by Jennifer Claerr

Created on: April 15, 2008   Last Updated: May 30, 2009

There's no reason to pay too much for furniture. Furniture stores often experience slow sales, especially during lean economic times. Often, they will have sales when you least expect it. Furniture stores may also offer zero interest credit deals that can save you enormous amounts of money. However, you have to keep your eyes peeled to catch these deals, or they'll pass you by.

It's also important not to mistake cheap furniture for inexpensive quality furniture. Today, many inexpensive furniture items are not made of real wood. Instead, they're made of particle board with a thin wood veneer or plastic laminate with a fake wood grain. These furniture items will become a liability over the long term. Several years ago, we purchased a particle board computer desk in a box. My husband and I assembled it together. There wasn't anything anywhere on it that I could honestly describe as "wood."

It seemed to do fairly well as a computer desk until we tried to move it. Three huge men, my husband, my father and my brother, tried to move that monstrosity. What we didn't know about particle board is that it is dramatically heavier than wood. The computer desk broke the moment they tried to pick it up. It's still usable, but it's not a quality item of furniture.

We replaced the computer desk at Haverty's. I was enticed by a beautiful display they had in the store. The desk had no price on it, and when we went to buy it, we were charged $1500. Instead of protesting and deciding to shop somewhere else, I just signed on the dotted line. Although I love the desk, I feel we paid too much. If I had taken the time to see if a discount furniture store had a similar desk for a lower price, I took the easy route and paid for the privilege.

However, I have a dresser which I purchased at a discount furniture store for my husband which is still going strong. It's made entirely of wood, is lightweight and still in fairly good condition even though it's more than ten years old. We got it for a little more than a hundred dollars. The seller went down on the price due to some minor defects in the wood, and even replaced a handle that came loose. It's a very serviceable and attractive piece of furniture.

It's easy to be enthralled by beautiful furniture in the store. After all, their displays are designed to enchant you. However, even when you get the expensive furniture home it often turns out not to be as wonderful as they made it out to be. I wanted a bunk bed for my two sons. I found

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