FTB - Advice on when to buy white good, electrical good (TV etc...) and living items (sofas, beds)

Angela_D_3

ikea deliver for £35,  why put yourself through the trauma 

GaleSF63

Different days - 1970s so no social media etc. but I found one of my biggest mistakes was not to tell everyone soon enough that  I was buying a house - and had to suffer the "if only you had said, we've just thrown out a **** and a XXXX from quite a number of people.

Make sure everyone knows!

FabFifty

Wait until you have a completion date would be my advice. 
Nothing wrong with garden table / chairs, microwave, and live out of your suitcase with a mattress on the floor. Have a look at Freecycle or the local Facebook page - people often want to shift things quickly. Yes it's second hand but might just tide you over whilst waiting a week or two for furniture to be delivered.

Sotts

My property was new and came with white goods.   As soon as i exchanged, i ordered sofas, beds etc.    I completed a week later. Bed was delivered the evening of completion, sofas etc the day after.

Id already picked everything i wanted so just had to press the Buy button once we'd exchanged.

TBagpuss

Don't order anything until you have exchanged contracts and got a definite completion date.

If you are borrowing up to / close to your maximum borrowing capacity don't buy anything on credit until you've completed - some lenders will do a final credit check and the last thing you want is t have your mortgage pulled or reduced because you've taken on other debts in the mean time! 

If you are in rented accommodation, ideally try to have a bit of overlap, that way you can compete with minimum stress, do any measuring up  decorating in an empty property and move stuff gradually (or book removals on a day other than Friday, when costs are likely to be lower as Friday's are the busiest/ most in demand days for removals!) 

When I bought my first home I did end up having to do a last minute dash to IKEA to buy a futon, as I had ordered a bed to be delivered the day after I completed (with a 3 day overlap between my tenancy and my completion date) and got a call on the day to say their warehouse had burned down and so the delivery wouldn't be happening! 

It'd not the end of the world if you don't have all the appliances etc immediately. Launderettes still exist, so do takeaways, long life milk and other shelf-stable food which doesn't need refrigeration, and microwaves !

Racky_Roo

These blinds are great until you decide how you want to decorate  and are blackout too https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/schottis-block-out-pleated-blind-dark-grey-90369507/  Use 2 in a row cut to size if your windows are wider than 100cm

I'd second using gumtree and facebook marketplace for second hand bits. I think you need to live somewhere for a while before committing to furniture you want to keep so get some second hand bits and sell on later, you can get some really decent stuff - I should know, it's usually me selling it as I've got bored/change mind about decoration/moved house!

md258

When we bought our house, it had all appliances integrated except the washing machine (which was integrated in the flat I moved from). We used my MIL's washing machine for a week or so until our one turned up. Friends and/or (new) neighbours may also help if you get desperate.

The only furniture you need straight away are a mattress (no bed), and comfy chair (+ maybe a table/desk if you're wfh). If you plan your meals and buy appropriately, you could probably get away without a fridge for a week too, although I think I'd struggle without either a hob, microwave or oven.

We're planning to change a load of our furniture in the next few years, a lot of it will sit in our loft/garage for when my sister buys if she wants it- you may have the same from Aunts/Uncles/cousins etc

zagubov

 FabFifty said:

Have a look at Freecycle or the local Facebook page - people often want to shift things quickly. Yes it's second hand but might just tide you over whilst waiting a week or two for furniture to be delivered.

I'd second the Freecycle idea. I used to work in an area with a large American expat community. They'd fill the local Freecycle groups with offers of the big American-style fridges they couldn't be bothered to bring back to the US when they went home.

And like others said, tell everyone you know (socially or at work) that you're moving into a place that hasn't much stuff.