Advice on moving into unfurnished room please

IKE25

Hi,

I'm moving from Nottingham to Bristol in a few weeks and have rented an unfurnished room for 6 months. What's surprised me is how costly furniture is! I don't really have a budget as such but I've found a bed for £250, desk for £40 and wardrobe for £90. Parents are kicking off at me cause they say I am paying to furnish someone elses house (they assume I will have to leave it there when I move on). If I did move on after the six months do I just leave it there or do I take it to the new place? And, if I move to London in a year or two can removal companies take care of that for me? Does anyone know what the cost of doing something like that is?

Thanks

puddy

firstly, you take your furnishings with you, or sell them if you are moving into furnished accommodation next time

secondly, dont buy anything without checking out what friends and family may want to get rid of, or freecycle (you need to register but its free), or the local classifieds for cheap stuff, 250 for a bed in your situation is too much

thirdly, if you know that you are going to be moving around alot (do you drive and have access to a car?) you need to get things which are foldable, and lightweight as much as possible

BitterAndTwisted

If the furniture wasn't there when you took the room on then the landlord will not expect it to be there when you vacate. Some have even been known to charge tenants to dispose of items left behind. You could have a chat with the LL later and discuss whether they want to take it from you and then you might have the opportunity to negotiate a price. Failing that, you could engage a removal company to transport your furniture for you but the cost of moving a few items might be prohibitive. These are the sort of items you could give away free on Freecycle and acquire new items in exactly the same way once you move.

IKE25

aaarrghhhh this is too much hassle :rotfl:

gorgeouslatinrose

No idea if its what you want, but I did see a thing in Ikea Bristol the other day of a bed, wardrobe with canvas cover and a few other bits for £80. You would still need a desk but its not too bad. If not , Bitter and Twisteds freecycle idea looks good.

Owain_Moneysaver

You haven't been looking hard enough. Argos have a single divan bed with mattress for ~£100, you may well find cheaper in local bed shops. Malibu 3-drawer desk/dressing table in pine £15, again you can probably get an office surplus desk from a s/hand shop for not much more. Single wardrobe with polycotton 'canvas' cover £30. If you are going to be moving on then bulk-buy plastic stacking storage boxes and live out of them.

You probably want a chair and a towel rail / clothes-horse too. Plastic chairs (for gardens) are a few quid each, and stack.

If you can hold off buying anything else till May you will probably find houseloads of stuff on the pavement as students move out of digs at the end of year.

Few cushions, posters on the wall, telly and a kettle and it'll be homey.

sequence

Why would you rent an unfurnished room :think: Sounds like way too much hassle! Hope the rent is cheap!

LandyAndy

IKE25 wrote: »

aaarrghhhh this is too much hassle :rotfl:

Welcome to the world of having to look after yourself:rotfl:;).

mark5

I think i would prefur to rent an unfurnished room and buy my own bed etc.

knithryn

Some charity shops sell furniture, which is worth looking at.
They will also sell curtains etc, pots and pans, stuff you will need.

PasturesNew

You need to add up the total cost of your furnishings and think how expensive that is if you bin it at the end of your time there (6 months? 12?). Add the cost into the monthly rent to check you're not paying too much for stuff just because you think you have to have this stuff.

At the end of the time you will have to move the furniture out - if you leave it the LL might take the cost of removing it from your deposit.

What I'd do is travel light. I wouldn't get a bed, I'd look at Ikea or even just get a blow up mattress. For a table I'd find something cheap/portable. For furniture I'd look into getting inflatable furniture.

My thinking would be: "Assume it's just me that has to pick it up, cart it back home. Assume it's just me that has to clear the property at the end. Get the cheapest, most portable stuff. Get stuff that's so cheap that I can afford to throw it away/give it away at the last minute and start again with nothing".

If you want an actual bed, then Ikea have this one at £29 http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00104856 or this one http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90018675 and a mattress for it at http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00123888 - that'd give you a bed for £50.

Inflatable furniture and beanbags are what I'd look for to sit on.

I'd go to Argos and get a couple of cheapo hanging rails for my clothes etc.

If you spend £500 on furniture and stay somewhere 12 months, that's cost you £43/month, but if you then want to move you have the cost of removals, which can be several hundred pounds, or an annoying session of having to hire a van and rope in people just because you have furniture. I'd set my total budget for EVERYTHING at under £100 ... £100/12 = just £8/month... easy money to walk away from if you have to give it all away to move on.

When you move out and around, you might look at self storage... the less you have, the cheaper that will be. I've currently got everything I own in one tiny space at £5/week.. you really have to ask yourself the honest question "is the cost of this storage going to end up costing me more than the value of the goods", it often is.

Ikea also do plates and bowls at 19p each. I got two plates and two bowls last time I moved in somewhere ... cheap enough to leave them when I moved on.

At this stage in your life there's no point wasting good money buying things that will then cause you problems/more cost in the coming few years. Save your money for when you're more settled and can spend money on nice things.