Keep an Eye on Your Pocketbook After Buying Home : Furnishing: Danger lurks in overspending on interior decor. Purchasing secondhand items is recommended.

Those with the unhappy duty of taking peoples’ houses away in foreclosure see a common pattern. A young family buys its first home and then overspends to outfit the place with furniture, appliances and home electronics. Eventually, the family’s lack of financial restraint costs it the property.

“It’s folly to risk your major investment--which is your own home--for the trimmings,” said Monte Helme, a vice president at the Century 21 realty chain headquarters in Irvine.

Although some people lose their homes because of unemployment, a medical catastrophe or divorce, many others wind up in foreclosure because of uncontrolled spending patterns, Helme said. People are particularly vulnerable to overspending in the immediate aftermath of a home purchase.

“Once you’ve paid down your credit cards to be able to qualify to buy the home, there’s a great temptation to use the plastic again--to have all those nice furnishings at once,” Helme said.

Granted, it is rare to lose a house for a sofa. But if you have a new sofa payment on top of a new car payment on top of a new house payment, the sofa could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

The desire to have a new sofa, dining room set or refrigerator with all the latest features is understandable. But, as real estate specialists point out, it is absurd to put your ownership of the home in jeopardy to make the place look like a palace.

“If you’re clever, you’ll get the home and worry about furnishing it later. Or you’ll furnish it with recycled items,” said Dorcas Helfant, president-elect of the National Assn. of Realtors.

Helfant and other realty specialists say that remarkable things can be done to outfit a home on a small budget through shrewd buying on the secondhand market. Whether you’re purchasing a new refrigerator, bunk bed set for the children’s room or personal computer for the den, you can enjoy huge savings by going to the recycled market.

And these days--with recycling back in vogue--it is almost chic to stake out a bargain on a quality castoff. Those who think that buying secondhand is something done only by the impoverished should think again. Many middle- and even upper-income people have turned to secondhand channels for a deal on everything from an IBM personal computer to an Anne Klein suit.

“We urge young people, who are on very tight budgets, not to try buying everything new,” Helfant said. “It takes a bit of imagination and willpower, but if you shop wisely you can furnish your house with an extravagant look on a penny-pincher budget.”

Here are pointers on buying top-notch goods through the recycled market:

--Save 30% to 50% off the cost of new furniture by buying through estate sales or consignment shops.

You do not have to be an antique buff to realize that older furniture is often better furniture. Would you rather have an ornately carved dining room table made of solid oak or one of particleboard with an oak veneer so thin that a careless guest could cut through it with a butter knife? An oak table that is, say, 50 years old, could cost significantly less than a true antique or a new table bought at your local furniture mart.

You can find out about estate sales--which typically involve a whole household’s furnishings--through ads in the classified section of your local newspaper. You can also hear of estate sales (the way antique dealers do) through attorneys who specialize in estate work.

In addition, there are a growing number of resale shops that take furniture and other household goods on a consignment basis. Again, they may not specialize in antiques, yet offer high-quality older items.

--Save 20% to 90% off the cost of new appliances by buying through newspaper ads, acquaintances or appliance reconditioning centers.

Some appliances--namely stoves, dishwashers and washing machines--take such a beating or have so many mechanical parts that they are a poor bet to buy secondhand. But others, including refrigerators, clothes dryers and freezers, have remarkable life spans and can be excellent secondhand buys.

Appliances often come on the market for good reasons. Perhaps the seller is taking an out-of-town promotion and does not want the burden of bringing the appliances along. Or maybe the seller’s wealthy godmother gave her all new appliances for her birthday. You can’t expect a warranty through a private sale, but many appliance reconditioning centers offer warranties of a year or longer. Many will also professionally repaint your appliance to match your decor.

--Save 50% to 70% off the list price of a major brand computer by purchasing a used one through a computer users’ club.

Such clubs, operating in communities throughout the United States, are made up of computer enthusiasts--many of them young people. The clubs run electronic bulletin boards listing secondhand computers for sale and are a prime source of good leads.

Since most computer problems appear within the first few weeks after manufacture, the hope that a used computer will come without a serious kink has solid basis.