I'm up for it, but scared...

[laetitia85]

We just viewed our dream two bedroom flat and we're putting a deposit down tomorrow morning.

HOWEVER...

it's unfurnished and it's our first time moving into an unfurnished place, meaning we'll be buying furniture for the first time, our own beds and sofas...

I'm so scared... I don't know why. We have the money to move in, it's not a problem. For the furniture we're looking to go to DFS and take advantage of their 1 year 0% finance thing (it really works like that, there's no catch).

But I'm still a bit a bit overwhelmed by the whole process...

Our friends, (who live on the floor just below!) told us their flat was unfurnished as well, and they bought their furniture little by little.

Have any of you ever taken on the challenge of unfurnished properties? How did you cope? it's a lot of money at once, isn't it? did you buy on credit?

x

 

[mummykay]

ooh ooh pick me pick me *waves arm around*

uv seen from my flat thread that ours was unfurnished but we pretty much filled up from ikea, argos and shopped round for bargain bits!

which bit of london are u in? (pm me if u dont want it public)

uv got babys room to think of too, but at least uv not got a tazmanian devil like Jam under ur feet when ur tryin to do stuff lol

 

[laetitia85]

the flat is in South East London, in a lovely, new area, with brand new modern flats (we're the first tennants in that one!)

the baby's room... i know! that's even more money... i suppose it can wait a bit, baby will be here in december so i still have time.

DH loves quality, but I'm more realistic and I keep telling him that we need to keep our feet on the ground because of money.
it's the kind of stress i didn't need during my pregnancy GGGrrrrhhh...
but like i said - we'll be fine! it's not a mountain we can't climb, everyone needs a challenge sometimes!! so please ladies don't think we took on something we couldn't handle!!

 

[Gem & Leland]

i did too ,but was lucky enough to ahve brought all my own bedroom furniture for my room when i was with mum so had all that included a bed , hubby had been in a furnished flat but had his own kettle / toaster . we had to buy plates etc

we needed a sofa , and made the mistake of not looking before we moved and were on the floor for 10 weeks ! finally found a place that deleivered within 4 days

dfs could be a problem , i think they were one fo the ones hat needed a 6 weeks deliever time !


ikea is a god send can get bits and pieces and cheap matts/ rugs / coffee table etc

curtains i think i got from dunelm ?

and yes witht he deposite for the flat it was huge financial expense i wasnt expected but worked out in the end !

 

[Becky&Willow]

whare abouts in south east london as i live near there.?

 

[laetitia85]

whare abouts in south east london as i live near there.?

thamesmead! near woolwich

 

[laetitia85]

i did too ,but was lucky enough to ahve brought all my own bedroom furniture for my room when i was with mum so had all that included a bed , hubby had been in a furnished flat but had his own kettle / toaster . we had to buy plates etc

we needed a sofa , and made the mistake of not looking before we moved and were on the floor for 10 weeks ! finally found a place that deleivered within 4 days

dfs could be a problem , i think they were one fo the ones hat needed a 6 weeks deliever time !


ikea is a god send can get bits and pieces and cheap matts/ rugs / coffee table etc

curtains i think i got from dunelm ?

and yes witht he deposite for the flat it was huge financial expense i wasnt expected but worked out in the end !

6 weeks????? that means we need to go there this week!! we're moving at the end of august!!!!

 

[emma28]

We got a lot of home stuff for our wedding!
I've always lived in unfurnished places though, I've always had to stop myself rushing into buying stuff and remember that a house is almost always a work in progress. I just aim to have one room how I like it at a time.
Good luck though, it's great you've just got married, getting your own place, having a baby! What you gonna do next year?

 

[x-kirsty-x]

ooh ooh pick me pick me *waves arm around*

You daft bugger!

Laetitia, we had to buy everything when we first got our own house. We sat down and decided to splash out on stuff for the lounge and kitchen as thats where we would be spending most of our time.

We made do with cheaper stuff for the rest of the house and then bit by bit we got it the way we wanted.

I spent an absolute fortune on mirrored wardrobes for our bedroom and OH snapped the door off his side. Still aint fixed

 

[trixipaws]

we moved into our house with no furniture, but the bedroom and kitchen cupboards wtc were all fitted so really we only needed 2 buy the bed, the couches and table. my parents gave us a table and i bought the bed and my boyf bought the couches.

 

[lisa&alex]

not sure if you woul want to try it.. but 2nd hand stuff u can pick up for really cheap.. the other ideas would b gettign argos store cards and u wont have to pay it back for 9 months if you buy a lot of stuff and its intrest free if u pay it all opff b4 the 9 or 12 month period..

dont want to be rude but will you qualify for a maternity sure start grant? after the baby is born its £500 and if you will qualify tax credits then you will be entitled to the grant, you dont need the babys cot untill its about 8 weeks old anyway.. so as long as u have the basic things for him im sure it will be fine, plus you can pick up some great items fo pretty cheap xx good luck.. its hard work

 

[frangelle]

When we moved, we bought cheapy stuff, and then hoped to replace it bit by bit, family also gave us lots of stuff. I've never moved into a furnished property, which is good coz i'd probably break everything knowing me

 

[xSuzx]

We did that too Fran, most of our stuff was mainly what my mum gave me, as she'd not long moved in with her boyfriend, I then just brought really fridge ect.

