
I bought an office chair!
I know, I know. It’s just a chair. Who cares?
Well, apparently my back and butt and legs care very much.
Ever since I started this blog a few months ago, I’ve been spending much more time in my super high-quality office chair that I purchased over 20 years ago from Office Max for $139.
I know it’s super high quality because it comes with such features as:
- a seat
- a back
- plastic armrests
- and rolly wheels (I’m sure rolly wheels are the official high-quality name of these plastic wheels.)

So, clearly, I made a good choice over 20 years ago at a time when I would never sit in this chair for more than 30 or 40 minutes at a time.
But things have changed here in the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-twenty. (Massive understatement, I know.)
I find myself sitting in this chair so much more often, and for significantly longer periods of time.
For nearly two months now my back and shoulders and butt and legs have been trying to communicate their need for a better solution, but thus far, I’ve been able to quell their insubordinate rebellion.

But no more.
I find that my ability to function when not sitting in the chair is starting to become compromised, and that is simply not acceptable. It would appear my body parts have organized a walkout in protest of my bargain-basement chair and I was left little choice but to cave to their demands.
Finding a New Chair
The hunt for an actual high-quality chair began in haste.
I chose to skip over chairs comparable to my current torture device and jumped straight to real-world office chairs that I had become so accustomed to in my previous life in corporate America.
I began my search by visiting a handful of office furniture review websites and quickly discovered that the Herman Miller Aeron office chair was as close to the creme of the crop in the office chair community as one could find.

But wait! $1,495 FOR A CHAIR!!! Who the what?!?
Suddenly it seemed as if I was shopping for a Bengal Tiger, not some cushy fabric to holster my butt for a few hours.
Needless to say, I was quickly humbled by my office chair research.
Who pays over $1,000 for a chair? Certainly not me.

Bargain Hunting
It became clear that I needed to establish a budget for the chair I was going to procure. I knew that $1,000 was NOT acceptable, but how high was I willing to go.
Based on some more research, it appeared that some decent chairs could be had for as “little” as $500, so I decided that would be my high price point. I would only pay up to $500 and get the absolute best chair I could find for that price.
Unfortunately, review site after review site – each chock full of recommendations from chiropractors and doctors and chair-sitting professionals – was touting the incredible long-term benefits of the $1,000+ chairs…most notably the fully customizable Herman Miller Aeron chair.
They weren’t touting just benefits like comfort and reliability but were more focused on benefits like being able to walk at age 50 and not requiring herniated disc surgery within 5 years.
Sure, it could all be a giant marketing scam perpetrated by the high-end office chair cartel, but was I willing to herniate a disc or two to find out?
Not likely.

Used Car Shopping All Over Again
But then I wondered, for a piece of office equipment as expensive as $1,500, surely there was a used market for these things, right?
A place where you could find a model that’s a few years old with maybe a few dings here and there, but possibly low butt mileage and selling for half the price.
So I shifted my internet gaze onto the used office furniture scene, and sure enough, such a marketplace did exist.
It turns out office chairs really are like used cars. Each year there’s a new model with slightly different tweaks and improvements, but if you’re willing to accept a model that’s 2 or 3 years old, a discount is very possible.
The challenge is that most places don’t sell used office furniture in one’s and two’s. They are priced and sold in batches of 20’s and 30’s and 100’s, catering to enterprises with employee counts larger than one.
I, obviously, was not in need of 20 or 30 or 100 used office chairs.
I suppose if I found the most perfect office chair ever made and wanted to use it unconditionally for the next 100 years, I could scoop up a batch of 20 and when one wore out I could simply swap it out for a new one.
That insane thought actually crossed my mind, but so did the vision of my wife’s face as every chair in our home suddenly turned into an office chair overnight.
It wasn’t a glamorous vision.
Also, seeing as I balked at the price of $1,495 for a single chair, I couldn’t fathom paying over $12,000 for a batch of 20 chairs.
So I had to keep hunting.
Finding the Pot ‘o Gold
And then, as if jettisoned from an internet wormhole, I found the site seatingmind.com who dealt in used office chairs – and would sell in singles!
Unfortunately, much like wandering around a sketchy used car dealership, it took quite a bit of poking around to find the good stuff.
And even then, it took an extra bit of sleuthing to separate the 6-year-old models from the 2-year-old models as they weren’t exactly forthcoming with the age of the chairs. (Sketchy used chair dealers!)

