Recently, I spied bed slats, nicely bundled with tape, next to the trash bins in front of a building a few doors down from our house. I scooped them up.

Lu’s spent the past few months sleeping on a mattress on the floor of her room since we upgraded her from a crib. We need a bed frame, but I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on particle board that may break when she jumps on her bed. 

We talked of building one, but haven’t made a trip yet to a home supply store. When you don’t own a car, or a garage, or your own yard, the decision to make a trip to buy lumber requires advanced coordination. All these questions need to be solved before we can dash off to the store: How much does a rental car cost, what day can we both go, where will we store said lumber purchase, what’s the weather like for sawing outside, do we know where our extension cord is, do we have a plan thought through of what the bed from will look like?

Free furniture is amazing. I speak from experience. In our home currently, there are many articles with storied pasts, including our:

• Coffee table
• Living room chair (a vintage barber chair)
• End of the bed trunk
• Lu’s dining chair
• Lu’s play stool
• Bookcases
• File cabinet
• Guest seats in the drawing room
• Wine box shelves

We make money now. We’re not 20-somethings anymore scrambling to find grocery money after spending it all on beers out. So, why do we still scour free stuff?

Why spend your money if it’s just as easy or nearly as easy to acquire free.

How much additional value would be added to my life if I spent $300 on a living room chair? Zero. Know how much value is in my life having not spent that money on a chair? $300 plus in additional purchasing power. Moreover, how cool is it to have a barber chair in your living room? I have the story of dragging it out of a dumpster when a nearby salon was renovating and bothered to clean out all their basement clutter. #memories

Free is awesome.