Budget furnishing: second hand

We hope you all got some inspiration from our latest post! Our next tip for furnishing your house on a budget is to make use of second hand furniture. Every country has its own website for second hand furniture, in the Netherlands we have Marktplaats.

Second hand is much cheaper then new furniture and many times you can buy something unique! Sometimes, you have an idea in your mind but you can’t find in the stores, then you have to take a visit to a second hand furniture website. You can’t imagine what people offer for incredible low prices! However, searching on a second hand website can take a lot of time. Every day, thousands of new products are being presented. You need to decide what you are looking for in what color etcetera. If you want something specific you have to take a short look every day. Note that when you find something, call or e-mail the seller instead of making an offer on the website. Offers are often being ignored because sellers don’t know if it’s serious.

Many people buy their stuff on these websites. Sometimes it’s great quality stuff and it can be very unique. Moreover, people won’t even notice you bought second hand furniture if you don’t want people to know! It’s also possible to combine second hand furniture with new furniture.

Take a look and have fun!

Decorating your house on a budget: thrift stores

There’s no place like home. We think every woman can agree on that one. Everyone decorates their house in their own style and we want to achieve one thing: it must feel like your own special place.

Students, starters, divorced people and people with a low income can’t buy expensive furniture. Unfortunately, the most beautiful couches, tables and chairs are often very expensive. The first solution everyone considers is bringing a visit to IKEA. Although IKEA has very nice products and the quality is okay, you will get bored eventually.. If you don’t like IKEA furniture and you want to decorate or re-decorate your house in a different way, we have some nice tips for you!

Take a visit to some thrift stores. The furniture in thrift stores is often a little bit old-fashioned but you can pimp everything with paint. Last year, Kim found a dining table and a coffee table at a thrift store for 20 euros. The tables were very old-fashioned and we all laughed a little bit about her purchase. But she painted the tables white and they are beautiful!! We were shocked about the difference. Are you bored with the color? No problem, just give your furniture a new paint job and you have a new look!
Another nice tip is to buy four or six different dining chairs, look up some pictures on the internet and see for yourself that it looks really nice!


If you’re looking for a new couch but you have a low budget, ask your friends, family and parents if someone wants to get rid of their old couches. Choose a couch which is comfortable and visit a market where they sell fabrics. Some entrepreneurs sell lots of different fabrics so you can choose your perfect color and nature. For about 20 euros, you can buy enough fabric to cover your coach. The result is an awesome couch in your living room!

For our Dutch readers: take a look at gratisoptehalen.nl. If you’re lucky, you can find some nice pieces on this website.

More Tips for Traveling on a Budget

Ladies, as promised in our last column, we will give you more traveling on a budget tips. First we will show you a short video, which gives you five important budget tips.

There are many ways to reach your destination, you can go by plane but most of the time that is expensive. If you have a flexible traveling plan it is easier to book cheap flights, but you will have to be patience and really look for it. For cheap tickets look, for example, at the websites Skyplanner or Fare Compagny. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to book your flight, because not many people choose to travel at those days.

The low budget options for traveling are for example by bus or train, but for the long distance trips, it is not an option. There are numerous sites where you can book a bus fare. For a train tickets there are many options. You can buy a one or two way ticket, but there are options to buy a ticket which is valet for more traveling days and in different countries. For all the InterRail ticket options look at the NS Hispeed website.