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When we bought our house we upgraded from a 1/1 to a 3/2. Needless to say, we did not have the furniture to fill it.
I had a lot to furnish, but I knew the bank was watching our finances right up until closing. Aside from not wanting to upset the money powers that be, we didn’t have much to spare. #ClosingCosts. That meant being patient and looking to find free furniture in the meantime.
I could’ve driven around dumpster diving and hitting up yard sales but I hadn’t even started packing my bedroom yet so who has time for that? Luckily, technology has made finding furniture for free easier than ever.
Free furniture is great if you just want to be frugal, environmentally friendly, or if you want to send all of your extra money to pay off debt.
How to Get Free Furniture
We used all these and have picked up good quality free furniture and household items from all of them. Let me know if you have more suggestions in the comments below. I’m always on the hunt for free goodies!
4 Free Apps to Find Free Furniture
1. Facebook
I love my local Buy Nothing Group on Facebook for free furniture. Since every group is hyper-local it’s my favorite way to get free stuff near me. You can get way more than furniture but the furniture I do see is usually good quality and always easy to pick up.
I’m also finding Facebook Marketplace to be the best place to find free and cheap furniture. While it’s not a standalone app most people have the Facebook app on their phone.
You can filter to see only furniture, filter to see the type of furniture, garage sales, etc. You can search for very particular specifications like “free dressers” and save your searches then get a notification when something comes up that matches. Of course, you can do all this by price, but Facebook makes it easy to sort out free with a “Free” button.
You can save your favorites, get alerts when prices drop and it’s my favorite place to make money selling stuff right now. As Facebook invests more into Marketplace I totally see it making Craigslist obsolete.
2. Nextdoor
This App breaks all rules, and I love it. It’s a private social network for your neighborhood, almost like a forum. People mainly use Nextdoor to report break-ins, find a babysitter, hire handymen, or have people keep an eye out for their lost dog. In an age where asking your neighbor for a cup of sugar is unheard of, Nextdoor is bringing people together via technology.
People also post about yard sales and when they’re giving away free furniture near me and other household items. One weekend we got a ton of free moving boxes from a family that posted on Nextdoor.
You can’t hop around neighborhoods, though. According to the website, every neighbor has to verify their address and use their real name. Just like in person (or in police records.) And beyond that, you can choose which information you share. It’s one of the neatest free furniture apps I’ve seen so far.
3. OfferUp
OfferUp is also a great app for finding furniture. It’s similar to letgo, but easier to use. You can search “free” and all their free items should come up. The premise is to find something you like and “make an offer” based on the asking price. All prices are negotiable on OfferUp.
A pro tip on getting the most out of OfferUp is when you find something you like, look at other items from the same seller and if you see something else you like you may be able to negotiate a package price or even get the lower priced item for free!
You might remember the app letgo, it merged with Offerup so now you get all the functionality there in one app with OfferUp!
4. Craigslist
I’ve got to include Craigslist because its still one of the most widely used classifieds service in any medium. It’s great for getting good quality free furniture and pretty much anything else! In college, I made some serious mistakes using Craigslist and while I was lucky, others are not.
Here are some necessary precautions to make when getting free stuff on Craigslist:
• Never give out your real contact information. Craigslist lets you communicate via email with a proxy email address meaning you never have to reveal your personal email. Take advantage. The same goes for financial information.
• Always meet in a public place. Police stations will let you make Craigslist transactions right in front of their doors and Starbuck is a popular meet up spot. If it’s something bulky like a free couch, always bring someone along. And since not everyone on craigslist respects women, you should probably have at least one guy with you.
7 Other Ways to Get Free Furniture
1. Freecycle
Freecycle is a free website that connects you to the local people in your area. After joining, you can search for local groups in your area. You can only join a maximum of 5 groups, but you can always leave a group to join another if it looks more promising. It’s like old classified ads from the newspaper, just online. You can search for free stuff or give away free stuff through their website.
2. College Campuses on Move Out Day
College students have a massive move out day right after spring semester. This is the best time to get free furniture. They have tons of free furniture and things they don’t want to take with them or pay to store, so they leave it. You can go around a college town and search near the dumpster of the dorm rooms and apartment buildings. You can find tons of free things on moving day!
