I found a couple of used tires and a blowjob on craigslist. I find it is better to tell a friend you are meeting someone you don't know at a hotel outside of town. That way, when they steal your wallet and drive off with your car, you have a ride home.

But really, my best find was a leather Chesterfield for $500 and a long list of vintage musical instruments I have flipped to pay for more apartment stuff. Craigs is rotten with garbage, using a separate Craigslist search helps. Or setting up alerts, so you don't have to use their interface.

And use a secondary email! There is nothing worse than being added to some jackhole's spam list because you posted some old ikea junk for sale.

My mother found two Wegner wishbone chairs (the real deal) at a Salvation Army for $10 each. My best finds have come from estate sales, but I have found a number of pieces of industrial steel furniture curbside.

How do you set up alerts for craigslist? I'm looking for lounge chairs on craigslist now, and have found that I need to search under every possible misspelling to see all available products. It's depressing to discover the number of ways that one can (mis)spell ottoman.

top several: 1970s warhol, at the goodwill. for $10. not signed, not numbered. but I've seen one or two identical versions online for $$$$. also found a 1933 thomas nason woodcut, pencil signed and numbered, for $5.99. conant ball side table with drawer, for $6. signed baker blonde 1950s bookshelf on legs: $10. lots and lots of scandinavian mid-century glass for cheap. my place was profiled in may, as part of the boston AT (michelle's pipe factory condo), if you want to check out some of the finds. (admission: my name is michelle and I'm a thrifting addict...)

In the days before CL, I got a 1920s Deco dining set with table, 6 upholstered chairs, and buffet for $400. The table has succombed to use, but I'm still using the chairs and buffet 13 years later. I also bought a large original oil by a local but well respected artist off the wall of a restaurant for $50. They had found it in the basement and hung it on the wall with a bunch of junk prints.

My husband bought our 1960s Florence Knoll Brazilian rosewood conference table (now dining table) at "The Bins" for $10.

I got the most beautiful 60s era bedroom set -- dresser with mirror, two chests, and headboard with built in nightstands -- for $80. All wood with real wood veneer. So nice.

An invitation to the opening night of Studio 54 for $8 at a waaaay out of the way thrift store in the desert.

Whoo!! Hearing about all these deals is gettin' me excited :)

A box of Wright Blocks, signed by John Lloyd Wright, for 50¢ at a per pound bin Goodwill. They were never released to the public because production cost was too high but he would give them out friends' kids. The only other place I found online where someone had them is a relative of the Wrights who is living in a house built by J.L.W.

An aluminum and wood Shaw Walker chair for $10, Goodwill.

A Broyhill Sculptra Hutch for $80, Goodwill.

A midcentury floor lamp with string lanterns, a mandolin (retailed at $170), an original painting, a Crate and Barrel shower curtain and Indian sheet (both of which I'm going to use for fabric to make a few skirts and shopping totes) - all from a dumpster at an apartment complex.

The absolute best Craigslist find? Four white Bertoia chairs in mint condition--- $100 total! Also my finacee, purchased an old bookcase from him on CL two years a go and well....the rest is history!

I also found a burke saarinen table (perfect white laminate top) at the salvation army: $10.

I found 6 Paul McCobb planner chairs for $600 on Craigslist,(not super cheap, but still a bargain) also found a Mobilia danish mid-century sideboard left out on the curb and sold it for $500 on Craigslist. A Wegner Rope bench at a thrift store for $60.

6 mint Herman Miller chairs for $100!

Here's the proof... http://tinyurl.com/2g4mufl

I picked up a mid-century brass floor lamp for $5, in perfect working order. I've seen similar ones selling on ebay for $125....so I think I got a fabulous deal.

A black Eames lounger and ottoman in perfect shape...for $80! I know, right? It belonged to a doctor who died and his wife always hated it. She didn't seem to know it was worth anything.

My fiance. He is a steal for what I paid for him (nothing) and improves the aesthetics of the house quite a bit. And all I was looking for was a nice used table!!

My airlift sewing table. With my tabletop ironing board, I can hack it to be a 6 foot banquet table, but currently it's a constant fixture in my living room, sewing table up, because I've got a lot of projects on the docket right now.

According to the manufacturer's website, it's something like a $400 table, which I found in the free section of craigslist for being "broken." Contacted the manufacturer, found a fix, and saved $400 on something I really did need.

Score.

I found an amazing, beautiful card catalog being sold by a library that was remodeling (and buying new card catalogs rather than moving to computer!)

I went to see it, and was horrified by the ugly, laminate card catalogs that were also for sale, but there was mine... in all it's hardwod glory, the sole one of it's kind.

It was supposed to cost me $100, but they never cashed the check in spite of my repeated calls.

So, my free, hardwood card catalog is definitely my best craigslist find.

