Join IKEA Family and hit the As-Is section: The free membership unlocks exclusive discounts, while the As-Is area often has furniture marked down 20%–70%.
Watch for yellow tags: Yellow price tags often signal clearance, member pricing, or discontinued items that may not be restocked.
Shop smarter, not bigger: Skip most decorative accessories, use room displays for ideas, and compare prices before furnishing an entire room in one trip.
IKEA has a reputation for being affordable and compared to many traditional furniture stores, that's certainly true.
But what most shoppers don't realize is that there are actually two ways to shop at IKEA.
The first is the way most people do it. They wander through the showroom, fall in love with a few room displays, grab a cart, eat some Swedish meatballs, and spend far more than they planned.
The second way is how savvy IKEA shoppers approach the store. They know where the clearance deals are hidden, how to use IKEA Family benefits, when markdowns happen, and which products offer the best value for the money.
The difference can easily be hundreds of dollars on a single shopping trip. Here's how to do it.
Join IKEA Family before you buy anything
If you're shopping at IKEA without joining IKEA Family, you're leaving money on the table. The program is completely free and unlocks a bunch of great perks. I highly recommend you take a couple minutes and sign-up.
Members receive the following:
- Special member pricing
- Exclusive discounts
- Free coffee or tea at many locations
- Product protection benefits
- Occasional coupons and offers
- Discounts on select services
Also, many items throughout the store have separate IKEA Family prices attached to them that can be significantly lower than the regular shelf price.
Pro tip: Before visiting IKEA, always be sure to log into your account and check current member offers. The reason is because some discounts never appear on the regular sales floor.
Head straight to the As-Is section
Veteran IKEA shoppers already know the As-Is section of the store is where the best deals live, and you’ll typically find it by the checkout area and store exit.
The As-Is section (sometimes called Circular Hub) is where returned items, discontinued merchandise, floor models, opened boxes, and slightly damaged products end up.
Discounts often range from 20% all the way up to 70% off. Personally, I've seen bookshelves with tiny scratches discounted by $100 or more simply because the box was opened. The best deals are usually on large furniture items like a sofa, dining set, and bookshelf.
The key is to shop this area when you first enter IKEA. This is because if you find what you came for, your entire shopping trip changes and you’ll save a ton of money.
The key is to make sure all the hardware and assembly pieces are included. If you notice some hardware is missing, ask an employee as they often have replacement parts available for free.
Pro tip: Look beyond any small cosmetic flaws and look for structural damage. Pass on anything structural that you don’t want to spend the time fixing. But a small dent on the back of a cabinet, or a torn box, will often results in a huge discount for damage nobody will ever see.
Don't buy everything in one trip
This might be the least IKEA thing you'll ever hear, but resist the urge to furnish an entire room in one visit.
Many IKEA products cycle through promotions, member discounts, and clearance markdowns throughout the year. So, if you aren't in a rush, save your favorites to your online shopping list and monitor prices for a few weeks.
Patience can often save you 10% to 30%. This is especially true for larger purchases like dining tables, dressers, storage systems, and home office furniture.
Learn the yellow tag system
Not all IKEA price tags are created equal. In particular, savvy shoppers pay close attention to the yellow tags.
Yellow tags often indicate the following:
- Temporary markdowns
- Member pricing
- Clearance merchandise
- End-of-line products
When you see a yellow tag combined with a low inventory notice, that's often a sign that a product may not be restocked. In those situations, waiting can sometimes mean missing the deal entirely.
This is one of the few times where impulse buying at IKEA can actually save you money.
Use IKEA for the expensive stuff and skip the accessories
Don’t make the common mistake of spending hours comparing sofa prices at IKEA and then casually toss 15 small decorative items into your cart.
If you do this, you’ll notice that often the accessories end up costing as much as the furniture.
It’s a fact that IKEA's furniture often provides tremendous value. But don’t throw away that value by also buying a bunch of over-priced decorative accessories.
Here are the items worth buying:
- Shelving systems
- Storage solutions
- Bookcases
- Dressers
- Desks
- Basic furniture
Conversely, the items worth price-checking elsewhere include candles, decorative baskets, artificial plants, throw pillows, and seasonal décor. Those impulse purchases are where budgets quietly fall apart if you’re not paying attention.
Always look up your closest IKEA before you go
Before you head to your closest IKEA, be sure to look up your store details on their website. By doing so, you’ll find out about any discount days that are specific to your IKEA.
For example, my closest store is in Sacramento, and by looking up that location, I discovered that I need to plan my trip on a Wednesday. That’s the day where they offer IKEA Family members an extra 10% off when shopping the As-Is department, as well as 5% off all ‘Shop & Go’ purchases.
Every location is slightly different and not every store has discount days, but you never know until you check.
Use Lowe’s kitchen design consultation
Lowe’s offers a free in-store or virtual kitchen consultation where a designer will help you create a detailed kitchen layout, including cabinet sizes, measurements, and countertop dimensions.
You can then take that plan and price out comparable IKEA products, potentially saving thousands of dollars compared to buying everything directly through Lowe's.
Even if you have no intention of buying cabinets from Lowe's, their free design service can save you hours of measuring and planning while giving you a professional blueprint to use at IKEA.
Use IKEA's room displays as a shopping hack
Most shoppers see the various room displays as inspiration only, but frugal shoppers see them as research.
In particular, pay attention to how IKEA combines storage products, lighting, furniture, and the clever small-space solutions.
By paying close attention, you'll often discover cheaper ways to solve a problem than the solution you originally planned.
For example, a $40 shelving system might accomplish the same thing as a $200 piece of furniture. That's not just saving money, that's shopping smarter.
Pro tip: I’m a big fan of taking photos of the room displays you like, rather than buying stuff in the displays immediately. Then review your pics at home, in peace and quiet, and decide then what you actually need after the excitement wears off.