What to Buy Used vs New for Your Apartment

Moving is expensive. After you’ve given a deposit, the first month’s rent, and pesky initiation fees, you might be short on cash. To top it all off, you’ve got an apartment to furnish and a Pinterest inspo board that could bankrupt you. But fear not! Before you swear that life is unfair, you need to remember something: secondhand options and thrift stores are at your disposal. You already know secondhand is the move. With most people moving away from stigmas around secondhand, someone’s trash is likely your treasure. But there are certain goods that you should only buy new. Deciding what to buy used vs. new for an apartment comes down to one question no listing will answer for you: which of these deals is an actual deal, and which one is a bed bug story you’ll be telling at parties for the next four years? Below, you’ll get a verdict for every item, plus every single check to run before you load the truck.

The Three Questions That Settle Every Used-or-New Decision

After scrolling endlessly on an online marketplace or scavenging through thrift store aisles, you think you’ve found a great deal! But is it truly a good deal, or something you should pass on? Run your finds through these three questions, and you’ll get the right answer every time.

1. Does It Touch Your Body for Hours at a Time?

Humans shed skin cells at a rapid rate. Where do these skin cells go? Mattresses, pillows, upholstered seating, and towels. Anything absorbent that spends hours on skin should be new. It’s hygiene and it’s a pest risk since no amount of steaming, washing, spraying, or karmic cleansing fully resolves either one.

2. Does It Have a Motor, a Seal, or a Heating Element?

Vacuums, blenders, coffee makers, and space heaters fail invisibly. The failure is either expensive or on fire. Buy used only if you can plug it in and run it in front of the seller before any money changes hands.

3. Will It Survive the Next Move?

Something can look perfect for your boho maximalist cottagecore apartment. However, thinking about its survivability is crucial to avoid heartbreak later. Trust: when you’re moving again, and you’ve forgotten where you’ve packed your heaviest items, you’re going to want a piece that can survive more than vibes, prayers, and a suspiciously confident mover. Solid wood travels. Particleboard does not survive being taken apart twice. This logic also cuts the other way: a well-built, design-forward piece holds its value on the secondhand market.

What Furniture to Buy Secondhand Without Thinking Twice

Solid Wood Tables, Dressers, and Bookcases

These are the single best value in the entire secondhand market. A 1970s oak dresser was built better than many modern ones, and unlike the new one, it can be sanded and refinished into whatever your taste is doing this year. This makes a wooden piece of furniture a great candidate for a simple DIY project. Still, buying secondhand always merits a good inspection. Here’s what to check:

drawers that slide without a shoulder into it
joints that don’t wobble when you rock the piece
legs that haven’t been rescued with a visible bead of wood glue.

If you’re buying a used dresser, that purchase should come with one extra step. See the recall section below before you commit.

Lamps, Mirrors, and Anything for the Walls

Buying anything that hangs on a wall used has a near-zero risk and the fastest way to make a rental look like a decision instead of an accident. Mirrors do double duty in a small place, and they’re one of the cheapest tricks in decorating a small apartment. For lamps, run the cord through your fingers and look for cracked or brittle insulation, then check that the socket isn’t corroded. Plug it before taking it home.

Tools, Ladders, and the Junk Drawer Starter Kit

A hammer is a hammer. Garage and estate sales will kit you out for a fraction of hardware-store prices, and tools are one of the must-haves for a new apartment people always forget to budget for. Skip anything that’s wobbly, has a frayed cord, or a missing blade guard.

Dishes, Glassware, and Cast Iron

If it goes into the dishwasher, it’s likely risk-free. Cast iron is arguably better used since it has decades of seasoning you didn’t have to build. Steel wool, oil, an hour in the oven, and you’re the proud owner of a fully functional cast iron product. One caveat: very old ceramics and glazed pottery can carry lead. Enjoy the vintage floral plates as decor, but eat off something made this century.

What Not to Buy Used, No Matter How Good the Deal Looks

Mattresses: The One Rule With No Exceptions

Used mattresses are usually a bad idea. Here are only a few reasons:

Mattress support degrades in ways you cannot see, feel in a ten-second sit test, or fix.
The strange mattress stains you can’t explain should likely stay unexplained.
Bed bugs live in mattress seams.
Several states restrict reselling used mattresses without sanitizing and re-tagging them. That online marketplace listing you saved for later may not even be legal where you live.

The money-saving version of purchasing a mattress is buying one on sale. Mattress prices crater over holiday weekends, and floor models and return-policy returns sell at steep discounts through legitimate retailers.

Bedding, Pillows, and Towels

Same logic, much cheaper fix. Good bedding lasts years, so it’s a low-regret place to spend full price.

Upholstered Sofas, Chairs, and Headboards

Fabric hides everything an inspection can’t reach. Bed bugs, fleas, dander, and structural wear you’ll only discover when the frame finally gives out.

Non-Stick Cookware and Anything Safety-Rated

Scratched non-stick is a hard no. The coating is compromised and you have no idea what it’s been heated to. Same for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, helmets, and any child or infant product. Safety standards get revised, and a used unit may predate the current one or be sitting on an active recall list.

The It-Depends Pile, and How to Call It

Sofas: Only From Someone Whose Home You’ve Been Inside

Your friend’s couch is a completely different transaction from a lucky curb find. You’ve seen the room it lived in. That’s real information, and it’s the only thing that makes a used sofa a reasonable risk. Leather and vinyl are safer bets than woven fabric, because there’s simply nowhere for pests to hide.

Small Appliances: Plug It In Before You Pay

The rule is not negotiable: it runs in front of you, or you walk. Check the cord, check the plug, and check the door seal on anything that has one. Vacuums get their own warning. A used vacuum from a stranger is a device engineered to collect things from one home and carry them into another. Purchase from a trusted source only and replace the bag and filter before it touches your floor.