(my best sale was selling my house on Craigslist.)

A true bargain is one you can enjoy WITHOUT trumpeting the price you paid to everyone you know.

Talking about how much your belongings cost will never be in good taste -- unless you're engaging in a conversation/event specifically aimed at that topic. But just saying, "I paid $5 for this table." is no more couth than saying, "I paid $15,000 for this table."

It's appropriate to talk about your great finds here. It's not great to bore your friends with the same information.

Most of my house is furnished with secondhand items. My partner (who prefers to buy new) doesn't understand my sick obsession with buying stuff for less. I never even look for new stuff at Ikea or else where because although cheap (er), the quality is often questionable. I do go to Ikea for accent items.

Anyway, my most recent find brought me countless joy: I found two pieces of genuine Egyptian pottery with iron stands for $12 each at a thrift store.They look perfect in front of my stone fireplace. They are gorgeous and unique! I know similar size and quality pottery elsewhere would probably cost $75 and up.

Four Bertoia side chairs for $1 each at a church bazaar about 15 years ago. Have since sold them in my store (yes I'm one of those people!) for $250 each. A Saarinen marbletop 32" diam dining table at an estate sale for just under $300. In storage at the moment but will be used when we move.

4 years ago on CL I found a Deco buffet for $80, with beautiful carvings on the doors and a pull-out drawer for silver storage. The owner said he paid a clerk $80 for it at a West Hollywood thrift store and when he came back the next day with a truck, the manager told him it was priced incorrectly and wanted $400. Apparently a big argument ensued involving other staff and even customers, but he prevailed and when it was time to sell wasn't asking for any more than he put into it. I refinished it, put in our china and silver and it fits perfectly in the dining room of our 1930 Tudor. It's by far my favorite piece in a house full of period thrift store finds.

@mdorothy - what's really funny is that when we had our housewarming party a few weeks ago, everyone kept asking where everything came from and 4 out of 5 answers were "craigslist." Only once did someone ask how much it was, and that was because they were looking to buy something similar.

Last year, I found a leather love seat - chocolate brown, less than a year old! - for only $100. The couple was splitting-up and just needed everything gone ... an amazingly comfortable couch, and the right size for my university res room. Shipped it to my parent's home last spring; it's waiting patiently for me to get a real house!

This past weekend, at Sally Ann's, I found an antique oak captain's chair, c. 1900s - paid $5. My grandmother got exactly the same chair for $350 this past July.

We found 4 ladder-back teak chairs by Niels Koefod for $10 each. We didn't even know what they were, we saw them at a garage sale and fell in love. Then one day months later we were looking at this MCM furniture store website and simultaneously spit our coffee after seeing how much they were charging for the exact same chairs.

I found the perfect coffee table for my apartment (and matches my stuff for the most part) at a yard sale for 50 cents...it was made in 1941. The top is a little scuffed up, but a table runner hides it until I have the time to sand it and refinish it. I will NEVER paint it since it is made of real wood.

My favorite find was a signed Charlie Harper print for $15 at a thrift store. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it!

I got a 15 drawer steel flat file for $35.00. But my husband bought a Maserati Quattroporte at a Salvation Army for $1200. I think he wins.

I got a super comfy Crate and Barrel couch, with an additional slipcover in a classic style, for 40 bucks. And they lived one block away! My dining set was a mint 5 piece Pottery Barn dining set for 300 dollars.

I also found a vintage Louis Vuitton bag in a bin at a consignment shop for 30 dollars.

Sometimes I cringe at all the money I spent on new furniture just to end up selling it all. Now most things in my house were free or very discounted via cl.

I'm totally signing onto CL... right... NOW.

My boyfriend once had a transient roommate who left behind a great, mod-looking, round coffee table. I always liked it, and stayed with him and his other roommate through a series of crappy apartments. When the boyfriend and I decided to shack up and the boys were divvying up their things, I convinced his roommate to let us take it in exchange for a particleboard tv stand that had been a Craigslist find.

Upon arrival in our new home, I flipped over the table and saw the Heywood Wakefield stamp & serial number! Quite a freebie! Thanks, former roommate we haven't seen since 2005! Turns out you had excellent taste!

*it* stayed with him, rather.

My best CL find ever was my husky, Bowie.

My best thrift store find is my coffee table. It was only 50 bucks and I bought it in high school eagerly awaiting my first apartment! It is long, cherry toned wood and looks like Danish furniture....One of many awesome finds!!

not sure this counts as a CL or thrift find, but...

one day while out walking my then-newbie son, I passed a house with a table and chair set sitting in a pull-trailer and looking like it was destined for the dump. I left a note on his door asking if he was looking to get rid of them and to call me. He called later that evening and said I'd be saving him a trip to the dump (I was prepared to actually buy it from him). He dropped the entire set off on our doorway and the rest is history. Sort of. I did insist that I get the set in my divorce. All 6 chairs and the two leaves. Fast forward some years and when mindlessly searching the internet, I came across my exact John O. Van Koert-designed Drexel Heritage set on MetroRetro for $5600.

http://www.metroretrofurniture.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?item=8802&cameFrom=328

Thanks for the freebie, neighbor!

