5 Ways to Furnish your Apartment on a Budget

You’re at a big turning point in your life: you have finally moved out of your dad’s basement or dorm room, and into your own place! Freedom calls your name, finally! You find the perfect apartment to rent, get your suitcase packed, walk in the door carrying your box of personal belongings then suddenly think to yourself: Crap. You have almost no furniture or money! What are you going to do? Well here are some tips for furnishing your apartment on a budget!

1) Beg mommy and daddy

Yes, this is rather childish, but hey they may have stuff that’s just taking up space they don’t really want any longer. It may not be the prettiest stuff ever, but unless you just won the lottery guess what – not much of your furniture is going to match! But with modern art deco these days, you don’t have to worry! It’s commonplace for even expensive furnishings not to match!

2) Thrift / Consignment Stores

These are very iffy. Sometimes you can find a really good deal at the local Goodwill (especially if you are in a large city), however not always. I remember once I went to pick up a couch at a Salvation Army for the break room where I worked; as soon as we picked it up we realized the back was broken. It was back to back with another couch in the showroom, so you couldn’t tell when you sat on it. However when we got it into the break room, if you leaned back – it fell back! So along with looking for those mysterious stains… look at the structural quality of the couch.

However there are other concerns with used furniture. Whenever you buy anything with cloth or padding, you run the risk of bringing pests, such as bed bugs, into your home. Bed bugs are small parasites, which infest your home and feed on your blood. They are less than 1 millimeter at maturity, and it’s very difficult to learn how get rid of bed bugs. So be very careful and inspect everything closely before bringing it into your home.

3) Friends

When I first moved out and got my own place, I was a very active kiteboarder. I knew the owner of my local shop very well, and his mother recently had to be placed in an assisted living facility, so he had all her stuff to get rid of. This is very rare I will admit, but mention that you’re moving to all your friends – who knows, you may luck out like I did! I got a couch, a very nice coffee table, and some original oil paintings, amongst other furnishings.

4) Packages.

Oh so you think you’re too good for Goodwill or bumming off your parents, huh? Or maybe you just happen to be one of the lucky few who has landed his or her dream job right out of college and have a fat paycheck. Or maybe you won the lottery. If you are in the latter of the two categories, I am very happy for you. Needless to say, you probably have some extra free cash and want the best deal. But you’re like me, and your taste in décor is… well let’s be honest… not good. Thankfully there are people out there to help you! And I’m not talking rental places… you end up paying WAY too much in the long run for your package. But there are some good furniture places out there which will offer well coordinated packages at rather good deals.

5) Craigslist

Craigslist is very inexpensive, if you’re smart about it. I like to leave Craigslist for the last for a few reasons – the first is it’s the most obvious; the second is there is a lot to say about being safe with your Craigslist purchases. Craigslist is a very powerful tool; you can find a new apartment, sofa, dining room table, bed, car, job, and girlfriend all on one site – and all for free. But be careful about what may be crawling around on any of these things you find! There is also a wonderful “free” section on Craigslist, where you can literally get anything you can think of. Upon moving last month, my new apartment didn’t have a ceiling fan – found one for free, and two bar stools for $15!

Other than the bed bug problem, make sure you do you research on everything before you buy it; maybe have a friend who specializes in that product inspect it for you. When I bought my motorcycle, I had a friend who was a mechanic go with me to inspect the bike before I made my offer. Craigslist is a wonderful tool, just as long as you can make sure you are not ripped off. Also pay attention to the bed bugs I mentioned up in the section about thrift stores.

Congratulations on moving out of your parent’s basement, no matter if you’re 18, 23, or 32. There’s a lot to starting out on your own, and finding furnishings for your apartment shouldn’t be one of them. I have had neighbors who are ten years older than I am, and who have been in the professional world years longer than I, who say I have more furnishings than they do. Well, I got most of it through one of these methods, however most is off Craigslist. Good luck!

Related articles

• How to Feng Shui Your Apartment Video (ihowtovideos.com)
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• Backyard Entertainment (empirepatiocovers-blog.com)
• Brighten Your Bedroom With Beautiful Fabrics (frommyexperience.com)

Posted by List Guy on August 30, 2010. Filed under Humor, Miscellaneous, The List. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.