture and other items for your new home.
A sofa easily can cost you upwards of $1,000 and then you have kitchen tables, chairs, lounge chairs, lights, coffee tables, bookshelves and anything else you can think of. This all adds up. Luckily, there are some great ways to save money without sacrificing quality. Sure you can go to Ikea and buy a bunch of decently priced, nice enough items, but they’re not going to be as unique and you don’t really want to look like an Ikea showroom.
Instead signup for Offer Up, a website and app that allows you to browse furniture and items in your area. More often than not, people are selling things that are in fantastic shape, but because they’ve been used their value is significantly decreased. There are some real gems on there, like beautiful wooden coffee tables with little wrong with them as little as $40.
Even if you were to only buy a few items from Offer Up, you’d save so much money and you’d be left with pieces that you actually want and are better quality and more unique than what you’d find in a store like Ikea.
But there are several things that make Offer Up a better option than Craigslist. For starters, you can actually pay for the item through the app using a card. This is awesome for people who don’t want to get out cash and you can go see it and pay for it on the fly if it’s what you want. It also has a feature called TruYou.
The TruYou feature has you scan your ID and then take a selfie, and it verifies that you are that person. This is a great added security feature that makes people a little less worried about their personal safety. Obviously Craigslist doesn’t have anything like this.
Overall, Offer Up has some great things available at incredible prices with added security that you don’t get through anything else. If you’re looking to furnish a home or just get some added bits and bobs, then this is a great place to look. And hey, you might find something you didn’t know you even wanted that will bring you years of joy.
