NWR: Getting ready for a new home

MadHops21 · December 2013

FI and I do not own a home together yet, but we will be looking in a couple years. If you currently own a home, did you start buying little things here and there before the actual move in? Like silverware, plates, cups, towels, random things that you will use in your home?

I was looking through the ads for Black Friday and noticed that there were great deals on appliances that we could use for our own home. Obviously didn't get anything as it's still years away but the thought did come up.

Senecaf · December 2013

Were do you live now? I had a lot of small applances, flatware, dishes, rugs and towels from living in an apartment. the only things I didn't have were major appliances. I had to buy all new ones. But some of the houes I looked at were "move in ready" had appliances in them.

Before I moved out of my parents house I started slowy getting things but not before I was applying for rental housing. You don't want to have that stuff around, I will be in the way. You may also change your style in a few years. It is hard to pass up a good deal though!

winelover123 · December 2013

We registered for all of those things and got a good bit of them too. Do you live at your parents' now or with roommates? When I moved out of my parents' house I got a bunch of hand-me-downs or cheap things. I moved in with a roommate and she didn't buy anything because I already had everything.

I bought things when I moved out, but I was able to go out to the store the day I moved to get anything else I needed.

AddieCake · December 2013

I would never buy something for my "future" home b/c I don't know how much space there will be, what the decor might be like,how my tastes might change. Like Senecaf, I started buying things like towels, silverware, etc that I would use in my own apartment before I left my parents' house, though.

Yes, where do you live now? Can't you buy those things for you CURRENT abode?

MadHops21 · December 2013

Makes sense. I currently live with my parents, and he lives with his. I have never moved out for college or got an apartment before, so I really have nothing besides what's in my room, like bed, desk, tv, game console.

My mom gave me some salad bowls to put in my "hope chest". Apparently her mother did this for her, too, so maybe it's just a tradition thing.

You're right @AddieL73 . I have no idea what the decor could be, style, space, all that. I don't even know when/how to start looking for homes. That's a whole other story!

WinstonsGirl · December 2013

I did start buying things before hand. My kitchen table was from Ikea, and I just left it unassembled in the box, but I also knew I was moving out within the year, so I wasn't worried about not liking it later. I also started getting Christmas/Birthday gifts such as pots and pans and kitchen stuff that year too. I was lucky in that I was given GC's to a local furniture store with my mortgage (promo from the bank), and bought a new couch set and mattress which I had delivered for me on moving day, so I didn't have to store it or move it.

AprilH81 · December 2013

I would limit the pre-purchasing to things that you KNOW you will need, but still keep it to a minimum. You don't know what your new house will look like, how much storage it will have, what style it will be and it would suck if nothing you bought worked in the space.

MadHops21 · December 2013

I would just hate waiting until we buy a house, then not having a bed, washer/dryer, kitchen appliances, things like that. I'm just not sure how all that works yet. I'm only 22 and the first person in the friend circles to get engaged.

Weddings and marriage are brand new to me, so I'm reading TK threads like a bible.

Senecaf · December 2013

I got a lot of hand me down furniture. I still have not bought a couch. Both FI and I got used couches from our parents. They got new ones, or took the one from the basement room no one goes in. We will upgrade when we can afford to.

If you have money to buy things like that now I'd suggest putting into in a savings account and buy all that suff when you are closer to moving.

AddieCake · December 2013

Well, you will need to get stuff when you get married and move in with your fiance, and then a lot of that stuff will just move to a house you buy later, unless you make changes at that time. I am a little confused. Are you not getting married for several years and planning to buy a house at the same time you get married? You know you don't have to BUY a house when you get married, right? If you are moving somewhere else before buying a place, you will need some, if not all, of that stuff in a rental home or apartment, too. We had to buy a washer and dryer, and bedroom and living room furniture, etc, for our apartment, moved it to the home we are now renting, and will eventually move it when we buy a home unless we need a new one at that time.

JCbride2015 · December 2013

Yeah, are you jumping straight from living with your parents into buying a house as your first home? I know this is off topic but I really would recommend renting first. Being a homeowner is a HUGE responsibility and renting is a nice stepping stone to having your own place before you have to deal with all the issues of owning a home.

As to your actual question, I gathered things slowly through living at college (I had an on-campus apartment, so I already had kitchen stuff), and then FI and I moved in together when I graduated. We didn't buy anything before the actual move because we wouldn't have had anywhere to put it. We got mostly hand-me-downs and bought other stuff as we needed it. We moved in September and that Christmas I got a lot of kitchen and home-y small items that we needed. I like PPs idea of putting that money in a special savings account (maybe something interest-bearing like a CD if you know you don't need it right now) and letting it grow a bit until you actually move. Then you will have a better idea of your space and what you really need.

