Are your towels/bedding frayed/holey/threadbare/torn? Do you have no furniture? Etc... - Page 5

[SuzyLee]

If I were you, I would do the following.

Make a big list of priorities (bathroom fixtures, your clothing, living room, etc) in order of importance.  Under each category, make a list of what you would ideally like to find, for example:

Dining Room

-Ideal:  solid wood mission style table w/ matching chairs

-Good enough:  wood table or glass table, regular height, prefer square w/leaves, solid wood chairs that don't have cushions.  or whatever

-Greenish paint

-3 pictures for the walls- maybe landscapes.  Or maybe a big mirror.  Or maybe a hand embroidered table runner from a thrift store that I could mount on the wall with 3M command strips.  Or whatever.  

-A new light fixture that is silver or that I could spray paint silver.  

1.  Sign up for any freecycles in your area (or areas you regularly visit- like if you visit parents/inlaws every month or so, scope those out in the week leading up to your visit).

2.  Check the CL free section every day.

3.  Make a weekly trip to the thrift store (try a few different ones and go more often if you can stand it).  

Then whenever you see something that matches your list, decide if you have enough money to devote to it (whether it is your first priority room, or if it is so 100% completely perfect that you want to go ahead and get it for your lowest priority room).  I personally have given away on freecycle lots of furniture in good shape that is just NMS (most of it I had gotten free when I was poor).  Someone out there was so freaking excited about the olive green 70's couch that I thought was heinous!  So don't assume you have to spend anything (or at least not much) to get something that fits your taste.  You just have to put the time in to find the deals.

[ghostlykisses]

 I could have written your post myself. I always wonder the same thing. Are we doing something wrong? Why do our friends who have no more or less money have nice furniture, matching towels, and their kids are always dressed in new clothing but we have hand me down household items and thrift shop clothing.

 I have decided that the reason is priorities. We choose to spend the little extra money we do have in different ways. We also choose to try not to have too much debt so we do not charge things. We basically have one time a year when we spend on home improvements or ourselves and that is tax time. Last year I bought some curtains, sheets, and a comforter set.

 Anyway you are in good company. When you get down you can think of those of us who are in the same boat and not feel so lonely. I will be here sitting on my ravaged looking used couch, with my tea sitting on the used coffee table, gazing out the window that currently has a quilt for a curtain because I don't have a curtain rod. I might be in the den where the love seat the dogs tore the stuffing out of the back of is washing my hand me down thread bare towels in my new washing machines (a gift). It's all good!

[Katie T]

Our towels are from my high school graduation and our wedding. Our bedding sheets and new this yr comforter have been gifts. I ask for things like that for Christmas and my Birthday because really there is nothing I "need" but would like to have a bedspread that I can not fit my arm through the whole in lol.

I don't think there is anything wrong with that. We do have matching furniture but they are now 10yrs old. I paid cash for each piece as I could and was living debt free at the time (apartment life). Anyways some of my favorite towels are covered in 2" wholes. They work great for hair lol. I think to each their own. Is new stuff needed. Def. not!

[laohaire]

OP back. I haven't done anything.

The thing we want the most is a loveseat (full couch is nice but loveseat cheaper and takes up less room). Honestly, this is one thing I don't want used... maybe I'm a snob. Used dining room table, no problem whatsoever. But fabric tends to take on odors and such, and I don't want to wonder what got spilled on the used loveseat, or how amorous the previous owners were, etc. We found one that we like - good style, color, and even has a pullout bed (which actually would come in handy - it's only a twin bed size but we have actually had need for a place for just one more person to sleep before, and that always meant my husband had to sleep on the floor). We were thinking of using some tax return money on it but I guess I'm really afraid to spend $500 now on something non-essential when we have only $1000 (actually $922 at the moment) in our emergency fund.

I go back and forth. $500 is supposedly not a lot in the grand scheme of things. It's two car payments (and we have none). And I think a love seat would add quite a bit to our quality of life, since we have nowhere comfortable to sit and talk or play a board game or read or anything. And this is the 7th year in our house. But $500 also represents 5 months worth of savings at our current rate. And if I lose my job, $1000 (current savings) is not going to go very far at all. SIGH.

[amber913]

If you're happy the way you're living, then that's all that matters. 

Different people have different ideas of "strapped".  I've had friends nearly in tears about how to pay rent, yet they go out to eat several times/week.  Either that's a different concept of broke than i'm accustomed to or they're lying...or crazy or something.

We're broke.  Anything we have that's nice was purchased in a different financial time for us (ie. before dh got laid off).  Our towels are fraying, and i have no thoughts of replacing them; they do the job they're meant to do.  Our sheets have holes in them, but i can repair them (if i get around to it).  I try not to compare myself to others.  I'm struggling with the "must be nice" mentality--trying not to do that!  I'm staying away from TV.  That helps--everybody's rich on TV!

I didn't read any other responses (yet), but you sound like you have your priorities straight. 

[lolar2]

Just a brief suggestion- you could use some of the holey sheets to reinforce and patch the quilt that is coming apart, and/ or to make a new quilt.

[The Imp and I]

We have some awesome hand me down towels with the addition of some random beach towels and so on that have been acquired over the last ten years. My furniture is also random and has duct tape patching the back of the couch... i did splurge on some nice throws (2 second hand) to tidy things up. My dishes match but they are plain jane cheap and hard working. my mother bought me them the first family Christmas I hosted as a wife because i was crying over not enough plates and no two alike. it mattered so deeply just then. My DH has promised me a sofa but im leaning towards a nice new mattress..... My house is a bit more random than some and sometimes Im a bit jealous of their stuff but usually I'm content with my tatt and bric-a-brac. Its mine, its well worn in and i don't cry when juice/milk/crayons vanish into the crevices.