Grown Up Furniture

amelisha

@SoontobeMrsKlein, we're trying to wait it out too. We're going to rent one more year and see if it's made a difference and if not, I think we might have to buy anyway. We have a roommate to save on rent, but our tiny 2-bedroom apartment is $2000/month and we'd rather not throw much more money away on it, obviously. 

Two of our friends just got an adorable little house in decent shape in a not-terrible neighbourhood for $380,000 so we're hopeful we might find something realistic that doesn't need to be gutted. We don't need a big place and we don't want kids, but when even a little 1950s bungalow like that is that pricey, it's hard to justify the money.

lyndausvi

buttercup1958 said:

lyndausvi I actually may end up in Colorado. I'm applying to a grad school there. It's insanely expensive though so I may pick another school. 

@lovemesomemonster and other people who mention craigslist. I've been eyeing a lot of stuff on there. But I'm trying to be good with my money! I need to save up for a lot of things living wise and school wise. Pinterest is the main evil here. Its feeding my dreams of all the pretty things. I've actually tried to stay away from TJ Maxx and others so I won't be temtped too. This is FWP ha.

I live near Aspen.  It's expensive here. 

We could even drive 45 minutes away and get way more for our money.   I would be fine with that.  However DH is dead set against that long of a drive each day.  He works 12+ hour days 7 days a week 6 months out of the year.  He doesn't want an almost 1.5 hour commute on top of that. 

  Plus he skis in the winter 4-5 days a week.  Now we are 20 mins away.   It would be over an hour if we went that far out.  

julieanne912

Just wanted to say I live in Colorado, on the farth north end of Denver Metro.  It's not as expensive as where lyndausvi lives  Certain areas of Denver Metro can be pricey but it's still not bad, especially considering the excellent job market here.  

buttercup1958

How is Boulder price wise? That's where the grad school is. I've heard it has a price bubble that's very expensive. 

julieanne912

Boulder is very expensive, yes.  But there are nearby areas that aren't as bad, like parts of Broomfield or Westminster, or up in Longmont (that's where my wedding is!).

buttercup1958

julieanne912 Ok, thanks! I have about four schools picked out and either the school is kinda pricey (out of state tuition the first year) and/or the city is too. That's one of the reasons I brought up furniture because where I'm going I don't think it would be wise to spend a lot on stuff when I only have like 200-500 sq ft ha. 

lovemesomemonster

My aunt lives in Boulder, I can second that.. very expensive. 

theartistformerlyknownas

Sugargirl1019 said:

I am out of the ordinary here. I graduated college, got my big girl job, moved into a newly built apartment (and DH moved in a few months later) and furnished it all myself with grown up furniture immediately.

I went to Rooms To Go and did the 0% financing for 6 Years or whatever it was. I furnished my entire bedroom plus a dresser for the guest room (DHs old bed) kitchen table with 6 chairs, leather sofas, coffee table, side table, and media stand. I also bought a tall bookshelf and a large wooden desk from OfficeMax.

We just moved into our first home together, and have not had to buy anything yet. There are things I want to buy, like a credenza to put pictures on, and another sofa for our media room area, but we have everything we need to function from what I bought when I graduated college.

See I would never finance furniture. As we need/want to replace/add things, we'll go bit by bit and pay cash. The only things we finance are houses and cars.

maeday2

lolo883 said:

I am out of the ordinary here. I graduated college, got my big girl job, moved into a newly built apartment (and DH moved in a few months later) and furnished it all myself with grown up furniture immediately.

I went to Rooms To Go and did the 0% financing for 6 Years or whatever it was. I furnished my entire bedroom plus a dresser for the guest room (DHs old bed) kitchen table with 6 chairs, leather sofas, coffee table, side table, and media stand. I also bought a tall bookshelf and a large wooden desk from OfficeMax.

We just moved into our first home together, and have not had to buy anything yet. There are things I want to buy, like a credenza to put pictures on, and another sofa for our media room area, but we have everything we need to function from what I bought when I graduated college.

See I would never finance furniture. As we need/want to replace/add things, we'll go bit by bit and pay cash. The only things we finance are houses and cars.

This is us too. You need a place to live and transportation, and those are high ticket items. Financing is usually necessary. 

Furniture, we can make do with what we have until we are financially prepared to upgrade. I'd rather a well loved sofa over another monthly bill. 

buttercup1958

Yeah I'm pretty sure V would look at me like I grew three heads if I mention finance for furniture. He doesn't even have car payments ( It's 1999 car).

amelisha

maeday2 said:

lolo883 said:

I am out of the ordinary here. I graduated college, got my big girl job, moved into a newly built apartment (and DH moved in a few months later) and furnished it all myself with grown up furniture immediately.