3. Local storage facilities near dumpsters
People purchase storage lockers to flip the individual contents for cash (like on the Storage Wars TV show). They go through the lockers and discard the items they want near the dumpsters at the storage facility. You can find tons of things for free at your local storage facilities.
4. Reddit
Reddit is a website for online forum with tons of topics. On their website, they have a section called Barter and a section called Recycle. These are perfect for finding free furniture.
5. Swap with friends
Swapping with friends is a great way to get free furniture. You have a party similar to a clothing swap party and swap your unwanted furniture with your friends. You can swap anything you don’t need from lamps to dining room tables. You just throw everything together in a pile and everyone starts digging.
6. End of yard sale
At the end of the yardsale is the perfect time to get free stuff. The people hosting the yardsale are tired after hours of work and they just want to get rid of their stuff and not have to drag it back into the garage. You can get tons of free things at the end of a yard sale. You can even lump everything together and offer one low price for everytihgn leftover at the yard sale.
7. Heavy trash day in your neighborhood
If you live in an area where they have a heavy trash day, it’s the perfect time to go around and get free stuff. The unwanted stuff is usually sitting at the end of the driveway and you can just go by and pick it up for free. If you don’t know if your area has a heavy trash day, you can just contact your local city hall or ask on Facebook.
6 Safety Tips to Remember When Getting Free Furniture from a Stranger
Getting free furniture from a stranger can be dangerous, but you can do a few things to lessen your risk and make it a great experience.
1. Don’t go alone
Don’t go to meet a stranger alone. Always take someone with you as a precaution. If the item you’re purchasing is heavy, all the more reason to have an extra set of hands to help you lift the item into your vehicle.
2. Meet in public
Always meet in public. Meet in a busy safe place like in front of the police station or Starbucks. Don’t ever meet someone in a secluded place. The busier the place, the better.
3. Don’t give out personal information
Don’t ever give out any of your personal information like your phone number or any other personal information. If you met the person through an app (like Facebook Marketplace), you don’t even have to give them your number. You can communicate through the messenger app.
4. Do it in the daytime hours
Never meet up with someone at night. Make sure it’s always in a bright, well-light and crowded area.
5. Trust your gut
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you’re getting bad vibes from the person or just about the transaction in general, be cautious and trust your gut. There will always be another piece of furniture.
6. Be leary of new accounts
Look at the date the account of the person you’re communicating with is set up. Don’t do a transaction with someone with a new account or that looks like a fake account.
Tips to look for good free furniture near me
1. Look often
Some of the apps and sites mentioned have notification settings to send you a notification when something you’re looking for becomes available, but not all of them do. Set aside a couple of times a week to check. You can check each site within 20 minutes or so. Just add it to your schedule or do while you’re watching TV on the couch.
2. Search for variations
Some people spell things incorrectly or not put a great description. Look for different spelling variations for the same word. If you’re looking for a dining room table, try searching for a table. If you’re looking for a file cabinet, try searching for a cabinet, etc.
3. Act fast
If you see something you’re interested in, act fast. Good deals go fast and you need to be on your toes. If you see something contact the seller right away.
4. Make sure it fits your area and your vehicle
Make sure to check the dimensions. You need to make sure the piece of furniture fits into your vehicle and in your space. You don’t want to waste your time and energy (or the seller’s) when it won’t even fit in your space.
5. Search Pinterest for restoration tips
Don’t immediately discount something because it doesn’t “look good” to you. There are plenty of restoration tips on Pinterest. You drastically change the look of furniture with new paint or drawer pulls. Just search Pinterest for tips and tutorials. Ex: “Makeover dining room table”.
Free (or cheap) furniture is a great way to decorate your home without breaking the bank. There are so many resources to find free furniture and restore furniture online. You’ll be able to get great looking furniture to make your home looking good on a budget.
What’s next
If you want to save even more money, be sure to check out the free 7-day No Spend Challenge. I will walk you through exactly how to do a successful no spend challenge even if you’ve never completed one or if you struggle with impulse spending and overspending.
Jen Smith
Jen Smith is a personal finance expert, founder of Modern Frugality and co-host of the Frugal Friends Podcast. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Lifehacker, Money Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, Business Insider, and more. She’s passionate about helping people gain control of their spending.
