Ways to Find Free Furniture

Christine is sharing ways to find free furniture and resources for help with furniture when you are on a limited budget.

No matter what brought you to circumstances of needing free furniture, it can be overwhelming to try to find, especially if you don’t have the means to haul it. While sites like Craigslist and Freecycle can be great for finding free furniture, rarely do the ads say they will also deliver. If you need help with free furniture, the good news is there are some resources and ways to get free home furnishings that will often also deliver and let you pick out what you need from their warehouses. Here are some Ways to Find Free Furniture.

Ways to Find Free Furniture

Make sure you have proper paperwork available. Most charities or places that help with free furniture will require things such as photo ID’s, proof of income, and proof of residence. Make sure you have what the place needs before applying. It can be hard to scramble to get this stuff afterwards. If you are not sure what they need, call ahead.

Check with the Furniture Bank Association of America. This is a website that can tell you where there are furniture banks across the nation, broken down by state. While not all states have affiliation with the FBAA, there are many that do. If you don’t see any near you, don’t give up. You may just have to do more digging.

Ask furniture stores, both local and national. They most likely won’t give you any help directly, but they often know where you can look in your local community. Asking them is a great idea because they know more in the industry since they are in it.

Check with your local Salvation Army. In the past, I have gotten free vouchers from my local Salvation Army to use in their thrift stores to obtain furniture. I many cases, they will help deliver in a certain mile radius.

Call a pregnancy support center. Many centers for pregnancy support have infant furniture you can borrow for a long period of time. By borrowing you don’t have to purchase your own if you can’t afford it.

Ask your local mattress store. A while ago, I was able to get a free used and refurbished/cleaned mattress from a local mattress store that sells new mattresses. They would take people’s old mattresses that they had before buying a new one and fix them up and professionally clean them. Then, they find people in need of them. They even delivered it! Ashley Furniture has a program called Hope to Dream and it helps kids ages 3-16 get a new mattress.

See if a local shelter may be able to help you. If you are starting over after a domestic violence situation, many times women’s shelters can offer you assistance in obtaining furniture. Additionally, if you are moving from homelessness to a place of your own, shelters for the homeless often assist in this manner as well.

Call 2-1-1. This is a number that anyone can call from a cell phone or landline that will help you with community resources available. Just call the number and tell the operator what you need. They often know of charities that exclusively work through their referrals so there may be ones you don’t know about or don’t have access to unless you call them.