Posted on 03/09/2016 4:21:19 PM PST by nickcarraway
Ingvar Kamprad, who turns 90 on Mar 30, has a reputation for penny-pinching, which he claims helped Ikea to become one of the world's top brand names.
Frugal billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, founder of the flatpack furniture chain Ikea, buys his clothes at flea markets to save money, he said in a documentary to be broadcast Wednesday (Mar 9) on Swedish television.
Kamprad, who turns 90 on Mar 30, has a reputation for penny-pinching, which he claims helped Ikea to become one of the world's top brand names.
"I don't think I'm wearing anything that wasn't bought at a flea market. It means that I want to set a good example," he told Swedish channel TV4, according to business daily Dagens Industri which viewed the documentary.
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
I am the youngest of five with two older Brothers. Pretty much all my clothes were hand me downs.
We were not wealthy but not poor either. It just made sense not to throw away perfectly good clothes.
Now that I think about it, after I got to old for them, Mother often gave mine to a Cousin whose family actually was a bit on the low income side.
I know!
I can walk through a mall and never once feel a desire to buy anything.
Give me a garage sale and I’m in heaven.
Would you put on a pair of pants that’s been up someone else’s crotch?
I think you forgot JFK/RFK’s’ daddy, old Joe Kennedy
The cafeteria is excellent IMHO.
This young lady’s mother (who was present the whole time and signed the release) told me she found this high dollar gown at a yard sale for $10 or so. Supposedly it went $300 or $400 new.
https://us.fotolia.com/id/18601078
Millionaires wear very expensive clothing.
Billionaires wear whatever is comfortable.
I save a fortune by not shopping at Ikea.
“Give me a garage sale and I’m in heaven.”
Me too, and auctions but only if they are good bargains.
Most Americans would not understand IKEA.
Once you live in Europe you’ll completely understand how great IKEA is and why it is so succesfull. When you rent an apartment you have to furnish everything. Even the kitchen sink. When I moved to Dresden the previous owner even took the light fixtures. And if you know anything about European architecture it is heavy stone or brick, for the most part. So you have no built in cabinetry. Ikea comes through in flat boxes that are easy to packs and carry up stairs, easy to assemble, free standing, and can be packed back down when you move.
That being said I would guess 99% of all couples that shop at IKEA early in a relationship break up that very same night!
We have several IKEA bookshelves, a couple of chest-of-drawers, a dining room table and chair set, and a bunk bed.
They’ve done pretty well by us.
Yep. Lol
A lot of rich people do similar things. My great grandfather (billionaire by today’s standards) wore worn out clothes and would ‘repair’ them with safety pins. One of the favorite local stories is two guys saw him along the road, waiting for a ride and one said something about the ‘homeless guy’ sitting there and the other responded “when I grow up I want to be as rich as that ‘homeless guy’”
My grandfather was the same way. He wore polyester jeans and plaid western shirts. He also carried a note guaranteeing over 250k in credit in case he found something he wanted to buy. There are a lot of millionares next door.
Many years ago, I found a lithograph for $12 at the thrift shop. Turned out to be over 100 year old watercolor, and worth about 2500. Just the other day we found a desk for $700 that turned out to be a Danish modern designer worth $5200.
We have “IKEA” in every room in our house — 2 generation household, with a toddler and varying numbers of rescue cats — it doesn’t make sense to buy high-end furniture at this time. We stick to the sturdier choices and add unique accent pieces, inherited “good stuff” & lots of artwork to balance it out. Maybe someday we’ll upgrade to “real” furniture, but as long as we know how to follow the directions and don’t expect to be able to move it all to another house, IKEA works fine for us.
When MrR and I were in grad school, IKEA was great. We had a lot of bookshelves (still do) and could afford to decorate our studio and 1 BR apts. Recently we got our crib from them. Same fed standards, but 100 instead of 300 dollars.
Ikea cabinets are so popular with the mid century modern decorators that a custom front cabinet maker (that does art and midcentury custom modern designs) has shown up in the boutique stores downtown Palm Springs. They are incredible! We are thinking of having some custom art ones done for a murphy bed for our guest room at our ranch there.
I paid $2 at Goodwill for a weirdly painted vase. It’s an original Italian Desimone, one of a kind. Looked online, it’s worth about $600.
Almost everything I own is secondhand.
Why buy cheaply made clothes at JC Penney when I can get designer labels, nicely tailored in expensive fabrics that some rich fool has tossed after 1 or 2 wearings? Second hand stores get a lot of donations from dry cleaners. People leave clothes too long. Also estates of dead people.
I look at the fabrics and labels and workmanship and choose classic styles.
Got a nice London Fog raincoat for $6. A Karl Lagerfeld suit for $9.
Books and records—got Miss Peggy Lee Live at Basin Street East and Mahalia Jackson Live at 1958 Newport Jazz Festival for $1 each.
Lots of tools, cookery, and prepper supplies too.
People throw away treasures.
Ikea makes visually appealing product for the masses. I hate their stores, my wife will not go there. If you are a student or someone moving into your first apartment they would be a good choice. Their kitchenware, glass and metal objects, are as functional as any. A ceramic bowl is a ceramic bowl. Stainless forks are forks, etc. Their Ligonberry preserves are very good and reasonably priced! (Try them with roast pork or on pancakes!)
I imagine those Dresden buildings are only as old as the end of WW 2. And most of the Hummels were found while rummaging through the burnt out buildings ( see Slaughterhouse 5).
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