Besides this, many people don't have time to visit a commercial tanning bed often enough to properly maintain their tans. When you're working full-time, raising children, and trying to maintain a sane and healthy life, driving to the tanning salon during their hours can be very stressful. Why continue with this when you can find beds for less than a thousand dollars?

Before you purchase, find a good place in your home for it. There's nothing worse than picking up a nifty tanning bed only to have nowhere to put it but in your already-crowded laundry room! Since these beds generate a lot of heat, you'll need to be certain that there is room on all sides of it for air to circulate. You should also pick up a fan, or you can even place it in a room with a window-unit air conditioner for maximum comfort. Also think about privacy when you're finding a place for it; for this reason, a garage would not work.

Once you're certain you'll have room, you can start looking seriously for one. You can frequently find cheap beds on sale at Ebay. Some of them are used, but many of them are relatively new. Occasionally you can even find them new but discontinued models, or repossessed models from bankrupted companies, for sale there. You can also look at a variety of different classified ads sites online that specialize in these items.

Besides used and ebay tanning beds, you can try wholesale websites. You might be able to find cheap beds or tanning equipment on Overstock.com, for instance, and more and more unique items are being sold through Amazon.com. Regular auctions are also a possibility, though you should call before showing up at the auction. And Ebay isn't the only online auction site.

If you don't have the room for a tanning bed, you might want to consider a booth. You'd have to stand up for your tanning sessions, which will also require you to raise your arms for a fair period of time to get an even tan; but you can fit a booth into a much smaller area of your home.

An even smaller and more inexpensive option is a tanning lamp, a solarium, or a face bronzer. You won't be able to tan your whole body at once, but if you have a nice lounge or something similar you can use to tan on, a lamp takes up only a small amount of space, and you may even be more comfortable than on a tanning bed. Cheap tanning lamps, unlike beds, can be stored in small spaces like closets or on shelves.

When you're buying a cheap bed, you should consider maintenance costs. Tanning beds purchased as new discontinued models, as overstocks, or as repossessed and auctioned merchandise will generally still carry valid warranties; you should ask about this. Some require more expensive replacement bulbs or maintenance procedures than other tanning beds; you should explore this fully prior to purchasing. If you don't look into these things, your cheap tanner may not be so cheap!

You should also try to find out why these items are cheap. They may have problems that will cost you more money than the price is worth. And you should shop around. Some beds cost nearly as much as new ones - and others are much less expensive than seemingly-comparable used units. Look for a good price, but find out why the price is lower. Again, some of the reasons - like advances in technology rendering newer bulbs less damaging to the skin - may not be acceptable to you.