by: Jeff Lakie
Buying furniture can be very expensive. After all, next to your house and your car, furniture is one of the priciest things in your home. So any time you can save money, you should! Here are some tips to buying furniture inexpensively.
Look in the Yellow Pages for a furniture wholesaler or a liquidation or discount store. Often, their furniture is as good as the kind you will get in a retail outlet, but usually cheaper because of a minor flaw (and usually you won't notice that flaw!).
You can also buy from a furniture warehouse where the salespeople are paid by commission. Using a number of purchasing tactics you can often get it at a better deal. For example, if you buy a couch, but would really like to own a couch and a chair, ask if you could get a deal if you buy both.
Another good way to save money when you're buying furniture is to go in toward the end of the month. Most retail companies operate on a month by month basis, measuring sales, running promotions, and introducing or winding up furniture lines on a monthly basis. At the end of the month, furniture companies may be closing out a line of furniture they are no longer looking to stock. They may be willing to give you a great deal if it's the last one in the store and they don't want it taking up any more room. As well, since salespeople are often paid by commission or given sales bonuses, at the end of the month they may be looking to put themselves over the top to be eligible for a reward or to make enough money to pay for the mortgage. You can take advantage of this eagerness to make a sale by showing that you want to buy, but you need a deal.
Many large furniture warehouse companies offer an in-store credit card and will give you a discount if you apply for the card when you purchase their furniture. Use this to your advantage: apply for the card, buy the furniture, get a discount, and pay off the card the next day with the money you're going to spend in your furniture anyway.
Another money-saving option is to buy used furniture and get it reupholstered or refinished by a carpenter. Often, the cost of the furniture plus the finishing will still be cheaper than buying new furniture, and you may even be happier with the result since you are able to be more specific in the kind of furniture you're looking for.