Furniture can get expensive if you are buying it from department stores or antique dealers so when you are on a tight budget it is a good idea to look for heirloom pieces from your family or things being thrown out in garage sales. The more you can pass down a piece of furniture or a set of furniture the better. If you manage to retain heirloom furniture and keep it going down the generational line one day that piece of furniture is going to be an expensive antique.
When I first left for college my grandparents gave me their antique round kitchen table set for my apartment and I used that table until I couldn’t anymore. My roommates were big guys and it seemed like almost every time they plopped into one of those rickety old chairs it would shatter underneath them. Eventually we were left with nothing but the standing round kitchen table and we decided it was time to replace the whole thing.
That table made it all the way through our four years of college and we felt like it had earned another run so instead of just chucking it to the curb or bringing it to the dump we decided we would donate it to some of our freshman friends. Our friends took it with pride and moved it into their new apartment. That table lasted another four years under their supervision and is now, hopefully, making its way into the hands of a new incoming freshman.
When furniture is well made it will withstand just about anything you throw at it. A round kitchen table that can withstand almost eight years of a hectic college party lifestyle is definitely worth owning. If my friends and I had a kitchen that matched that table we probably would have held onto it and I might even have it still today.
The point of the story is to say that you shouldn’t throw out your furniture. If it isn’t completely trashed it can still be used by somebody who needs it. Be kind and give your old kitchen tables to charity foundations like Good Will or the Salvation Army.