Michelle Boyle, 47, from Scunthorpe, has saved more than £4,000 furnishing her house for free, including a Dyson fan worth £220. She scours websites such as Freecycle, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree for items people are giving away at no cost.
Over the years, Michelle has landed a new £180 retail mattress still in its packaging, a DFS sofa and chairs retailing at £460 and £400 respectively, £150 Aldo bar stools, £175 display units, a £150 lamp, £200 dining room chairs and more. Her freebie lifestyle has also influenced friends and family, who have started snapping up free deals.
How She Finds Free Items
Michelle first began hunting for free finds in 2014 to "encourage others and herself to improve her life." She told Sell Us Your Story: "In the past, I actually enquired about a double mattress and it was brand new. It still had all the plastic on and hadn't been opened - it should have been £180."
She added: "I've got a mattress, double bed base, dining room chairs, pictures, bar stools, three seater sofa, swivel chairs, curtains - all sorts. The sofa was £460 and the chairs were £400 each and they were in mint condition, the mattress £180, bar stools £150, the £150 lamp in the living room is ornate."
Her Number One Tip
Michelle's top tip is to get on the sites at the "right time" - as soon as the subscription email is sent out. Freecycle, which has 12 million members and operates in 5,333 towns, sends emails rounding up the best local items between 2am and 10am every morning.
Michelle said: "Freecycle have specific groups and areas where you can search. As soon as I get the email I have a look and get what I can. Facebook Marketplace is a case of hitting it at the right time. I enquired about a TV unit a few days ago - it was from Next and it was really nice." She checks it every 45 minutes when hunting for a freebie.
Discounted Food Too
Michelle also gets discounted food using TooGoodToGo. She said: "We get food from Cooplands and it's £3.30 a bag and there are times when you may only get a few bits in maybe say three or four bits, but we have got some bags on occasions that's had up to eight or nine bits in and they have lasted for days."
She added: "We also get carveries from one of our local pub; usually a carvery is about £9 to £12 and we get them for £3.99, which is great value. In my opinion this kind of thing will help families again, who are not so well off or struggling."
Michelle's estimated breakdown of items when new includes: Furniture Village dining room chairs at £200, a bedside cabinet at £30, a chair frame at £6, an Orthocare mattress at £180, a fold-up chair at £10, Tesco bar stools at £150, an uplighter lamp at £150, an oak dresser at £375, a Silentnight bed for the caravan at £150, a single mattress at £100, a drop leaf table at £692, a Dyson fan at £220, a London canvas print at £75, a cord bucket chair at £429, a DFS cord sofa at £460, a cord swivel chair at £399, an Anne Stokes picture at £24, a pine display unit at £175, an IKEA TV stand at £75, and John Frieda hair products at £100.
