I'm back . . . with loot

My apologies to my faithful readers.  I had the very best intentions to post over the long weekend (scout's honour) only to learn upon arrival to my parent's place that they have no internet hookup yet.  Thus, silence in blog-land.

On the bright side it was an amazing long weekend with loads of stuff getting done, the ever entertaining process of moving and, of course, some loot.  My parent's house is currently the repository of household items they no longer want or need due to downsizing.  As a result I have been the very lucky recipients of some very nice furniture and other household goods.  I should mention that when the furniture coming my way I will have fully furnished my house, pictures and all.

I will have taken 11 months to fully furnish my 1800 sqft house (well it's only 900 sqft if you don't count the finished basement.  The entire furnishing process cost between $537 and $612.  Not to bad if I say so myself.  I say between because I am planning on replacing the kitchen table and chairs that I bought off of Kijiji with table and chairs that are larger, better built, and much  more stylish.  As a result my current table set will go back onto Kijiji for the same amount that I bought it for and we'll see what happens.  If you want to see how I spent the money you can take a look under BTI in the label list and the bottom 5 articles will explain the spending.  I'll share with you how I didn't spend money on furnishing my house.

Most of my furniture came in the following manners:
- Hand me down's from parents, particularly the bedroom set that I had as a teenager and some other things that they no longer had any need for
- Hand me down's from other family members such as Grandparents
- Gifts, house warming as well as birthday and Christmas
- Hand me down's from acquaintances, I have couches both from my work place and my mother's next door neighbour's
- Off the curb (yes I have one dresser and two end tables that I got off of the curb for free with the owner's permission)

How do you get all sorts of nifty free stuff:
- Ask around, people are generally happy to help you if they know that you need help, of course they can't help you out if you don't know what you need
- Ask for useful presents, since I was a teenager I've been asking for tools and dishes and other useful stuff, it's better than a knick knack that you see twice and than forget about
- Be patient, it'll be almost a year by the time my place is fully furnished, these things take time
- Keep your eyes open, a sharp eye on the curb will let you catch the real treasures
- Be open to the quality and stylishness of what you're getting.  Sure you want to avoid junk, but a bookcase that will only last a couple of years still gives you two years to find just the right one for just the right price.  Some of the pictures on my walls are the product of high school art classes, they're still pleasant too look at though.  Be prepared to repair and add flair; the cost of refinishing an older piece may be a lot cheaper than buying new and it gives you the ability to be flexible.