Where to find secondhand furniture

Last week I asked about how to find secondhand furniture and a bunch of you gave me some really good answers and tips. I really didn’t expect as much of a response as I got, thanks so much!

You might have skipped the post if you (like me) didn’t know anything about the best way to get some furniture the eco-friendly secondhand way. So I’ve summarised the info here because I think it’s really useful. I was only thinking about op-shops, but there are lots of other options too.

• Linda and Jane recommended looking at garage sales. They said to get up early, and keep an eye out for sales that are by people moving interstate or overseas, because they’re more likely to be selling perfectly fine furniture that they just don’t want to move a long way.
• Reyna and Jane suggested eBay.com.au as well. I didn’t know this, but you can set up a permanent search so that you get an email when something you’re looking for pops up in the listings – that way you don’t have to be checking every single day. Very handy!
• Nikki suggested Gumtree.com.au as another option. It turns out they have a homeware/furniture/outdoor category, and you can search by your city area. Just looking at my area now I’m seeing dining tables, beds, coffee tables and lots of good stuff. You can sell on there as well if you’re getting rid of something.
• Tanya is brave enough to go looking at the tip. We all know that people throw away perfectly fine stuff, and sometimes local councils send them stuff from the verge collections if they don’t know what to do with it. I might keep an eye out next time we’re there for other reasons.
• Wilma gets in before the local councils and checks out the verge collections in her area when they’re on. She’s found some good stuff this way for free, which is a price you just can’t beat.

Thanks again to everyone who commented. I really value the little community we have here of people sharing their knowledge – it’s fun to see people pipe up about their area of expertise