Although I have always had an affinity for puzzles, IKEA furniture is quite possibly the worst kind of puzzle in existence. Assembling, disassembling and reassembling IKEA furniture has always pissed me off.

If you really think about it, many of the items in the IKEA catalogue are not worth the amount we pay for them: some chipboard and screws that you assemble into a desk yourself should not cost $200 or more. Similarly, buying a vase or candle holders from a specialty or department store will cost anywhere from $10-$150 per item when decorating your home, and that really starts to add up.

Many pay those amounts because they believe their options are limited. Not true! You can buy very inexpensive and often better-constructed furniture for much less. All you need to do is think outside the box: by utilizing antique markets, re-sale stores, flea markets and garage sales in addition to some paint you can have some unique furniture and accessories for a little bit of cash.

When I was furnishing my student house, my parents gave me an ultimatum: they would buy me whatever furniture I liked, and I could paint it any colour I chose, as long as it was from the re-use store in my community. To buy paint, two dressers, two night tables, a footboard, a headboard and a bed frame cost them less than $150. Doing a quick search on the IKEA website, we would have spent approximately $430 for the same items.

I used wall paint on my furniture and, although it looks okay, there were a few areas where you could see the paint had dripped. I have read that spray paint is much easier to use because it doesn’t drip like other kinds of paint. However, it is hard to use when covering large items.

Financially, buying used makes sense because items cost a fraction of the price they would if they were new. Although there can be a stigma of buying something used, people should be more willing to do so, especially if it is the deciding factor between having enough money for food or rent.

Remember, you don’t have to keep these items for the rest of your life. My rather eccentric furniture is not something I plan to keep as part of my bedroom set. However, safer colours like white and black, especially for accent items, will never go out of style. If you choose to use these colours in your decorating scheme, you can focus on unusual shapes for the items you buy, and they can continue into your later life.

Keeping more cash in your wallet is a huge incentive for buying used furniture, but you should also consider the environmental impact repurposed items have. They help eliminate the destruction of non-renewable resources to make furniture. Furthermore, many associations take the proceeds from the purchases and put them back into social organizations within the community.

Regardless of how long you plan to keep this furniture, and whether or not you are buying used items to save money or help reduce your environmental footprint, it is a very sound economical option that more students, recent graduates and new professionals should consider.