Bargain Shopping

We stretched our finances to the limits by living in two places and flying back and forth every week for seven months. Now that we are finally in our house we must watch the budget, instead of furnishing the place in style. I have tried to be fairly creative and I thought I would pass along some of my tips and tricks. First of all we left nearly all the old furniture behind and since we are not independently wealthy we are living in a pretty spartan environment. For each area I knew I wanted certain things and I went on the hunt. While still in Cali I hit Bombay company, Pier 1, and West Elm on a regular basis and I vowed to only buy when an item was 50-75% off the original price. With patience I got almost everything I wanted by waiting. However, I did lose out on a couple of items. In the picture below I bought the convex mirror at Bombay in Town Center for $99 (regularly $299). I figured it probably wouldn't go lower and I was leaving the next week. The chairs I bought at RC Willey for $299 a piece (regularly $349). They were marked $349 and I just asked if they would go any lower on the price. Their policy is to give the last sale price if it was within the last month or two. The benches are Pottery Barn media benches with sliding doors. This was the bargain of the century. Here in Utah there are stores called Downeast Outfitters. They receive scratched and dented merchandise from places like West Elm, Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Etc. Generally the prices are 40% off the retail, so they can still be fairly pricy. A few weeks ago they had a tent sale and items were deeply discounted. These media benches were a bit scratched up and the price was $149. I thought they were cute, but not worth $149. The next day I returned and they had been marked down to $49. I snapped them up to fill this long wall next to the fireplace. It was an awkward space and since a fireplace is usually a focal point something like a big wall of shelves or an entertainment center would detract. the little cushions on top were also from the tent sale. They are West Elm microfiber suede cushions purchased for $5. This little vignette serves a few purposes. Lots of extra seating for the kids. It covers up a wall of outlets, cable jacks, phone lines, and internet outlets. It was kind of an eyesore, to be frank. The little tables between the chairs were an accident. I ordered two console tables from West Elm and since they were out of stock they "kindly" sent the end tables instead. When I called to correct the problem they informed me that if I would like to pay the $50 shipping they would happily take them back. Yeah right! Hammered metal end tables from West Elm $89 each. FYI: Those little tables are now $69. This room still needs art and a coffee table/ottoman but I think it is fairly well furnished for:

110 two media benches and cushions
100 convex mirror
900 3 chairs
180 2 endtables
100 floor lamp

1390 total expenditure