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Furnishing a house from scratch

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
To those who have moved out of home and into unfurnished accomodation (either renting or bought yourself - living there permanently, not student accomodation), roughly how much did it cost to buy all of the furniture and essentials?

When my sister moved into a flat, I remember her scouring charity shops, car boot sales and the small ads in the local paper. She got a very nice sofa for £30 that way, and a bedframe (bought a new mattress obviously) and table and chairs. I don't think she actually bought any furniture new! I've just been looking on eBay and seen some good looking bargains too.

Next year, I'll hopefully be moving in with my boyfriend and I was just thinking about what we're going to need to buy and where we're going to get it from. Oh, and where we're going to get the money for it all, but that's another argument entirely!

So come on peeps, scare me with how much I've going to have to spend, and reassure me with your stories of bargain hunting! (new and used) Thanks! :)

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do you want crap you can live with for now or stuff you can move with? I've never had to furnish a place, but I asked Ed and that was his first question. If you just want to temporaly furnish with cheap junk, he says go head to Ikea or someplace similar. If you plan on having the stuff for more than half a year do not hesitate to spend money. GOod quality does cost money but good quality lasts. Take time to look for deals. Last year we got a new 2000 dinner table for 700. Not too long ago he decided to replace the couch. Got a cushy leather 3 person sopha for 900 as opposed to the original price of more than twice. SEe, good deals :thumb: THink positivly! Probably every furniture place will finance you also if you don't have the money up front. I only know that from commercials though. If not, loans are available. He reccomends getting quality from the start. It will look nice, it will be comfortable and most of all it will last. You buy cheap stuff and it will break, you will spend just as much in replacing things.

    Does it come with appliances? Stove/fridge/washer/dryer ect? From when we went looking for a new one, places are *always* having appliance sales. Look in the stores, look online too. If you see a good deal online, head to the store and ask about that one. For those kinds of things its more of a preference choice. I'm sure you obviously know the good brands that sell there. Don't be afraid to bargin with the sales people. In most cases they will give you a better deal then advertised. If not in the general cost, but in side things. Throw in an extra water purifer for the fridge or anything. Ed reccomends front load washers and dryers. He says they are more energy efficent and you dont' need to use as much detergent as you do in top load ones.

    Thats his advice anyways. I have no experience in the subject.
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    It depends, like my_name said.

    If you are wanting to do it as cheap as possible then check out FreeCycle. If you google it then you can find one in your area.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We got our wardrobes from Argos, cheap but nice and they have lasted about 3 moves so far. We got a really cheap sofa from Ikea, not ideal but it does for now.
    Cheap bed also from Argos. Not gonna last forever but did the job.
    Does it have carpets etc? Does it come with a cooker, washing machine, fridge/freezer etc? If not these can cost a fair amount.
    We picked up fairly cheap but good ones from Currys i think it was.
    Yeah as alreadly said, keep your eyes peeled on Freecycle.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Of course, you don't have to get everything at once. Or get the best stuff all at once. Try to see if friends and relatives can give you anything.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It sounds a glib answer, but the amount it costs is how much you have to spend.

    The things that costs the money are the appliances- a washing machine is £300, a fridge is £300. Everything else you can be as cheap or as expensive as you want- we got an interest-free loan from the company we bought most of our furniture from, so we bought slightly better stuff than we otherwise would have.

    To furnish our place we paid about £1500 in total, but we had things bought for us and we spent a little bit more because we could spread the payments over 12 months. Though we're still buying things now, and we recently got a brand new Ikea sofa for £20 from a FreeCycle type place.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mist wrote:
    Try to see if friends and relatives can give you anything.

    This is what we did! We got a free sofa, armchair, kitchen table, wadrobe, 2 bedside tables, 2 chests of drawers, a dressing table and a computer desk for absolutely nowt. Of course, if people are giving it away, don't expect particularly nice stuff (the sofa in particular was several shades of hideous), but it's amazing what you can do with a bit of paint and a few throws.

    I don't agree that you have to spend a lot to get good quality, though. Ikea is a prime example - they do have the cheap shit ranges which will not last forever, but their more expensive stuff is just as good as stuff we sell at work for 5 times the price. The only two items I'd save up for is a comfy sofa, and a decent bed. Possibly a dining set, but you can get a good quality, solid wood dining set for about £300 if you're looking in the right places.

    Also interest free credit is your friend :yes:

    Oh, and for the appliances - go have a look at them in Comet or wherever, pick the one you like, make a note of the model number and google it. We got our fridge and washer in the Argos sale for over £100 less than they were in the electrical stores. :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    With stuff like desks, can't you build them yourself? (don't mean get a flatpack that ou have to build)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    kaffrin wrote:
    This is what we did! We got a free sofa, armchair, kitchen table, wadrobe, 2 bedside tables, 2 chests of drawers, a dressing table and a computer desk for absolutely nowt. Of course, if people are giving it away, don't expect particularly nice stuff
    Depends. The person might be giving it away because nice as it is, they're getting something even better, or they might hate it but it might be more to your taste, or maybe they could have tried to sell it but just not got any buyers. One person's junk is someone else's treasure & all that. Where I live now I'm sharing my housemate's printer, but I'm off to uni in a month so need one of my own. My mum happened to mention she's getting rid of hers because she wants a particular feature it doesn't have. The thing is a HP printer/scanner/photocopier combo which would come to well into 3 figures brand new & works perfectly fine - & I'm getting it free :thumb: .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    http://www.clearance-comet.co.uk/, buy and sell, ikea, and look for sales!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sofa and bed i got from charity shops, although the bed had a new mattress on it. few other bits and pieces from various family members.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I moved to an unfurnished flat about a year ago. Had no money at all for about a month, slept on a foam camping mattress on the floor. Eventually bought a cheap double bed for £85 including mattress but have now replaced that with a pine one off freecycle.

    Got quite a bit from Ikea, charity shops are good. Or friends who are moving out often want to sell things, universities often have signs up with people selling furniture. You don't have to buy the biggest, most expensive, new things. I got a little freezer for £80 and a second hand fridge for £40.

    I don't have a sofa. I have lots of cushions on the floor and some camping chairs.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks for the spam, but this is four years old FFS
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Freecycle ...I've emptied a shit load of good stuff onto it ...wife keeps coming back with more!
    But seriously ...I know of people who have furnished their houses through it.
    I've heard of people getting cars!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You know sometimes if they didnt post a link, yes of course they would be a retard spammer, but id only think they were a little bit stupid, not committing acts of spammery.
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Freecycle ...I've emptied a shit load of good stuff onto it ...wife keeps coming back with more!
    But seriously ...I know of people who have furnished their houses through it.
    I've heard of people getting cars!

    :yes: me too. I'll close this now to prevent from further spam attack! :d
This discussion has been closed.