Cutting Corners in Style

This recession didn't change my life a whole lot. Even in those glory days when the Dow sat above 10,000, I was still recycling t-shirts I wore in the 6th grade (shirts my mom was saving for the grandchildren she hoped i'd give her someday). The recession just made cutting corners trendy.

So if you are someone who has just moved to NYC in hopes of living the dream, here's one way to get off on the right foot: spend as little on furniture as you can. Because there are so many other ways the city will suck money out of your pocket. (See post on The Scam)

How?

Keep your eyes on the calender. As the end of the month approaches, someone's lease is about to expire. No, I'm not suggesting you squat in their abandoned apartment (although do that at your own risk). As people move out, they inevitably leave perfectly good furniture behind rather than pay for a moving van. We furnished our entire apartment this way.

In the first three months we lived in Harlem we found, in no particular order, two televisions, two cushioned chairs as well as a full set of kitchen chairs, an end-table, two wardrobes, a bookcase and several storage bins. The trick here is to make sure the furniture hasn't been sitting outside too long. The best case scenario is you live in a large apartment complex and the furniture is left in the lobby..

If this doesn't work, also consider some useful websites like freecycle.org (whose noble mission statement is to encourage people to give away their stuff rather than throw it into a landfill) and of course don't forget to browse your local section of Craigslist.

The tricky part is finding a way to pull the room together and keep it from looking like a junkyard. We've found nothing disguises a haphazardly designed room like Christmas lights.

- Seth