buying 'stuff' for a place you havent got yet? madness or moneysaving?

runningwoman

Advantages

1. Psychologically, if you're looking forward to the move but it isn't happening for some time it's fun to get bits.

2. If you're going to be very busy as soon as you move, it may be worth having things before so you don't need to then spend your lunch break queuing to get teaspoons and your weekends at Ikea.

3. You may find some super bargains you can't get again.

Disadvantages

1. You may need to actually live somewhere/work out what your routine is like to have an idea of what you need.

2. If you're a girl and looking forward to "nesting" you may get a bit TOO excited and accumulate loads of stuff you'll look back on later and go WHY?!!! I used to go through the Argos catalogue when I was small and cut out the things what I would put in my dream house (yes, bloody ARGOS, I have no taste :rotfl:). Maybe you could do something similar with online wish lists etc?

3. A lot of "super-bargains" can be got again, later.

Personally I've always either been in shared furnished or been convinced to move in with chaps with their own household bits so only had my clothes plus few bits of tat (black towels - stops them EVER looking mucky. Duvet and pillows, no cooking stuff can't think why :rotfl:) and I'm actually thinking of reducing my stuff even further as I seem to live quite nomadically.

It's a big advertising sell to say that you need matchy matchy furniture and lots of random "household" stuff to have a good quality of life.

I suspect I have lower standards than most but as long as you can perform the basic stuff and your place works aesthetically for you a lot of the extras really are useless and things you won't use that much.

catch_me_if_you_can

When I bought my first house I was shopping for ages beforehand and moved in with a full set of kitchenware, crockery, cutlery, glasses... toaster, sandwich toaster, blender etc. Everything.

And marginally off topic... when I was planning on leaving my ex. I packed a bag with my laptop, phone, credit card, important documents (birth cert/passport/bank stuff) a couple of changes of clothes, a duvet and a corkscrew.

Just in case I had to go quickly.

Amazing what you pare your essentials down to :rotfl:

runningwoman

catch_me_if_you_can wrote: »

When I bought my first house I was shopping for ages beforehand and moved in with a full set of kitchenware, crockery, cutlery, glasses... toaster, sandwich toaster, blender etc. Everything.

And marginally off topic... when I was planning on leaving my ex. I packed a bag with my laptop, phone, credit card, important documents (birth cert/passport/bank stuff) a couple of changes of clothes, a duvet and a corkscrew.

Just in case I had to go quickly.

Amazing what you pare your essentials down to :rotfl:

Yes, I agree that's the most important thing :rotfl:

catch_me_if_you_can

runningwoman wrote: »

Yes, I agree that's the most important thing :rotfl:

great minds...

poppy_f1

argos is actually quite good for working out what you need to buy when you do get a place and also for budgetting for items
i was quite sad - i done a spreadsheet of stuff i needed, worked out roughly how much i would spend on the things like fridge, washing machine etc and also what i deemed i could buy now (mainly non electrical)

newmum1

I totally agree with the whole "bottom drawer" my mum made me do this so when I brought my house I had quite a lot of things i.e towels, cutlery bed sheets...etc pretty much everything apart from my electricals which I brought when I moved in. Im so glad that I did it this way as it saved me time and money and was a good way for me to get started and most of the things I brought was with my tips so effectively free and I wasnt having to dip into my wages. I think its a fantastic idea and something which I will pass on to my girls.

claire16c

Nearly all of my friends moved into shared houses once leaving uni ( I dont know anyone who moved into somewhere just by themselves - who can afford to live on their own its so expensive??). So the houses tended to come with most stuff, but they still had to buy bed linen etc. However most of them just used their stuff from uni. So I dont think they really bought much else.

The only ones of us who didnt move into a shared place, moved in with a partner. So still technically sharing. And again I had lots of bits from uni. But for the stuff I didnt have like a toaster, my DH (then boyfriend) had.

I also had a ton of decorative stuff and extra stuff I didnt really need ( at one point I had a box of about 20 different shaped wine and cocktail glasses, ice cream glasses, 4 or 5 vases, lamp shades, 8-10 cushion covers, throws, pillows, cutlery, plates, saucepans, fake flowers, photo frames.. the list goes on... because I worked in a retailers head office in a placement year, and so I used to go to sample sales every week and get stuff for next to nothing. I stored it all in my parents loft, garage, my nans loft, my boyfriends flat (much to their delight lol). I had a mountain of stuff, still got lots of it now. So yes I did prepare for moving out.

fantasticfive

My mum started a bottom drawer for me long before I left home. If she saw anything in a sale, kitchen stuff, etc, she'd buy 1 for the drawer. Or if she was buying a replacement item for the family kitchen, she'd buy 2, 1 for the kitchen & 1 for the drawer.
It saved us a lot of money. I left home with crockery, cutlery, glasses, towels, dish towels, linen, oven ware, etc

The only problem is, if you forget what you've got and end up with multiple eggtimers or something, but other than that......
As for larger items, well, if you have place to store them safely?
I'd agree about the electricals & guarantees, rather wait until you need them.

im-lost

Thanks for the replies, seems its quite common then..

Satsuma_Peel

If its not already been said, another thing you could do esp for electrical items would be to save money monthly or weekly. Its no good buying these things too far in advance as their guarantee's expire or newer better items preceed them.

Id go for free stuff, really good bargains on towels, linen etc and save money separately so you have cash to splurge when you need, pref in sale time.

Good luck OP