Happy Friday! Today, we're continuing with my series on everything I know about scoring great deals and furnishing and decorating your place on the cheap (and everything I know is far less than would fill a book, but this is a wordy post). Last week, we talked about Craigslist. But Craigslist is the high-maintenance, unattainable dream girl/boy: you might bend over backwards and find the deal of your life on the antique side board you've always wanted, but then again, you might not, or the sideboard might go to someone else with better looks and quicker response times. This week, we'll talk more about sure things - places you can be reasonably sure you'll find what you are looking for.

There are two types of things you need for your house: Form and Function stuff. Function stuff includes the stuff that you need, and which you might need right now, to make your home run more smoothly, or to have a surface to eat on or put your feet on at night. You might not even care if it's, well, just functional - not beautiful or unique or anything. Depending on how important it is to your set up, you might be willing to just pay for the darn thing at market rates, too, rather than investing the time in hunting down a bargain. Your definition of functional stuff you need right now might be different than mine: When we moved in, I needed bookshelves, stat, but you might have some that are fine, and if you ever need some, you can take your sweet time at estate sales scoping out the perfect, unique piece. But you don't have a place for guests to sleep, and your in-laws are on their way, so you really need a place with a big selection so you can find the pullout sofa you need. For this type of functional item, I look to big box stores (Target, obv), discount sites (Overstock, Home Decorators, Rugs USA), World Market, and Ikea. I don't shop at Walmart or Hobby Lobby, but they are also known for good deals. These places might have exactly what you're looking for - even if it's not exactly what you want. Meaning: if you need a storage ottoman, these places will for sure have something to fit your needs. You might not fall in love with the options (but you could) and it might not trump a once-of-a-lifetime deal at the place down the street that's going out of business, but it will be there, likely within your budget, and with less work on your part, so it's a good place to turn to.

Okay, so my tips for shopping at these places - let's just call them retailers - are tried and true.

Retail for Bargains

Level of trolling required: Low - Medium depending on if you get sales alerts or seek them out

Awesomeness of possible bargains: Medium

Level of flexibility required: Very low.

1. Wait for sales and/or free shipping, and stackable promotions. I know, we were just talking about time crunches, but the thing is, sales happen all the time. I've read conflicting accounts of when the very best time to buy furniture and housewares is, but I think January and Labor Day are high up there. But, truly, there are sales ALL THE TIME. You can find out about them by either signing up for email alerts, which is annoying but effective, or just checking out the sites of your stores frequently. Macy's has constant sales on Sunday, Overstock cycles out 10% and 12% coupons every other day, and Target has a more mysterious (to me) sale schedule on home goods, especially for their online stuff, that nonetheless is fairly frequent. Target does not always advertise when their sales will end, which is frustrating, but adds a level of suspense to my life (will I get it on time to save the extra 15%?!?) that is otherwise lacking.

2. Use your coupons. If you move into a new place, a bunch of retailers will send you coupons. Use 'em!

3. Join loyalty programs. You'd be amazed at what retailers will do for your contact information and the scoop on your buying habits. Give a place like West Elm/Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel your email address, and they'll give you 10-15% off your first purchase. Even Ikea has a loyalty program (their Family Membership) which saves cash on small and large items alike and can score you a free coffee. It's free to sign up and not a credit card, so for us it was no-brainer. Loyalty programs do include store credit cards, though of course it's not a good idea to open a bunch of those. But for your preferred retailers, I say it could make sense if you plan to a) spend a lot to make that initial discount worth it and b) pay off the balance every month. I think it's most useful at places like Macy's and Target, where you'll be able to take advantage of their rewards programs on more than just home goods. The Target credit card is, for us, a must-do. You get 5% off every purchase and free shipping online. Those perks alone, for a business that still accounts for an insane amount of our disposable income, outweigh my discomfort with knowing that Target knows me better than I know myself.

4. Use Google. I've said it before, and I'll just throw out a friendly reminder: If you find something you like online, type the name of the product into your Google search bar. It'll pull up a list of all the places selling that item, and for which prices. You don't have to do any work at all. I was close to pulling the trigger on a rug from Target, and when I did my quick Google search, I saw it was $200 cheaper at Overstock. $200!

So, as an example, let's talk bookshelves. As I say, I needed some. Badly. We had so many books, and nary a surface on which to plop them. It was driving me crazy - and we were never going to rid ourselves of the book box maze until we remedied the situation. But bookshelves are expensive, and, given the number of them we needed, I really wasn't ready to pay "real" furniture prices for them. So I looked at Overstock, Target and Ikea. I didn't limit myself to the sale section when I was looking for the shelves; I found the ones you see above (Mudhut Asmara) at Target, and then waited 'til they were on sale - 15% off purchases greater than $150. I ran the bookshelves by Bret, we agreed that we liked them, and when we checked back, there was an additional 10% off that day only. (Again, mysteriously, to me. This wasn't Black Friday or an obvious holiday, they were just on sale). So I knew we had to decide quickly. The sale discount and extra 10% off, combined with our 5% off and free shipping, netted us three bookshelves for $350 (excluding tax), down from more than $550. Here's a screenshot of my receipt:

Not free, by any means. And, I could possibly have gotten lucky on a clearance rack somewhere and saved more than 35%. But it's not too shabby, either, for what we both wanted and needed - low shelves (so the TV could go on top) in a more rustic grain, and I wanted three of them, to span the wall. I still really like these, by the way - I think they look great, and not like your average flat-pack furniture. And, if you're into them, they're still available, and Target is running the exact same sale today (with code LINCOLN for the extra 10% off, so I guess that's not a mystery).

I employed the exact same tricks, also at Target, to score the bookshelves in the office.

Leaning office bookshelves. It doesn't look like this anymore.

Again, I wanted more than one, so stumbling upon some on clearance or Craigslist was likely out. And I knew I wanted leaning bookshelves, because they can store a lot but have less visual weight than a chunkier option. I shopped around, looking at every furniture site on the internet and reading reviews (seems like everyone sells a version of these) and when I found these at Target on sale for $92 instead of $102 (which they are now), plus an extra 10% off that day, plus free shipping and 5% off with the Target card, so the total for three, excluding tax, ended up being $240, or $80 per bookshelf, and 26% savings. I'll take it.

But wait! We still needed more bookshelves. So we went to Ikea and scooped up these Regissor models. They were $140 each. Not on sale. Just what we needed, and the normal price was within budget. We're happy with them, though you can see the beginnings of my planned Ikea hack in this photo - they did not come with grasscloth backing. That's all this guy (Pointing at myself. With my thumbs).

And that is how we spent $900 on bookcases and thought we were getting a good deal. Is the moral of this story shining through at all? I've completely ignored other actual furniture stores in this post, but the Target/Ikea/Overstock trifecta works well for me for budget-friendly options on things I need - and know I can't reliably source at a thrift store, on Craigslist, or in a clearance section. All the same tips work for any store though, so you can get a good deal on anything your heart desires.

Next week, I'll talk about the rest of it - the serendipitous stuff, we'll call it. Have a great day and a great weekend!

In case you missed it, this was a kid-friendly week. We talked about DIY restaurant/activity pouches for kids, building a compact play market out of a small crate, and creating healthier, greener kid's snack zones. Plus a tuxedo-inspired gallery wall to highlight your mementos. A pretty busy week, and a good one. See you Monday.