A few months before we got married, my wife and I began searching for some furniture for our new home.  Luckily, we had friends and family with an extra computer table and even a dining room table.  The only thing we had to pay for was our bed.  Unfortunately, the only decent bed we could afford was a child’s bed with a second pull out high-riser.

Or so I thought.  Like most Americans of my generation, I was taught that giving your old stuff to charity is a great thing, but buying second hand is just not done.  So we bought a new bed, even if it was bottom of the line.  I didn’t have the ₪ 3,000 for a brand new pair of beds, and certainly not enough to get actual mattresses.

As the years began to pass, a lot of the furniture we received broke, fell apart, and even just wore itself out.  The first to go was our computer chair which, due to a pipe bursting, got wet inside of the material and began to fill up with mold.  I looked around the internet for a chair until I somehow came across yad2.co.il and saw that someone was selling a brand new black computer chair for only ₪ 100.

And so, my love for yad2 began.  When my dining room table broke, I found a second hand dinning room table and chairs for ₪ 200.  When my son’s stroller was stolen, I got the upgraded version of the same stroller for only ₪ 250.  And when my son celebrated his first birthday, I got him a full sized bean bag (פוף) for only ₪ 20.

Yad2 has more than just second hand bargains; it has a section for stuff being offered for free as well.  It was through yad2 that I found a feeding chair for my son, as well as several toys and books (in English and Hebrew).

After 4 years of slowly learning that second hand was okay, my wife and I came full circle and decided to get a normal bed.  After searching for a couple of weeks, we found a slightly used pair of beds (with הפרדה יהודית) and mattresses for ₪ 550, a little more than a third of the original price we paid for our new bed 4 years ago.

If you need any furniture, I highly recommend using yad2.  Whether you are a student, a couple just starting out, or simply someone who likes to find a bargain, yad2 has a ton to offer.  The most important thing when using this site is patience.  You may not find your ideal dining room table the second you look, but it will very likely appear within 6 weeks.

PS – June through August is an especially good time to buy second hand items, as it is the time of year when many people move.  You can also check Janglo for lists of second hand goods from people moving back to the United States.

Do you know of another good site for second hand goods?  If so, please mention it in the comments below.