Couple refurbish home for £500 after buying everything on Facebook Marketplace
A thrifty couple has managed to make enormous savings when refurbishing their new home - by buying more or less everything from Facebook Marketplace.
Becky Chorlton, 25, and Steff Roberts, 27, spent just £500 on doing up their rented four-bedroom detached house, saving themselves a cool £6,000. The pair turned to Facebook for inspiration in a bid to save money, and have since used the platform to buy all their furniture for the living room, kitchen, games room, spare room, and office of the £350,000 property, which is located in Lymm, Cheshire.
Becky and Steff, who moved in back in October, have been amazed by the substantial savings they've made, and have encouraged others to follow their lead.
Becky and Steff moved in back in October (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)
They've been amazed by the savings they've made (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)Becky, who runs a vintage shop called Becky's Bazaar, revealed: "I wanted to get nearly everything from Facebook Marketplace. I did think we might have had to buy some essentials brand new but we are fortunate so could have borrowed things from my mum and dad. My whole working life is dedicated to shopping secondhand and things like that, so I poured all my time into looking on Facebook. My boyfriend would be at work and I would ask him to collect things on his way back home. I was keen to get the majority of things from Facebook Marketplace really."
One of their best Facebook finds was a seven-foot, farmhouse-style table with eight chairs and a bench, which would sell for around £1,000 to £1,500 when brand new. Thanks to shopping second hand, however, they were able to snap it up for just £150.
Mystery as hundreds of tiny fish wash up dead on UK beach leaving locals baffled
Keen bargain hunter Becky shared: "The biggest bargain was the dining room table, we have lights hanging down from the ceiling and because we're renting, we can't move them. If we didn't get a table that's a certain length, then people would have banged their head on the lights. We thought finding a seven-foot, farmhouse-style table was going to be ridiculously expensive and hard to find.
The couple have bought nearly everything from Facebook Marketplace (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)
They took their time looking for the perfect pieces of furniture (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)"We spent the longest amount of time looking for a table - we didn't have anywhere to eat for about two weeks.
But it was worth the wait because we ended up finding the most perfect table that was around three hours away but it was £150 with all of the chairs and a bench. It's not super cheap but buying it brand new would cost around £1000 to £1,500. I absolutely love it, I'll keep it for life."
After falling for a 'Mr Maria X Smiley' lamp, sold at Urban Outfitters for £129, Becky knew she had to have it, and was even planning on buying it full-price. To her delight, she spotted it for £30 on Facebook and says it's now her 'favourite thing ever' on account of how cheap it was.
Becky loves her 'Mr Maria X Smiley' lamp (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)
They've made some amazing savings (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)According to Becky: "We've got a smiley face lamp for the house - I was talking about it for ages. Me and mum went to the shop where they sell it and I was literally about two seconds away from buying it brand new, which was £130.
It was just a bit too for me to pay as I wasn't sure I would get my use out of it. I kept checking every single day for one on Facebook Marketplace but they were even selling for about £80 on there, secondhand.
"One day, I ended up finding it for £30 and I was messaging the woman saying 'Please, I can come and collect it now'. It's honestly my favourite thing ever, it makes me so happy looking at it because I know I got it for a bargain. Even on that lamp alone, we saved £100."
Looking ahead to the future, Becky will '100 per cent' buy secondhand again (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)
Becky has now encouraged others to 'check every day' if they want a particular item (Becky Chorlton / SWNS)Looking ahead to the future, Steff and Becky plan to buy a house together, and Becky says she will '100 per cent' buy furniture secondhand again going forward. She said: "If we move, then I might even sell some of the pieces like the couch, as it's not as comfy as what we wanted. I would then look for another one on Facebook. The furniture we have now might not work with the space and we might want to switch it up a bit."
Becky would recommend buying from Facebook Marketplace to anyone and has encouraged others to 'check every day' if they want a particular item. She's also advised hiring out a van as the majority of sellers will 'want to get rid of something that day'.
The business owner, who has almost 200,000 followers on TikTok, continued: "I would tell people to check Facebook every day and use specific keywords if you're looking for something. I would also say if you're moving house in the space of a week or two weeks and you don't have a van, to rent a van for two weeks. Then you've got the flexibility to go and pick something up. Luckily my boyfriend had a van but if I know that if he didn't, then we would have struggled because people want to get rid of things that day. You'll probably miss out on things.
I know it costs money to get a van but you will probably save money if you're willing to get all the furniture in those couple of weeks."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
