Buying furniture for a new apartment is never a fun experience. The cost can quickly add up, and before you know it, you’ve just spent $5,000 on a new living room set that your dog will most likely mark as his own within a week or two. Thankfully, there are several places where you can buy quality furniture at low, low prices while still maintaining a modicum of respect among those who judge you based solely on your taste in living room décor.

One of the best places to purchase used yet still decent-looking furniture is, of course, Craigslist. All of the furniture on Craigslist is either from the 70s (great if you’re going for a vintage look) or relatively new and being sold by those who are moving. By spending a little time searching (you’re bound to find way more options in major cities), you can easily find a nice couch or end table for a fraction of the price for which they might be sold in major stores. If the item in question is made of wood and has what is described as a “few nicks and scratches” on it, this serves as the perfect opportunity to get creative and paint it!

Of course, if you prefer a more on-the-level approach toward purchasing furniture, nothing beats Goodwill. While some Goodwills are not what any respectable human being would call an ideal place to buy nice furniture, some Goodwills and other thrift stores are of a higher caliber, featuring nicer items and a floor that doesn’t look like it was designed in the early seventies. The furniture offered is often of fairly exquisite quality, and with a little elbow grease can be cleaned up to the point where it looks as if it were bought straight from the manufacturer.

Much like the “free” section of Craigslist, websites such as Freecycle are a great place to go for free furniture. Freecycle is often used by college students, and while the prospect of getting a free couch from a college student is slightly disturbing (it might be free for a reason), every once in awhile you can find a nice couch or coffee table that was once owned by a responsible college student who simply needs to get rid of their stuff because they’re moving to New York to work on Wall Street in Mergers and Acquisitions.

With a little ingenuity and patience, finding cheap, or even free, furniture to furnish a new apartment that actually looks respectable should not be a difficult task. Just keep your head in the game and with time, your perseverance will pay off in the form of a swingin’ new pad.