Furnishing the house

When we moved, we realized that we didn't love our furniture and so we decided to pare down to the stuff we really liked, sell or donate the rest, rent a small trailer instead of a truck and buy what we needed when we got here. We have always had really good luck with free piles, thrift stores, yard sales and craigslist.
Well, it is a different creature out here! The craigslist community is very small, the thrift stores are dowdy and somewhat overpriced, not many garage sales, and no free piles!
However, we have done okay. We have been here about a month.
From craigslist:
Captain bed with mattress and matching bookshelf for Luigi $40
Queen sized futon (no frame) $20
Nice metal shelves (in Magnus and Rin's room) $10
Very awesome old gold swivel rocker $15
A set of 6 chairs $5 for the set! Not in great condition but they do the trick and luckily most of the people we will have to dinner are graduate students, so they will not be shocked by the condition.

We have been doing a bit of thrifting as well:

Nice desk chair $4
Beautiful drafting table top in new condition $6.50
Microwave for $7
Desk lamp $2.50
A 6' high wooden shelf $10
Big plastic drawers on wheels $4
Camping table $4.50

Another thing we need is art for the walls. We have high ceilings and a lot more space than our old house. I was walking along downtown and noticed a sign that read "Free posters."  I stopped by and it turned out to be a travel agency, so I got a couple of cute posters which are ads for vacations. OUr office/dining room is very kitschy, so they work there. We have also hung a Monopoly game and the Twister spinner as well as old record covers on the wall to add some fun and color.