I went to Rooms To Go and did the 0% financing for 6 Years or whatever it was. I furnished my entire bedroom plus a dresser for the guest room (DHs old bed) kitchen table with 6 chairs, leather sofas, coffee table, side table, and media stand. I also bought a tall bookshelf and a large wooden desk from OfficeMax.

We just moved into our first home together, and have not had to buy anything yet. There are things I want to buy, like a credenza to put pictures on, and another sofa for our media room area, but we have everything we need to function from what I bought when I graduated college.

See I would never finance furniture. As we need/want to replace/add things, we'll go bit by bit and pay cash. The only things we finance are houses and cars.

This is us too. You need a place to live and transportation, and those are high ticket items. Financing is usually necessary. 

Furniture, we can make do with what we have until we are financially prepared to upgrade. I'd rather a well loved sofa over another monthly bill. 

Me three. I don't even like the idea of a car payment, so we'll probably pay cash for our next vehicle. Better furniture is a want, not a need, and we try to only finance needs. But that's just us.

SmileDamnit

julieanne912 said:

Boulder is very expensive, yes.  But there are nearby areas that aren't as bad, like parts of Broomfield or Westminster, or up in Longmont (that's where my wedding is!).

and Louisville - little cheaper there. Agree that the northern suburbs of Denver are more affordable than the metro-area and some of the southern suburbs. 

buttercup1958

SmileDamnit said:

julieanne912 said:

Boulder is very expensive, yes.  But there are nearby areas that aren't as bad, like parts of Broomfield or Westminster, or up in Longmont (that's where my wedding is!).

and Louisville - little cheaper there. Agree that the northern suburbs of Denver are more affordable than the metro-area and some of the southern suburbs. 

I'll keep those places in mind!

FiancB

I'm gonna watch this. We've gotten a lot of stuff at Slumberland over the years since that was kind of the only place to go. Some of it is good and some is crap. We're pretty happy with our entertainment center but the bedroom set is a pile of junk. Costco has had a lot of furniture lately and it looks pretty nice. We might try Macy's at some point but I'm guessing that's going to be horrific. 

I remember going to a gallery in northern CA that was mainly furniture and oh man that stuff was amazing. It's a gallery though, the pieces were more art than furniture, so $$$. File that one under if I ever win the lottery... here's the link, wish it showed more pieces: http://www.thehighlightgallery.com/gallery-store/furniture/studio-furniture-now-in-the-gallery/

I think that, provided I'm not pressed for time and I am on a budget, I would rather look for used old stuff. It seems to hold up better.  Our couches are hand-me-downs from his parents and like 30+ years old and they still look brand new.  Too bad they're also pretty ugly...

buttercup1958

FiancB said:

I'm gonna watch this. We've gotten a lot of stuff at Slumberland over the years since that was kind of the only place to go. Some of it is good and some is crap. We're pretty happy with our entertainment center but the bedroom set is a pile of junk. Costco has had a lot of furniture lately and it looks pretty nice. We might try Macy's at some point but I'm guessing that's going to be horrific. 

I remember going to a gallery in northern CA that was mainly furniture and oh man that stuff was amazing. It's a gallery though, the pieces were more art than furniture, so $$$. File that one under if I ever win the lottery... here's the link, wish it showed more pieces: http://www.thehighlightgallery.com/gallery-store/furniture/studio-furniture-now-in-the-gallery/

I think that, provided I'm not pressed for time and I am on a budget, I would rather look for used old stuff. It seems to hold up better.  Our couches are hand-me-downs from his parents and like 30+ years old and they still look brand new.  Too bad they're also pretty ugly...

Those are really pretty....damn it! haha

wandajune6

We did it in phases. I bought the big kid furniture when I bought my first house at 36. 3 years later, I started apartment-hopping every year or so and shed a lot of the furniture. DH had a lot of cheap crap when I met him.

Now, we have a combination of grown up furniture, Ikea, and vintage. For instance, we have tons of Ikea bookshelves, Room & Board couches, and vintage dressers. Mine is a mid-centery modern reak that I got years ago while we got him a cheap dresser that we got off of Craig's List and refinished. His $35 dresser is solid wood and now looks gorgeous.

Our next new purchase will be a new mattress. DH bought a cheapie right before we met that's horrible. Mine was 8 years old but much nicer, though wearing out. We're saving up for a very good one that will be comfy and last for years.

The Kid trashes everything so he's got cheaper pieces. (He's destroyed a bed frame, desk, and dresser in the last year by treating things horribly). He now has plastic bins, a banquet table, and a metal bed frame. He will not be getting new furniture until he treats things with respect.

