College daughter Moving to own apartment

[JanetRose]

How did you all pay for your furniture?

 

[clh2]

When my sisters and I started to move out, my mom and grandparents had sort of "saved up" the old stuff that they had replaced/updated.

I would give a shout out to everyone you know to see who has what.

Also - I would be checking craigslist in your area every day. There are many people who remodel on a whim, move cross country and can't take it with, move locally, and are downsizing etc. There is tons of stuff on craigslist, and some of it is pretty inexpensive.

Also - check a local "nice" goodwill store.

 

[Jhondy]

When I moved out it was kinda sad because I didn't have lots of money nor did I have lots of furniture. I ended up going to target/walmart etc and buying some of my furniture from there. I only bought what I needed at first and now (3 years later) I have way too much furniture.

 

[graygables]

I had a mattress/boxspring on the floor set up like a daybed, so it doubled as a sofa. I used cinder blocks (painted) stacked with boards for shelving. I had a set of TV trays that I put cloth over for "endtables" and had some folding chairs with covers I'd picked up somewhere if I had anyone over. I recently had a friend who's DD picked up one of the plastic "bistro" looking sets to use as a dining room in her place. When my DDs moved out, they had a few things, but I did NOT encourage them to spend their money on furniture. They had to think outside the box a bit and make some tough choices, but I'm a firm believer in everyone needing that "cinderblock" story in their growth process.

 

[fall08CP]

Loans. My parents wouldn't even co-sign. I'll be paying them off forever. But I'd rather be financially responsible than rely on my parents for the rest of my life.

 

[Sehsun]

When I moved off campus (junior & senior year), I got a mattress and boxspring from a friend. I brought a desk, bookshelf, computer chair, and those clear drawers-on-wheels from home.

I second Craigslist. In the "For Sale" heading is a section that lists free stuff (sometimes listed as "curb alerts") - there is often some furniture in that section. It helps if the seller includes a picture. If I got furniture from there, I would wipe it down very well before using it, esp. if it's been on the curb - just a personal thing.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

There are several great ways to get good furniture:

1.) Look around the bulletin boards on campus. As people graduate they are constantly trying to get rid of furniture on the cheap.
2.) Another great place to find furniture is the marketplace on Facebook.
3.) Dumpster Diving! Many cities have a spring trash pick up, and people will just throw away desks, chairs, even couches. Several of my friends have gotten furniture for free this way.
4.) Garage sales

You also don't have to get it all at once. I acquired mine a little bit at a time.

 

[swimlib]

I am in this process right now of furnishing my own apartment.

Yard sales and craigslist are my livesavers. There is also marketplace on facebook, where I was able to get a cute chair.

My parents have kind of "saved" a few things for me but I owned several pieces of furniture from inheritance and other things.

 

[MovieJunkie]

Thankfully my apartment comes fully furnished, so I don't have to worry about that. However, my sister had the same problem and she knew people who were getting rid of their furniture, so she asked if she could have it. It wasn't the best furniture, but in my opinion free furniture is the "best."

 

[kafitty]

definitely craigslist, and just casually ask your associates if they're looking to get rid of anything - oftentimes people really want to get new stuff, they just need motivation to get rid of their old stuff!! and if you're willing to do the heavy lifting, even better!