Flat-Pack Furniture: Usually Not Worth a Second Life

Particleboard holds a screw once. A piece that’s been assembled, disassembled, and hauled across town is structurally spent, and it definitely won’t survive your next move. Buy this category new and cheap, or buy solid wood used instead. There’s no third option that ends well.

Rugs: Flat Weave Yes, Shag No

Deep pile can’t be inspected and can’t be fully cleaned. Flat weave and wool can be professionally cleaned for a fraction of replacement cost. But you need to get the quote before you buy and count it as part of the price.

How to Check Used Furniture for Bed Bugs: The Five-Minute Inspection

Nobody else in your search results will teach you this. Bring a flashlight. Use your phone’s camera zoom as a magnifier. The world is your oyster. But whatever you do, you need to check for bedbugs.

Where to Look, In Order

Seams and piping: the classic hiding spot, and the first place to look on anything upholstered.
Under the cushions, inside the cushions: unzip them to get a better look.
Screw holes and frame joints: bed bugs like tight, dark gaps in wood.
The underside of the piece: tip it over. This is where people stop looking, which is why it’s worth looking.
Drawer runners and the back panel: pull drawers all the way out and check the cavity behind them.

You’re looking for live insects, pale shed skins, rust-colored smears, and tiny dark specks. The EPA’s bed bug identification pages have photos, which are more useful than any description we could write here.

What to Do Before It Comes Through Your Door

Unwrap and inspect outside, or in a garage or hallway. The last place you should inspect an item is in the living room or bedroom. Vacuum the piece thoroughly, then bag the vacuum contents and walk them straight to the dumpster. Wipe down hard surfaces. Anything fabric that can be laundered goes through a hot wash and a hot dryer, which is the one method that reliably kills everything that shouldn’t be there. In a multifamily building, bed bugs don’t stay in your unit. They travel through walls and outlets to your neighbors. Depending on your lease and your state, you can be held financially responsible for treating the whole building: a five-figure problem that arrived inside a $75 armchair.

Check the Recall List Before You Load the Truck

Why Any Dresser Made Before September 2023 Deserves a Second Look

On September 1, 2023, a federal stability standard for dressers and other clothing storage units became mandatory under the STURDY Act. It applies to units manufactured after that date. Which means nearly every secondhand dresser on the market right now was never required to meet it. Most used dressers are perfectly fine. All you need to do is anchor the dresser. Tip-overs send an estimated 17,800 people to emergency departments every year, and 44 percent of them are kids, according to CPSC’s 2023 tip-over report. CPSC’s Anchor It campaign walks through the hardware.

How to Tell If Used Furniture Is Safe: Look Up the Recall in Under a Minute

Find the model or lot number. It’s usually on a label inside a drawer or stapled to the back panel.
Search it in the CPSC recall database.
No label? Treat it as unknown and anchor it regardless.

This goes well beyond dressers. Used cribs, highchairs, space heaters, and power tools are all worth sixty seconds of searching.

Anchoring a Dresser When Your Lease Says No Drilling

The conflict every renter runs into. Three real options: ask your property manager for written permission (many say yes for a safety anchor); drill into a stud and patch the two small holes on move-out; or choose a lower, wider piece that’s stable without hardware. Patching properly matters here, and it’s one of several small habits behind getting your full security deposit back.

Spend Where It Touches You, Save Everywhere Else

Three rules carry this whole thing. Body-contact items = new. Solid construction = used. And inspect everything before it crosses the threshold. Run anything we didn’t cover through the three questions and you’ll land on the right answer without needing a list. Furnishing an apartment on a budget was never about buying cheap. It’s about knowing which $200 is worth spending. Find your next place on ForRent.com and go fill it properly. This article was originally written by Teresa K. Traverse on February 21, 2019, and has been updated.

FAQs

Is it ever safe to buy a used mattress?

No. Support breaks down invisibly, fluids soak in permanently, and mattress seams are where bed bugs live. Several states also restrict reselling used mattresses without sanitizing and re-tagging them. Buy new during a holiday sale or grab a discounted model instead.

How can you tell if used furniture has bed bugs?

Bring a flashlight and check in this order: seams and piping, under and inside the cushions, screw holes and frame joints, the underside, then drawer runners and the back panel. You’re looking for live insects, pale shed skins, rust-colored smears, and tiny dark specks.

What furniture should you never buy secondhand?

As a rule, skip anything that touches your body for long stretches, anything that can hide pests, and anything whose safety history you can’t verify. That means buying mattresses, pillows, bedding, and towels new, avoiding fabric-upholstered sofas and chairs from strangers, passing on scratched non-stick cookware, and leaving behind flat-pack particleboard that has already been assembled once. The same goes for safety-rated items like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, fire extinguishers, helmets, car seats, and child or infant gear.

How do I know if a used dresser is safe?

Find the model or lot number inside a drawer or on the back panel and search the CPSC recall database. Anchor it to the wall regardless. The federal stability standard only covers units made after September 1, 2023, so most secondhand dressers were never tested against it.

Can I get in trouble with my landlord for bringing in used furniture?

If it brings pests, potentially. Bed bugs spread between units in multifamily buildings, and depending on your lease and your state, you may be liable for treatment costs across the building. Read your lease’s pest clause and inspect everything outside before it comes in.

How much does it cost to furnish a one-bedroom apartment?

Roughly $2,350–$5,300 buying everything new, or about $975–$2,420 buying used where it’s smart and new where it counts. The mattress is the single biggest line item in the mixed approach, and it’s the one place we’d tell you not to economize.

What to Buy Used vs. New for Your Apartment