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i live with my parents and i have no furniture or household belongings aside from clothes and books that belong to me. i have been saving up a lot of money in order to finally move, pay rent for at least a year until i can get a well paying full time job in my field, and nice furniture.
when i finally move out (moving cross country), is it best to buy all the furniture i like in advance here and uhaul it all, or just buy thrift store pieces once i get there, and then just buy nice pieces over time to replace them?
furniture and household style is very important to me.
Well, my opinion is to definitely NOT buy anything until you get to your new digs.
The cost of moving things across the country is VERY expensive. Also, how do you know what you buy would even fit in the new place?
Move, find the place you like, stock it a little at a time with second-hand finds, etc.
When you have a secure and are living where you WANT to live long term, only then, as you can afford it, SLOWLY buy what you want.
Life is a journey, not a goal...enjoy the journey.
It takes time (and patience) but you CAN find good deals on CL... mostly from OTHER folks moving cross country that can't/don't want to move furniture.
We got our table and chair set (identical to the one I've always wanted for $450 at retail) from Craigslist for $25.
Last night I picked up an antique (Huntley!) vanity and matching dresser for $60 because the veneer is damaged. I'm learning how to remove veneer today... what a process! But, I'll have a beautiful vanity and dresser when I'm done - custom antiques, so to speak!
My dh is off to pick up a 7 shelf oak bookcase for the kid's books... $25 ... nothing wrong with it, just didn't fit on someone's moving truck. (This is why we are buying used and so much of it right now, a lot of our stuff didn't fit on the moving truck, long sob story, you don't want to hear).
Take the time to familarize yourself with what's on CL in the area you will be moving to... the styles you see will generally not change much. Also, you can always go IKEA for some "between" stuff... and sometimes even buy THAT stuff from others not wanting to move it (and it generally in okay shape, less than 2 years old).
Another reason not to move furniture is that it WILL be damaged. Even if only slightly, take it from a seasoned cross country mover/former military wife... moving is HARD on furniture.
Well, my opinion is to definitely NOT buy anything until you get to your new digs.
The cost of moving things across the country is VERY expensive. Also, how do you know what you buy would even fit in the new place?
Move, find the place you like, stock it a little at a time with second-hand finds, etc.
When you have a secure and are living where you WANT to live long term, only then, as you can afford it, SLOWLY buy what you want.
Life is a journey, not a goal...enjoy the journey.
Frank
i was figuring on taking measurements of the place and then figure out if the furniture matches up.
It's lot of cost to move something if you're paying for moving, it's way easier to pick it up once you get there (as far as moving goes). I just packed up my car and that was it, everything I got later, and it's probably cheap to buy it somewhere else, unless you are moving to a higher cost of living area.
I suggest5 wyhen you get to your destination 'you watch for estate sells. Often yu can pickup some really great pieces IMO are much better than soem of the higher cpost furniture nowdays especally the wood.Some you may eventaully have to pay for a good refinisher to redo but its worht it in many cases. Also be ware that taste in home and furnture that goes in them vary across the country.
Travel light.When you get there you should buy a bed,couch and table.
Unless you plan on staying at your new place 10 years get nice used stuff from craigslist,freecycle etc.
Keep in mind that you get very little return on the money you spend on furniture unless you wear it out.
What if your situation changes and you move?Now you have to drag the stuff with you or sell it at a loss.If you buy a used couch for $100 you can sell the couch for $100 when you are finished with it.
I would definitely recommend that you hold off on buying furniture and other stuff for several reasons.
First of all, there is the freedom that moving light affords you. You can get to your destination with all of that nice saved money and it will hardly cost you anything. If you're driving, you can fit it all in and all you'll have to spend money on is gas. MUCH less hassle then having to load up a UHaul with all of your furniture, loading it and unloading it, and the rest of the hassles involved with moving. Moving costs are the bane of any mover, and if you can avoid them entirely, by all means do it.
Secondly, when you get to your new place you probably don't have much of an idea as to what your financial situation and such will be. The more money you can have saved up the better. Besides, I know personally that I wouldn't want to move to my new apartment with a furniture and decorate template figured out before even physically seeing the place.
All in all, don't buy anything that you don't presently need. In fact, don't even buy those. I wouldn't buy a single thing that can wait until after you move.
All you really need after moving is a bed and a chair. The rest you can gradually accumulate. There is nothing wrong with moving into a new place and only having a bed and chair and nothing on the walls. Your kitchen counter can be your desk, etc. If you feel fine financially, then yeah, go buy a desk. Then a TV and a stand or unit to put it into. Then buy a nice chair to watch your TV, then a couch, coffee table, book shelves, etc.
I don't see any point to need all of that at once, even if you went out and bought them all at once after moving, which I still don't see the point of. You have all the time in the world, I would avoid the stress of moving with stuff and just show up there with basically nothing, and start your life out there with a clean slate. I should think it would be a much more pleasant experience to get there and not have to worry about where to put your endless boxes, not to mention loading and unloading the truck, and to just build your place at your own pace.
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