LadyMillil

I always lived in furnished places until I moved in with DH. We had mostly hand-me-downs and a few cheap things. When we moved across the country we left all the furniture behind. It was a combination of factors that lead us to buying mostly grown up furniture after we moved. We bought things slowly, so for a long time we had just a bedroom set, which was the floor model so we got a discount on it. Then we bought a table and chairs. The table had a tiny chip on the bottom so we got a discount on it. Then we bought a couch a few months later. It was an end-of-season-sale so another discount. We are in a 1 bedroom condo so we don't have a lot of space.

chibiyui

We still have mostly hand me downs (coffee table, dining table, china hutch and bookcases, our bedroom furniture) and cheap stuff (desks) We do have a very nice tv credenza, mattress and headboard, that we bought shortly after I moved in. Even our hand me downs are in great condition/nice pieces, so upgrading them isn't necessary. When we have our own house we'll probably buy new furniture, but thats still a few years off.

julieanne912

Eh, we financed our bed (the mattress part, not the frame).  We had money in the bank to pay cash for it but figured, if it's zero interest for 4 years for the bed, why not?  We'll have it paid off before the 4 years is up.  We also just had an AC put in the new house right after closing because our builder wanted some crazy amount to do it, and financed that too, for the same reason. If it's not costing you anything in terms of interest, it's more effective to leave your money in the bank to earn interest on it (even though these days, the interest is not much).   

Sugargirl1019

For me, paying a small bill a month to have all the house furnishings was much better than shelling out hundreds at one time that I did have saved up right then for furniture I would not treasure. It worked better for myself to make small interest free payments. Everyone's situation is different. This particular situation helped me build credit at a younger age when I had no car payment, no rent or mortgage, nothing to help build credit. This helped me at the time.

OP since you're all still in school and might be moving around a bunch, I'd wait. It sounds a lot like everyone waited or is waiting until they are in the right home for a long time.

VulgarGirl

I'm 28 and have lived on my own for 11 years. My dining room table came from a flea market and most of the other furniture has come from Ikea.

I wouldn't worry about grown up furniture. Your tastes might change over time (mine did) and fuck moving all that shit is a bitch.

plainjane0415

julieanne912 said:

Eh, we financed our bed (the mattress part, not the frame).  We had money in the bank to pay cash for it but figured, if it's zero interest for 4 years for the bed, why not?  We'll have it paid off before the 4 years is up.  We also just had an AC put in the new house right after closing because our builder wanted some crazy amount to do it, and financed that too, for the same reason. If it's not costing you anything in terms of interest, it's more effective to leave your money in the bank to earn interest on it (even though these days, the interest is not much).   

Sorry, but I never understand this statement when people say it. I hear it a lot, and I always think, am I missing something here? I just don't understand the logic behind that statement.

 I would so rather pay for something up front if I have the cash saved for it, and not have to worry about paying a payment on it every month.  But that's just me.

theartistformerlyknownas

Sugargirl1019 said:

For me, paying a small bill a month to have all the house furnishings was much better than shelling out hundreds at one time that I did have saved up right then for furniture I would not treasure. It worked better for myself to make small interest free payments. Everyone's situation is different. This particular situation helped me build credit at a younger age when I had no car payment, no rent or mortgage, nothing to help build credit. This helped me at the time.

OP since you're all still in school and might be moving around a bunch, I'd wait. It sounds a lot like everyone waited or is waiting until they are in the right home for a long time.

Wait who was paying your rent?? You said this was all for a new apartment.

JoanE2012

It's only seen moving into our house a couple years ago that we started buying "forever" furniture.  Or, as long as it lasts.      We slowly got rid of pretty much everything we had previously (hand me downs or old stuff that didn't fit our style anymore) and got new.  The last thing we need to replace is the dinette set for the kitchen, but it's not that bad so we're holding off while we focus on other things.

lyndausvi

plainjane0415 said:

julieanne912 said:

Eh, we financed our bed (the mattress part, not the frame).  We had money in the bank to pay cash for it but figured, if it's zero interest for 4 years for the bed, why not?  We'll have it paid off before the 4 years is up.  We also just had an AC put in the new house right after closing because our builder wanted some crazy amount to do it, and financed that too, for the same reason. If it's not costing you anything in terms of interest, it's more effective to leave your money in the bank to earn interest on it (even though these days, the interest is not much).   

Sorry, but I never understand this statement when people say it. I hear it a lot, and I always think, am I missing something here? I just don't understand the logic behind that statement.

 I would so rather pay for something up front if I have the cash saved for it, and not have to worry about paying a payment on it every month.  But that's just me.

