Thought of an interesting idea for a post. Show off all the stuff in my home that I paid nothing for.

Hmmm, where to start. As I started taking pics I kept finding more than I realized.

Well, let's start this. I am in the process of freecycling this beauty. My boss cleared out some old office furniture and this is how I obtained this. I was annoyed because he had these little short, simple 2-shelf bookshelves as well, which I Thought would be GREAT in my closet for shoes and clothes. BUT he accidentally threw the 2 I had reserved in the junk pile. I am still bummed about that 5 years later - hehe.



These beauties I got from my friend's parents when they sold their second home:


HEre are the hand-me-down china cabinet and dining table (with 3 leaves - this is fully expanded from Thanksgiving). We didn't want these. We had wanted a pool table in that spot when we moved. We took them begrudgingly but they have served us well.





Grandma also gave us her ANCIENT washer/dryer (bought in 1980 or so) because she moved to a retirement community as we prepared for our move. These weren't completely free - we had to buy storage for a while though. But we just replaced them last year. Frankly I liked hers better though they were energy hogs I guess.

Oh, nothing fancy, but this table my mom bought for me when I moved out on my own at 18. Just a cheap Target thing but I think it is still super cute in the living room.



My sister moved across country and was about to throw this in the dumpster. ??? WHat the heck? It is NICE. I Swear she was raised by invisible wolves or something - how someone in my family could turn out so wasteful. She threw out a perfectly nice car last year - I told her I would have bought it!!!!!!



Picked up the table below from an old roommate who left it. When the roommate left we had no chairs and my co-worker at the time gave me her BEAUTIFUL chairs - said she didn't want them anymore anyway. Oh yeah - the table has a leaf too which is super awesome - I think it is fully expanded here since it fits the chairs best but I love we can shrink it down since it is in a small spot.



This recliner in the kids room. My mom bought this chair in early 1980s I believe. The thing is THRASHED but throw a couple of blankets over it and good as new. I will be freecycling in the near future but was awesome for the baby years. Lots of nighttime rocking - it is next to the crib.



Oh yeah - these beauties are from the 70s I would guess. We have a super humongous closet. Since no one else sees it I put all the ugly stuff in here for more storage space. But these have served us very well - lovely cinderblock/wood plank shelving. I also have a 70s styled (very bright) toy box I Store old sweaters in up there.



This one looks much nicer in photo. This is an ancient bureau handed down through the family for years. I think it belonged to my mom's aunt originally or something. I know I got it red and has since been painted blue and then black - hehe.


Just a file cab I think my dad gave me:


Oh - this is just the desk I had as a child. It is REALLY nice. I threw it in for the buy quality aspect of frugalness. This thing looks brand new and is 15 years old at the least.



How about this baby?


LOL. If you have read my blog you know that dh's parents REALLY spoil us. I can't say we would have it so good today necessarily if they didn't. But my parents on the other hand - no way. IF I get $100 for christmas I would consider myself extremely lucky. My parents could not afford this beauty until I Was in my teens - my sister and I played piano, as did my dad. I always assumed they would keep it. But my sister moved cross-country and I moved to a big house around the same time. We had started negotiations for me to buy it since I was closer, and we had some major disagreements - LOL. I Remember telling my dad forget it, I Could find a better deal elsewhere. (I could - he wasn't cutting me ANY slack). Plus I still had a long way to save my pennies. BUT my mom softened up my dad and they gave it to us for Christmas that year if we would pay to move it and give them my upright. A good trade. So I know it doesn't count - but a nice story.

I think pretty much all the bedroom furniture in our house (us and kids) and our patio furnitue was bought new by dh's grandma & his parents. I Can't really brag in the frugalness in that, that is dh's family spoiling.

I noticed as I Was taking pics though that all of our stereo equipment throughout the house was stuff that we bought in the 80s/90s as well - nice stuff. Good quality and no need to upgrade...

But because of all this the only thing we have really paid for in our house is some cheap desk furniture, a cheap entertainment center, all the mattresses in our house, and a really nice sectional couch & TV both bought new. Oh yes, we have a nice sofa we bought pretty cheap brand new, and nice theatre chairs we got a steal on, and dh's fancy projector. But considering this is all we have paid over the years to furnish a large house, not bad. Most of our money has gone to the theatre room. HAving compact cars we have been overall hesitant to buy used in the past - large pieces. We are good discount furniture shoppers. BUT this is part of the reason we got a van. I saw a lot more used furniture options in our future. Plus easier to get free stuff too - if you can pick it up yourself!!!! Down the road when the kids are less harsh on our stuff I want to get some nicer pieces - but will be keeping an eye out from garage sales and stuff. I rather spend my money elsewhere for the most part.

I just noticed another thing - a coat rack my boss passed one to me as well. It is this big, fancy, garish, brass thing, but it is covered with coats so that is why I forgot it - LOL - you can't really see anything but the pretty base. We just were donning coats for a walk in the rain and remembered that one. I am sure I Could go on all day if I kept looking...