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Many people run directly to the
store to buy brand new items at full price when there are many other
options. In fact, one of the best options we've found is shopping
for items through classified ads.
You have probably used classified ads
in the past for numerous reasons however, we want to tell you about
one of our best experiences and remind everyone that you can save
BIG money by shopping for "pre-owned" merchandise rather
than running out to buy new all the time.
One of the best deals we found using
classified ads is sitting beautifully in our dining room right now!
As newlyweds, we wanted brand new
furniture for our apartment. For some reason we thought if it were
new it would be of better quality. But nearly a decade later not
only did our taste in style change, but the furniture was looking
quite shabby.
We decided to replace the dining room
set, and this time we knew better than to go to the store first. We
searched through the classified ad sections of all our local
newspapers for used dining room tables.
There were certain requirements for
the new table such as: (1) solid wood, (2) no upholstered chairs,
too easily stained by children, (3) seat at least six people, (4) be
in good condition, (5) high quality, and (6) must be a great deal,
financially.
We searched and searched. We visited
many people and looked at their tables, but they weren't exactly
what we had in mind. Discouraged, we went looking in the furniture
stores. The closest we found to match our criteria was a Broyhill
that seated six and was about $1,200 with the chairs. Yikes! We did
want a high quality table, but that just seemed like too high a
price. We looked in numerous furniture stores and noticed that the
prices and quality were not getting better.
After about two weeks of looking in
the stores, we decided to give the classifieds another try before
giving up and buying a new table. Well, as you have guessed, we
found someone selling a great table at a great price. They were
moving to Florida and didn't want to haul everything with them
during the move.
The table was everything we had hoped
to find. It's an Ethan Allen, solid oak, two leaves, with eight
chairs! It was in such great condition that many people thought it
was new. The price for this set--$700! What a deal! After doing some
research we found that similar chairs, brand new, from the same
manufacturer, retail around $349 each. So for eight new chairs only,
the cost would be about $2,800!
Searching the classified ads turned
out to be well worth the time and effort in this case. By the way,
we financed the $700 table by using a no fee, cash advance, from one
of our credit cards at a rate of 2.99%.
In the past we've also turned to the
classifieds to buy and sell cars, find jobs, buy other furniture,
and learn about other sales. At a recent church sale that we learned
about through the classifieds, we purchased a sleeper sofa (seats
three), love seat, twin-size cot, entertainment center, five-drawer
dresser, and storage end table, for only $195 which included
delivery to a second-floor apartment!
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