Darren Leeming, 54, recently moved to York from Harrogate with his wife Elena, 39, and their two young children – Clive, six, and Violet, five.
They bought a four-bed “doer-upper” for £330,000 and spent £50,000 renovating the property.
But the family then ran out of money and had to find an alternative way of finding furniture to fill the house.
Darren turned to Facebook Marketplace and an app called Olio to source 22 household items such as his sofa, TV, cross trainer and coffee machine.
He estimates he has saved £2,000 so far by avoiding buying new.
Darren, an architect, from York, said: “It was a ‘doer-upper’. So of course we spent a lot of money renovating, and we literally ran out of money.
“This is when we started looking on Olio and Facebook Marketplace to see what’s out there, and what we could pick up.”
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Darren and Elena moved to York in May 2023 and spent six weeks renovating their family home.
But when the renovations cost more than they thought they were forced to try and find free furniture.
Darren’s best second-hand finds include a sofa, a coffee machine and a bed for his daughter on Facebook Marketplace.
The dad also used the Olio app – which allows users to give away unwanted food and household items – to find two TVs, two computer monitors and a cross trainer for his home.
He got everything completely for free – all he had to do was go and collect the items.
They all came in good condition so Darren didn’t even need to do any DIY.
He said: “It’s an ideal thing really, especially nowadays with the cost of living crisis.”
Darren also uses the food waste scheme on the Olio – and gets food for free from large retailers such as Tesco – and is even a ‘food waste hero’ where he uploads on their behalf.
Here are the items Darren sourced for NO cost:
- Children’s double swing: sourced on Facebook Marketplace – worth £120 new
- TV Stand: sourced on the street – worth £60 new
- PC monitor: sourced on OLIO – worth £90 new
- TV: sourced on OLIO – worth £150 new
- Cross trainer: sourced on OLIO – worth £199 new
- Coffee machine: sourced on OLIO – worth £40 new
- Plates and bowls: sourced on OLIO – worth £25 new
- Couch: sourced on Facebook Marketplace – worth £450 new
- Single Bed: sourced on OLIO – worth £100 new
- Pillow and sheet set: sourced on OLIO – worth £30 new
- Bedroom dressing table with stool: sourced on OLIO – worth £120 new
- Small lamp: sourced on OLIO – worth £15 new
- Small nest of tables: sourced on OLIO – worth £45 new
- Garden Bench: sourced on Facebook Marketplace – worth £60 new
- Trees: sourced on OLIO – worth £240 new
- Slabs for the path: sourced on OLIO – worth £60 new
- Top soil: sourced from neighbour – worth £100 new
- Decor Candle light: sourced on OLIO – worth £70 new
- SAT Receiver: sourced on OLIO – worth £200 new
- Garden Chairs: sourced on OLIO – worth £40 new
- TV: sourced on OLIO – worth £350 new
- Bookcase: sourced on OLIO – worth £35 new
