If you have a close group of friends you’ve known for a while then you probably share a lot more than laughs and advice. You probably also swap clothes, books, shoes and bags, so why not add furniture to your swap meets?

You won’t find a much more affordable option than free when you are looking for a new piece of furniture to brighten up your home and chances are your friends have similar decorating tastes to your own, and even if they don’t sharing a piece of furniture you never would have looked at twice in the store, forces you to try new things when it comes to decorating your home.

You can choose to start swapping small and easy to move items like pieces of wall art or throw cushions, and move on up to sharing curtains, arm chairs and ottomans when you’d really love a new piece of furniture but there is a big fat zero in your decorating budget this month.