Living on the Cheap

We may be recovering from a recession, but obviously, corporations aren't noticing. Unemployment rates remain steady, and many are struggling to make ends meet. However, there is hope. If you aren't too prideful, or are willing to step out of your comfort zone, you may find that there are many great deals lying right in front of your eyes. In fact, even if the economy picks up quicker than expected, you might find yourself a customer even after the recession in some of these stores due to the amazing finds.

If you haven't heard of craigslist, then you aren't online enough. Since 1996, Craiglist has been a page to find almost anything you can think of. Craigslist is a virtual, nation-wide free classifieds section in essence. You can find jobs (part-time or full), love (personals section), and amazing deals on almost anything (for sale, free, etc.). One of the most overlooked features on this site is the free section in your local city. People throw away anything, and it's not very uncommon to find good condition beds, sofas, couches, and chairs being given away to the public. Even if you are too concerned with bed bugs to deal with furniture, there are TVs (broken and working), Monitors (CRT, LCD, etc.), Video games (xBOX, PS2, Gamecube, Wii) and even pianos given away (I received a completely in-tune upright from the 1800's for free minus the gas to pick it up and the manual labor to move it with my friends)! You could hypothetically furnish your home for free through Craigslist!

Thrift stores and Goodwill are often looked down upon due to the nature that most of these items are "given away" by their previous owners to charity. However, the statement "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is very true here. In my local goodwill store, there are many leather, fur, and designer coats on sale for at or below cost of materials. If you have even a slight amount of time to sort through a lot of the garbage, it can pay off greatly. I bought a pair of designer heels for my girlfriend for $25. I looked them up later and found that they were worth over $200. In addition, I recently found a pair of Dolce and Gabbana sandals for $52 and they were definitely in style. I found a matching sportcoat and pants that would cost a couple hundred dollar suit at any other store, but I got the complete outfit for $20 at Goodwill. With a few alterations, the outfit fit me very well and looked very professional for job interviews. There are giant working projection TVs and good condition furniture as well. I purchased a vintage 80's boombox with both working speakers and tape deck for $16 dollars and found it online selling for $100. In addition, there are many items found from estates of owners that have passed away, so many antique items may be sold as well. It would be definitely in your interest to investigate other thrift stores as well because the savings are even greater (another full suit for $8 from Oscar De La Renta and a $20 office chair with a carved wood base).

If you're a college student, you definitely feel the need to save as much money as possible. The cost of tuition keeps rising higher and higher; luckily, there is hope. Bigwords.com is a textbook search engine that helps you buy and sell textbooks for rates cheaper and higher than your school bookstore respectively. The best thing is, if your school won't take your textbook, Bigwords most likely will! And they pay for shipping!

Well, that's all great you're saying, but I can't even make it to class cause I need a car! Carsforagrand.com is a site that can help rectify your situation. If looking through goodwill auctions at cars doesn't help, this site will! Listed are many cars, as the site suggests, under $1000. You can browse any make and manufacturer, even foreign. There is an option to set an area to keep the cars local. There are even options to look at different price ranges if you have the extra money, or if you only have a couple hundred to spend (I found multiple $200 dollar cars, including a 1972 Chevy Camaro that still runs if you're interested).

If you really like free things, then you will love Ilovefreethings.com. This catchy site title is very indicative of what this site is. Think of it as a much larger version of the craigslist free section for your town, except, it's nationwide and many companies will send you samples! You could hypothetically live off samples from this site for a couple of days depending on your luck!

There are many sites, stores, and free offers that one can access, and with the easy accessibility of thrift stores and the internet, thriftiness in this day and age is very attainable and easy! Maybe I will run into you at the local Goodwill!