And also like used cars, not every model had every option available for that generation of chair.
Some had adjustable armrests but some only offered fixed.
Some had an adjustable back support tensioner while others did not.
Some had the crucial lumbar support mechanism. Others were without.
It was like searching through a dozen different Pottery Barn catalogs discovered in distinctly different sections of a local garbage dump.
But then, as if fate had connected us through the power of my resiliency combined with the pain in my lower back, I found my chair.
A fully featured Herman Miller Aeron chair with all the latest and greatest features.
- breathable mesh backrest and seat
- pneumatic lift
- 4-way adjustable armrests
- backrest tilt tensioner
- 4-way adjustable seat
- posture fit lumbar support mechanism
And here was the kicker – it was the previous generation model, but it was BRAND NEW.
That’s like finding a 3-year-old car for sale with only 4 miles on the odometer, but it’s being sold like it’s a 3-year-old used car. That would be a great deal.
And so was this chair.
The total price for the chair including shipping was just $525.
That’s right. Just $525 for a fully-featured Herman Miller Aeron chair that, as configured, retails for nearly $1,400.
My back and butt and legs have never been so happy for me to spend so much time in my bargain-basement chair searching the Internet.

Ok, so here’s an actual picture of my new chair.

This one’s for you, body parts.
Have you ever bought anything at a great discount? What was it and how did you get such a great deal? Leave me a comment about your fantastic find.

Caroline at Costa Rica FIRE
That’s a great deal! I find chairs really hard to shop for b/c you have to try them out. If you do find something in a store and can find it for cheaper, then that is one way of getting a deal. For the savings you got, I would be willing to do it that way too. If the differential isn’t too much, I buy in the brick and mortar store b/c I want to support the store that allowed me to try things and gave me ideas about what to buy — that’s a service worth paying for.
Live Your Wage
Choosing to support a local store is a great idea if you can find what you’re looking for. I was a bit nervous about not being able to see/try the chair in person before purchasing, but I had the benefit of using the same brand and style of chair for years in my corporate job, so I had an idea of what I was getting. Not everyone has that benefit.
Typing this right now, I’m super thankful to be sitting in my new chair and expect my body to pay me back over the rest of my lifetime. 😁
Jon
A few years back, I was in the market for a chest freezer. I was expecting to pay up to $200 because I anticipated needing a very large one since elk season was coming up and I had just moved out of my dad’s house. Cruising the classifieds, I saw one listed for $20, and the seller told me that it still worked well, but they just wanted to get rid of it. I figured there was probably something wrong with it, particularly since it was already at least 30 or 40 years old, but for $20 I wouldn’t mind getting it, having it stop working in a few months, and having to repair it. I even brought $120 cash with me to pick it up because I was certain there had been a typo. 5 years later, it still happily hums along on my back patio, holding an internal temperature of -20°F even when ambient temperatures are well into the triple digits. I’ve also managed to get two different $500+ chain saws for $175 and $250 each, a 1972 Sears rototiller for $100 when an equivalent USED tiller would have run $300+, and many other used items ranging from practically brand new to looking like something from an antique shop (but still in very serviceable condition) for prices that had me wondering if I’d read or heard correctly, but I’ve never topped my $20 freezer.
Live Your Wage
Wow! That’s incredible! Buying used is a great way to get a lot of value for the material things we need and want. You definitely got your money’s worth in that $20 freezer. Way to go!
Roy Hollingsworth
I bought a ten-year-old Volvo 240 in 2002 that had 45K miles.
Aaron, you once saw it and pronounced it “Excellent!”
I am still driving it.
(The A/C works.)
RH
Live Your Wage
Wow, Roy! A 10-year-old car with only 45k miles? That’s an excellent find. I doubt my 2002 self truly appreciated the awesomeness of that moment, or that one day I would be buying 10-year-old cars as well. You taught me a lot, for sure. How many miles does your Volvo have on it now?
(We just purchased a 4-year-old Toyota Sienna minivan with cash. It’s the newest vehicle we’ve ever owned and we plan to drive it for a decade or more.)
Roy Hollingsworth
One thing about those old Volvos… The odometers were very susceptible to being rendered inoperative if you pushed the reset button while the car was in motion. It was all a mechanical device. The ’92 240’s odo quit long ago at something like 68,000. We also have a 1990 Volvo 740 whose odo quit at 198,000 long ago. Like you, we always buy used for cash. Spouse has a 2013 Genesis, very posh. Why do two retired people have three cars? Honestly, they are so cheap to insure and maintain, I just can’t bring myself to part with them. One of my kids is keeping the older one.
Can I add here something about insurance? Don’t just get the state minimum liability coverage. Get a million or more. Some litigious person could really hurt you. Oh, but you know that, given where you worked. (I’m a 50-year member!)
Live Your Wage
Super reliable cars with less than reliable odometers. Ha! I guess I would prefer that than the other way around.
The Genesis cars are very nice. Our neighbor leases his. Not the most cost effective approach, but he’s retired and can afford it. I enjoy looking at his car every time he goes by.
And yes, state minimum insurance requirements are not sufficient. Regardless of the litigious people, serious car accidents can result in medical expenses that skyrocket right through what a minimum insurance policy will cover. After a serious car accident, the last thing any of us need is a hefty medical bill. A million dollars in coverage and an umbrella policy are worth every penny.