furnish your house for under £150

Kamal Khurana


8th Jul 2024

Reading Time:
5
minutes

Updated 9th July 2024

Need to furnish a whole house for cheap?

Desperate to furnish your new apartment on a low budget?

Read on to discover how you can furnish an entire home for less than £250 — or even for free!

Whether you are renting a property or buying a new home, prices for even basic furniture can feel out of reach. So, anything you can save on home furnishings is always welcome, and the good news is it IS possible to furnish on a budget!

In this article, we give you tips that could save you thousands of pounds. We’ve got an imaginary house to furnish with every household essential that you would need to live comfortably, right down to your bathroom bin and table lamp.

If you are bargain-savvy and not picky, you can probably furnish the majority of your house for free. Although, there are some items that everybody will want new.

Grab the Freebies

People often give away furniture for free as it saves them the job of getting rid of it. It could benefit you to spend on hiring a self-drive van for a day if you can, lining up several collections in the same day to pick up lots of free furniture at once.

You can find all kinds of furniture online, from big items to small furnishings, for free every day. Or, if you are happy to spend, you routinely find giveaway prices on items. Here are some of the best places to look.

Gumtree

It’s a fantastic place to start when looking for free stuff. You can snatch up dining room tables, beds, futons, sofas — basically anything and everything can be found on this site. All for just the inconvenience of having to pick up the items yourself, which if you don’t have a car may be a bit tricky, but still well worth the effort.

Facebook Marketplace

With the added bonus of being able to verify sellers on Facebook, this digital marketplace is a fantastic way to find free stuff in your area. Easy to use and navigate, it is very similar to Gumtree and is a brilliant place to find bargains.

Freecycle

Join your local Freecycle group. This is a grassroots global organisation that joins together people who have free things to give away, with those wanting free stuff. The idea being if we swap and share then we aren’t filling landfills up with unwanted items.

Freeloved

This listings website has an entire section dedicated to free, preloved stuff. There are plenty of bargains to be found here too.

Swapz

Swapz is the UK’s biggest, most established and original marketplace where you can swap, trade, sell and deal with like-minded people both locally and nationwide.

NextDoor

A newer app on the market, it’s free to join and is a great way to connect with your local community. Check out the For Sale and Free section to grab some bargains.

CHEAP PLACES ON THE HIGH STREET

Argos

With some great deal on home bargains, Argos should not be overlooked if you are looking to furnish your home on a budget.

Ikea

You might have to assemble the furniture yourself, but the Swedish retailer always guarantees good quality and affordable prices.

Wilko

This jack-of-all-trades store is a great place to pick up bargains for your home, especially items like plates, pots, pans, and utensils.

B&M

This is a store that is easy to spend hours in without realising. Affordable homewares, storage, and (in the bigger stores) garden furniture, B&M has loads of great deals.

The Range

Much like B&M, the Range has, well, a large range of items! Try to shop at the end of seasons to grab the best bargains.

JYSK

This Swedish furniture store is a bit like Ikea, without the frustrating warehouse layout and often with much lower prices. They deliver, too.

Check out your local supermarket, too. Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, and Sainsbury’s all have home ranges that include things like duvet covers, kitchen essentials, lighting – everything you need to kit out your home. The very big stores (or online) also have furniture!

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Visit your council website or give them a call asking about furniture recycling schemes. There are loads all over the UK, like Four Square in Edinburgh, which may offer free furniture removal as part of a recycling scheme.

Contact Furniture Re-use Network to have your used furniture donated to poor families who could not otherwise furnish their homes. The donation centers are spread out across all of the UK. If you’re in Northern Ireland go to Homeless Northern Ireland for details on how you can help.

Your local charities like the British Heart Foundation, Sue Ryder Homes, or St Leonard’s Hospice might also have a furniture warehouse nearby.