For all those living off campus next year, any idea on where to get inexpensive furniture for your room such as bed, mattress, desk etc?

Ikea. Ikea. Ikea. There's one in Burlington, not too far away from Mac. I'm heading there this weekend to get some stuff, but I'm sure they'll have everything on sale closer to the end of August, before everyone leaves for school.

www.craigslist.com

I heard that they had desks lying around in ABB that said anyone could take them.

If you don't mind the sketch factor, occasionnally people leave crap out on the sidewalk for any takers. But again, you also don't know why it is there. Garage sales maybe. I'd go with Ikea personally - it's cheap and doesn't have insects living in it or old beer stains.

also possibly freecycle?

If you're going to get stuff from Ikea though, (I love Ikea, their stuff is awesome) bear in mind their delivery fees. I think they said 75 dollars for one item when my parents called, but check it out.

Their stuff is nice and easy to assemble though; me and a few friends put together a bed in like 20 minutes.

Yeah IKEA is pretty good but keep in mind that you get what you pay for so treat it nicely. If you buy the 1.99 laundry hamper it will eventually rip, I assure you. Go with the 8 dollar one lol.

I think Ikea sounds good so far, I've checked out their website and they have a wide price range which is good....their new catalogue comes out tommorrow yay!

OMG Does it? Do they still send that in the mail? lol

Alvand has the right idea...good for bargain hunters. I'd get a new mattress though...

Beware of Ikea assembly! I know someone who cut their finger off! :O

I bought my furniture (dressers, nightables, bed frame) from a local re-usit store. The aim was for my parents and myself to save some money because I wasn't neccessarily planning on keeping the furniture in later years -- it was more for functionality than anything. My parents said I could also do whatever I wanted with it.

I think the furniture (two dressers, two nighttables, headboard, footboard, metal bedframe) cost around $100-$150. Paint was around $30 maybe? MUCH cheaper than the cheapest stuff at IKEA.

I currenly have really bright green dressers with blue knobs, two bright blue night tables with bright green handles, and a black bed.

Also...ask around and see if any family of yours has furniture they're not using. Yes, some of it may not be all that fashionable...but it's free!

In Oakville we used to have a Spring Fling/Bulk Trash week where everyone would throw out old furniture. Unfortunately they don't do it anymore =/

I furnished my whole room (wood dresser, matching bedside table, shelf, pretty objects/decoration, mirror, bedframe and desk) for free!

See if your town has anything like that, you can actually find some REALLY nice stuff. All they usually need is just a little bit of cleaning

Just don't pick up any mattresses or cushions. Those are sketchy

We used to (not sure if they're doing it still) have a off campus swap day, you could swap your old lamp for someones old end table, that kind of deal. It was like a yard sale without the exchange of money. I remember them doing it in my first year but I was still on campus then and I don't think they did it last summer... but last summer is a bit of a blurr.