Buying furniture


I have been wanting to buy new living room furniture for awhile. My current couch and recliner are over 10 years old. My recliner is no longer safe for someone of my girth to sit in. Probably isn’t safe for my skinny son to sit in either, but he does. It is permanently in the recline position. It has lost so many screws and I think the springs are all shot. So, it’s time to replace it, at the very least. 


My couch is too big for the space I have it in, and it doesn’t recline, meaning if I want my feet up, I have to put them on the ottoman or sit sideways. Neither way is very comfortable.


I made the decision this past year that when I get my stocks from my employer, I’m going to sell them right away. I don’t have any business being in the stock market – I don’t understand it and knowing me, I’ll forget about the stocks. So I’m going to sell them and use the money to buy a new love seat that will fit in my living room and recliner.

Now, before you buy something that big, you need to do your research. Get the best price, find one that you like, etc. No impulse buying here. I went to a local furniture store because I like supporting local businesses. The clerk quoted me almost $1600 for a recliner and reclining love seat. That includes the taxes, delivery fee and the hauling away of my old recliner. I’m going to keep the ottoman for storage and sell the couch because the couch is still in excellent condition. In fact, I already have a buyer for my couch.

But $1600 is a lot of money and I’m not sure I’m going to get that much from my stocks. So I started shopping around. I found a reclining love seat and recliner set for $1060 – free shipping, taxes included. Only thing they won’t do is haul away the old recliner. Okay. Not a problem.

Was talking to my friend last night at the dance studio (she’s going to buy my couch) and she said that her husband can haul away my recliner and some other items I want to get rid of in his company truck one weekend. I just have to pay for the dump fee and gas. Now we just have to pick a weekend. 

I do have an old dining room table I can sell. Don't have chairs for it. They were falling apart and needed to be trashed. But the table is still good. Currently sitting in the garage. 

My student loan payment finally posted! So my debt total went down $16. I like being on an income driven repayment plan, but it makes paying down that bill go slowly. 

I also squirreled away some change for my savings account. So that amount goes up. And I have $11 still in my checking account and tomorrow is payday. That means that $11 will go in my savings account tomorrow morning. 

Unfortunately tomorrow I will be adding to my debt total. I have my crown build up and will have to put the rest of the payment on my dental care credit account.

I told my son today that starting tomorrow, every other week (on my payday), we will do bills so he learns how to budget for them and pay for them. He took a money class in school last term, so he learned about loans and saving. I want to give him some real world application to what he learned. He doesn't have any bills to pay for yet, but he graduates soon and will have a job. I would rather he learn these lessons from me, instead of his father, and he agrees. 

That's all for tonight. I included pictures of my recliner and couch so you could see that they aren't expensive pieces of furniture, but they lasted over 10 years. Pretty darn good, if you ask me. 

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