Then just replaced everything over the next few years, after our second move 2 1/2 years later (hubby's in the RAF) every think we owned were things we'd brought or better then what we started with.

Yep and DFS do take that long to deliver, for our sofa they told us it would be within 10 WEEKS!! think it came abit earlier though.

good luck for when you move, it's so exciting.

xSuzx

 

[leckershell]

Me and my OH moved in together into an unfurnished place this Feb but had both been living seperately beforehand and had lived away from home separately. When I first moved out (a month after my 18th birthday - I was in a desperate situation I had to get out of ) I slept on a blowup mattress for a week before my mom could come round with her spare sofabed, but I didn't care because I was in a flat I could call my own.

Even us now, we have a few things but not much as my flat was small and nat lived in a spare room with his stepdad that already had a bed in, so the stuff is mostly from my house. Still got the sofabed which my mom gave me (it's our 2nd settee), and luckily I had been offered a double bed box style thing by an exboyfriends sister when I moved to Tamworth, so we have that too. Our main settee I got for free from a colleague at work - he's one of those 60 yr old guys who knows loads of people - and his nephew was getting rid of a settee because they were changing the colour scheme in their house and it was only a couple of years old. So we had that... One of our computer desks came from freecycle... my bookcase came from a furniture clearance shop (right at the back in the corner for £12), the other was brand new but from Argos for a tenner... you can get wardrobes from Ikea (little ones wardrobe is my old one, as we have built in wardrobes in our room)...

In the end we're planning on replacing everything that's not top spec, but in the meantime we don't mind borrowing from here and there as it's not costing us anything when we have more important things to spend on (baby has cost a grand so far, and we've done well to get things for that price). When you get into your house, although it's nice to have brand new stuff, see who you can borrow from first, as the most important thing to you at the time will be that you are in your own house together, not how shiny and new your sofa is. x

 

[laetitia85]

not sure if you woul want to try it.. but 2nd hand stuff u can pick up for really cheap.. the other ideas would b gettign argos store cards and u wont have to pay it back for 9 months if you buy a lot of stuff and its intrest free if u pay it all opff b4 the 9 or 12 month period..

dont want to be rude but will you qualify for a maternity sure start grant? after the baby is born its £500 and if you will qualify tax credits then you will be entitled to the grant, you dont need the babys cot untill its about 8 weeks old anyway.. so as long as u have the basic things for him im sure it will be fine, plus you can pick up some great items fo pretty cheap xx good luck.. its hard work

I don't qualify for the sure maternity grant - i've checked over and over again, we're not entitled to it
i was looking to get the cot a bit later, as you said! we'll buy the basics for now.

 

[Nicola]

Stick with the basics and ask around you'll be amazed at the number of people (aunts, friends, friends of friends) who have a spare sofa or book case knocking around they don't need - try places like IKEA (they offer a credit card if you wanna buy on credit - personally I don't recommend it). You can pick up lovely 2nd hand units from charity stores, home clearance centres and so forth for pennies sometimes, check out the friday-ad newspaper, freecycle and other local papers etc you'll get a few bargains there. Dont expect to have everything perfect in the first year or so, stick to basics, see what's on offer from friends etc and once you have what you need, i.e. a bed, sofa, cot, few kitchen essentials you can work on replacing them slowely with what you'd ideally like, i.e. buying a white kettle from Tesco for £4.99 would be ideal to start with despite you long term wanting the £32.99 stainless steel one from Debenhams if you see what I mean. You can replace bits easy over time, get cracking on essential basics for now and boy I wish I'd known you were doing this a week or two back were moving this Friday and have just given away a 3 piece leather sofa set, a small under the counter fridge, a gas oven and countless sets of draws and what not, they were not 100% perfect since we'd had them a while but were ideal for a first home!! Honestly don't get into debt over furnishing a new place, I paid £75 for my first sofa (3 seater plus 2 chairs) from a house clearance place when I got my first flat, it was just a creamy/beige fabric but done the job with a few cushions etc till I could afford to replace it. Keep your eyes peeled and enjoy your new venture, there is nothing like owning your first flat/house!!

 

[Vicki83]

We've not got our own place yet, still waiting, but we've got everything we need, apart from a dryer and obviously decorating the place.

All we did was buy stuff when it was on deals, etc, all we need now is a house!

 

[glitzyglamgirl]

Id suggest getting your bed/beds and cot new, (defo ikea!) and anything else you can get second hand. Then you can replace them with new as you go and as you can afford it, it will save you a lot of money in the long run and mean your not tied to credit contracts with anyone

 

[Dinski]

We're just about to move into a new rented flat and it is unfurnished. I am sooooooo looking forward to buying furniture and stuff, bit by bit. We have quite a bit of stuff of our own already but we're going to buy some expensive items like a new bed, sofabed etc. We'll buy those two items new but the rest of the stuff I will buy 2nd hand as I love 60s and 70s furniture and really make the place our own (not a showroom clone).

Good luck hon and really enjoy it, you don't have to get all the stuff at once just bit by bit, that's the whole fun of it.

 

[hels]

I Hate to say this, But we got our sofa from DFS and they told us 12 weeks and It was...right to the day!!