I found a couple of used tires and a blowjob on craigslist.

No one followed this up? How much did Matt pay?

Milo Baughman recliner, just like this: http://flessasdesign.1stdibs.com/itemdetails.php?id=283084
at the Goodwill for $30!

agreed with mdorothy.. with both my furniture and my clothes, I've really tried to scale back announcing to people where it's from and how much it costs. I'll tell if they ask, of course!

and since you asked.. my Eames/Herman Miller side chair (upholstered, so not like a super fancy collectible), $3 at Goodwill, and my new mid-century upholstered side chair that kind of looks like a Saarinen knockoff, fished out of a dumpster at my university's library, make a good pair. I am also pleased with the two paintings on illustration board I bought at a thrift shop in NY - clearly the same artist, both women in abstracted color blocks, and surely a no-name but someone with a nice talent.

I found this lucite and cherub lamp and I am desperate to buy it:
http://howtorunyourlife.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-decide-where-your-lucite-and.html

I scored a HUGE industrial patternmaking table (I'm a fashion designer by training) for $75. New ones can cost thousands of dollars. I use that table every single day, so it was definitely a good investment!

Salvation Army: Two Hans Wegner dining chairs for a 5'er each; Alvar Aalto bar cart, 5.00; Selig Z chair, 10.00; 2 matching Knoll credenzas for 40.00; various pieces of Paul McCobb Planner Group furniture, 5.00-50.00; Saarinen Tulip table, 15.00.

The list goes on, and my house is full of treasures from there (needless to say).

I found a fabulous wall lamp for $3 at a yard sale - a little polish and it was good as new. Very Similar to this one: http://www.circalighting.com/details.aspx?pid=411&cid=14. I love it, it illuminates my writing desk and people can't believe it was 3 bucks!

Palmetto, your husband does indeed win.

The Craft Associates sofa I bought for $80, though I didn’t have a way to get the super long (101”) super low mid-century modern sofa back to my studio, so I rented a van for $45. I still consider it a bargain. Other thrift store items include my Olivetti Underwood Lettera 33 for $10, and the 1970 Smith Corona Super-G designed by the Italian design house Ghia, also a $10 find.

Beautiful, comfy wing chair in like-new condition at a yard sale for $25!! It's solid-wood with beautiful brass nailhead accents & rich, camel tan upholstery that looked like leather from the street; but, it's fabric. It looked so new that I did a double-take on the price tag while asking what's wrong with it. They explained that their grandmother was moving to assisted living; so, they were helping her purge unneeded furniture, the chair was <1 year old & had a bit of fading on the back of it due to bright sun exposure. No matter ... the fading is minimal & outta sight anyway. Love it!

Love Goodwill for smaller items as well:
- Brand new, authentic, small leather Coach handbag $5!
- Brand new in box, stone bakeware $2.50 (normally would be $60+)
- Steak knives on magnetic board $4
- Metal 2-drawer, card-file $2
- Antique rug-beater $1 LOL! A recent post here recommended rug-beating; but, I was like "with what?". Went to Goodwill 2 days later looking for something else & was amazed to find the beater.

My husband found a table saw on garbage day that was put out by one of the neighbors. He figured it needed a new motor, but might be worth salvaging. One day he was looking at it and realized it had a "reset" button. he pushed it and the saw works perfectly. It has been used to build a porch on our house, in bathroom renovations, as well as many other renovations around the house. And it was FREE!

Love thrift stores for wall decor--my favorites are a huge hand-tinted photo from before WW1 and a hand-drawn Civil Rights poster I once admired in an African-American barber shop, which somehow landed at the same thrift chain.

1960s Nils Jonnson credenza at a Toronto Goodwill store for $39.00 this past summer in great condition except for a couple scratches on one side which we have yet to fix. Same credenza in an L.A. shop priced at $1,800.

I found six Conant Ball dining chairs at a thrift store. They need new cushions on the seats (the originals are missing). They were marked $100, but had been there for a while so I was able to talk them down to $72 for the set.

This clock, only with an all white face. I paid $4.99, and it works perfectly. http://www.etsy.com/listing/47197448/vintage-60s-lux-starburst-brass-clock

this morning I found a marimekko raincoat (in the red and white kivet pattern) at the goodwill: $6. ;)

I found an exact replica of the PB Tanner coffee table ($400) for $50. I had to pick it up from an on location film shoot. It was an prop in one of their latest films. How "LA" of us!