Furnishing an Apartment on a Budget

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My fiance and I are coming up on our wedding, and we will both be moving out of our parents’ homes, so we need a lot of stuff! We spent a lot of time considering what to put on our registry to help us stock out new home. And yet, every time we go to our favorite store, Goodwill, we end up buying things for our household. $15 upright mixer? Don’t need a $300 one! $4 tea kettle? Thank God we found one we like and don’t have to get a $60 one that was just okay! $7 Crock Pot? Remove the $130 one from the registry! This is the one my mom has and its awesome! We have also spent less than $20 picking out glass and tableware there, rather than picking out expensive pieces we don’t actually like.

Furnishing an Apartment on a Budget

Much of our apartment will be furnished in this fashion, and it will actually cost us much less money than one would expect. If you are willing to look around and be happy with less-than-perfect, furnishing an apartment on a budget is quite doable! It also tends to be significantly easier on the environment, which is SO important! You may just need to be okay with your bookshelves not matching. 🙂

Use what you have

Yay free stuff! Yes, you may want new appliances, new bed, new sheets, etc. But can you make do with what you have? I had a nice rant session with my mom the other day about humanity’s impact on the environment. All I can say is that the stuff you have is probably good enough. If it’s older, it’s probably in better condition than anything you could buy in your price range. That is something Will and I have really noticed as we’ve gone through what is available for us to take to our new home!

Get things for free

Lots of options for this! You could get married and set up a registry. 😉 Honestly, though, that’s how a lot of our kitchen is getting stocked. You can also check for things on Craigslist, Freecycle, or let friends and family know you’re looking. We got a free couch because a family member was getting rid of theirs!

Buy used

This is SUCH an important thing to consider. You may be really surprised by what you can find used for your new home, and by the quality of it! Will and I have stocked much of our kitchen by visiting Goodwill, as I mentioned earlier. It is so exciting to find what you need, at a great price, and then realize that it is actually a better product that what you would have had to get buying new.

Of course, there are many other shops to buy used home goods from, and I love garage sales as well. We got a gorgeous dining room table from a garage sale for just $35 and a desk for $10!

If you can find a way to furnish your apartment or new home by buying used, you absolutely should do so! It gets your what you need for less, while keeping someone else’s unwanted items out of the landfill.

Do without

Most people don’t like this idea. We live in a society of consumers – we always need the latest and greatest. Even buying used is often a stretch for us. But often there are things you can find a way to do without.

Remember that gorgeous dining room table we bought? Well…actually…it’s a coffee table. It is beautiful. And because it’s a coffee table, we will be sitting on the floor as we eat. We have some nice cushions we’ll be able to sit on. But because we decided to use a coffee table, we don’t have to pay for chairs to go around our dining room table.

What could you do without purchasing for your new home?

Buy local and high quality

Buying local is a natural extension of the above tips – implementing most of them requires buying what you need to furnish your apartment on a budget locally. When you do need to purchase something new, try to buy a high quality, made in America (or your country of residence) item. Small local shops and items made in your immediate area are even better. While these may be more expensive initially, they will generally be much higher quality. High quality items will last longer, so you will not have to pay to replace them. Items made locally support the local economy and have a lesser impact on the environment. If you must pay full price, you may as well make the most responsible purchase you can!

What is your favorite way to furnish an apartment on a budget?

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