I'm kind of in the middle.  When I bought my condo it needed some work including some appliances.   When I closed was when the boat was shut down, so it was the prefect time to do some work.  However, my savings was fairly tapped out.    I choose to buy stuff interest free for 6/12 months from Home Depot.  

I could have paid cash, but it was a comfort level for me. I didn't like not having the cash available.  Every year for 4-6 weeks the boat was hauled out, meaning no work for me.   So I saved throughout the year knowing I would be out of work.  I called it my "September fund." Sometimes the boat was out longer then expected.  I liked having the extra cash around just in case I needed to tap into the other savings.

6 weeks later I was back working regularly and paid off the HD cards long before the promotion expiration date.  

So I get why people do it. However, it would bug the living crap out of me to  pay a monthly furniture bill for 4 YEARS.  A car I get, but furniture? I would be all be done already.    My 6 month promotions were paid off in 3/4 months.  The 12 month ones in 6 months.   Not bad at all.

JoanE2012

plainjane0415 said:

julieanne912 said:

Eh, we financed our bed (the mattress part, not the frame).  We had money in the bank to pay cash for it but figured, if it's zero interest for 4 years for the bed, why not?  We'll have it paid off before the 4 years is up.  We also just had an AC put in the new house right after closing because our builder wanted some crazy amount to do it, and financed that too, for the same reason. If it's not costing you anything in terms of interest, it's more effective to leave your money in the bank to earn interest on it (even though these days, the interest is not much).   

Sorry, but I never understand this statement when people say it. I hear it a lot, and I always think, am I missing something here? I just don't understand the logic behind that statement.

 I would so rather pay for something up front if I have the cash saved for it, and not have to worry about paying a payment on it every month.  But that's just me.

I agree.  Back in the day you might've made interest by holding on to the cash, but the little interest made now isn't worth it to me to have to pay a bill each month.  And many financing deals you have to be careful.....if you miss or are late on one payment, interest accrues from the beginning!

Our motto is to charge everything we can and pay it off immediately.  We've gotten many, many airline miles this way and use it for free flights!

jenna8984

Same as most people here. In college I got some stuff even from the side of the road! After college, IKEA. When I left AZ, I sold off my Ikea stuff. My brother happened to be working at Bob's and got me some couches and bedroom set for 75% off. Then he worked for Sleepy's and got me a high quality mattress for 60% off. The only thing I really splurged on was my 55 inch tv (years ago when they cost double what they do now) and the giant entertainment stand around it because I always wanted one with sides and a top (not just the stand). Those were my only big ticket items and I did not/ would not finance. 

VulgarGirl

@jenna8984 what's this in college shit? I still get stuff from the side of the road! People throw out good stuff!

I also buy a large chunk of my wardrobe from thrift stores. I'm either an unsuccessful grownup or a hipster. And those might be the same thing.

buttercup1958

Yeah all of this makes sense! We are ok with our stuff so we are just gong to wait like we planned.  But west elm makes it so hard ha.

julieanne912

plainjane0415 said:

julieanne912 said:

Eh, we financed our bed (the mattress part, not the frame).  We had money in the bank to pay cash for it but figured, if it's zero interest for 4 years for the bed, why not?  We'll have it paid off before the 4 years is up.  We also just had an AC put in the new house right after closing because our builder wanted some crazy amount to do it, and financed that too, for the same reason. If it's not costing you anything in terms of interest, it's more effective to leave your money in the bank to earn interest on it (even though these days, the interest is not much).   

Sorry, but I never understand this statement when people say it. I hear it a lot, and I always think, am I missing something here? I just don't understand the logic behind that statement.

 I would so rather pay for something up front if I have the cash saved for it, and not have to worry about paying a payment on it every month.  But that's just me.

I guess it's just about your personal style.  I know for me, my income varies.  I have a day job that pays me a salary that basically covers my budgeted items.  I also do side work that brings in $500 here, $1000 there.  So, I like to keep a decent cash buffer in savings in case I go awhile without bringing in side work.  So, making an interest free payment monthly makes more sense to me.  If tragedy every struck, I could usually find a way to come up with the payment on a monthly basis, but it would be hard to come up with a larger lump sum of cash if needed.  

Case in point, I recently had my taxes done, and I ended up owing about $3,000 more than I was figuring (I was straight 1099 for all of last year).  I had the cash in my bank account ready to go, thankfully I didn't spend it on that furniture  

ETA, since we just bought a house, we had a lot of expenses, and then decided to get married on top of that.  Our house did not come with a driveway or landscaping, so we are using FI's cash for that, and my cash is going for the wedding (leaving some in savings as a buffer of course)