MadHops21 · December 2013

I did open a savings account that has great interest rate and it's pretty tasking trying to transfer/get the money. I wanted to make sure that it's hard for me to get the money so I don't waste it all now since I'm a shopaholic. Part of my paycheck each month goes straight into there so I don't even see it gone. It definitely helps so I don't see the money. FI and I are definitely saving up for this.

misshart00 · December 2013

But you're still not answering the question several have asked. Are you planning on buying a house at the same time you get married? Or are you going to rent for a little while before?

JCbride2015 · December 2013

@kelcita21 Your savings account and automatic deposit sounds perfect. Make it hard to get at!

And yes, please tell us whether you are renting first, or have plans to buy a home straight from living with parents, or what. Whether you are renting before is actually really important for your question, too. If you are renting first, it will be much easier to slowly gather your big-ticket furniture before you move into the home you own. And I think it's only by living on your own that you sort of realize what the pieces are that you would want to invest in, anyway.

winelover123 · December 2013

We have a bit of a weird set up with where we live now, so most of our furniture isn't actually ours. What is ours were all hand-me-downs and when we buy a house we'll buy new furniture. By all means, take people up on their offers if they give you furniture or dishes or pots and pans and such (you can rent a storage space), but I wouldn't specifically buy something before I knew what space I was moving into. You don't know what will fit into the space and what your style will be.

KytchynWitche · December 2013

Before I moved out on my own, I did buy some small things that I knew would work regardless of where I ended up living. Things like toasters, kettles, crockery etc will generally be okay no matter what your future space is, as long as you have the space to store it between now and then (I had 2 shelves in my bedroom closet dedicated to stuff I would need when I moved.)

I wouldn't recommend buying large appliances or furniture ahead of time, because you don't know how much space you're going to have and that can be a huge problem especially when it comes to fridges (you may buy a full-size and find you only have space for an apartment-sized fridge) or washers and driers (front-load vs top-load can be an issue if you have built-ins in your laundry space).

kitty8403 · December 2013

I'm in this boat now with the registry. I'm pretty much trying to stay as neutral and move-friendly as possible. But I wouldn't spring for large appliances without having something to measure, etc., and even a year isn't that long to wait for more sales considering you don't have a place yet.

ETA: my family's old-fashioned. I had a hope chest thing going. So yeah, we started collecting stuff when I was around 13. But FI thought it was way impractical to hold onto that stuff forever, so we already use it and some of it needs to be added to or replaced at this point.

climbingsingle · December 2013

AprilH81 said:

I would limit the pre-purchasing to things that you KNOW you will need, but still keep it to a minimum. You don't know what your new house will look like, how much storage it will have, what style it will be and it would suck if nothing you bought worked in the space.

ditto this exactly. When I first moved out, I inherited old stuff my mom put aside for me. Then I started buying things on my own. When I bought my house, I then shopped for extra stuff I needed before the closing.

labro · December 2013

I just want to ditto all the PPs who bought the small things before they moved out and waited on the big stuff for later. When I was still living with my parent's and had few expenses I bought stuff like a vacuum cleaner, dishes, flatware, bedding, towels, some small electronics. When I moved out my parents were VERY generous and allowed me to take my bedroom set with me. I slowly acquired a table and chairs and some living room furniture through inheritance and as hand-me-downs.

When my BF moved out of his parent's house after college he moved to the area I live in with whatever he could fit in his car...which was basically nothing. He got an excellent deal at Rooms to Go after working at his job for a few months. He got an entire living room set with a big screen TV thrown in during one of their sales and basically just did without until the time was right for him to afford all of that. He also got his kitchen table as a hand me down, bought a cheap washer dryer set that fit his apartment at the time and got a simple mattress frame without a headboard and footboard (we bought those things together a couple years later).

In two years your taste and sense of style could change a lot. You also have no idea what kind of space you're going to have available to you. I would seriously wait on all the big ticket items until you're renting or have bought a home and just keep on saving your money for now. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to get an idea on what large furniture pieces and appliances will cost so you can at least get an idea of what you need to budget for. I also highly recommend looking into something like Consumer Reports to help guide you on the pros and cons of various brands and appliance types.

MadHops21 · December 2013

Thanks for the insights! I don't want to buy anything big, just wondering what others did before moving into their own places.

And I'm not planning on renting beforehand. I did live for a couple months with my brother, then moved back with my parents. I never bought any appliances since he already had his own to use, but I did help with expenses.

We are planning on buying a home maybe half a year before the actual wedding. My eldest brother bought a town home with his then-FI a couple months before the wedding, so they would put their wedding gifts there and start buying big item appliances before they actually moved in together (my parents are strict Catholic, so they weren't allowed to live together). My parents are religious and traditional, so living together before marriage is frowned upon for them.

ElcaB · December 2013

Nope. When we met, we each had our own apartments, then moved into an apartment together. We already had the basics when we bought our first house.

Obviously, there were things we didn't have, like a bed for the guest bedroom, a dining room table and chairs, etc. We've been in our new house for just over a year now and are still making purchases, but slowly. Like I said, we have everything we actually need. While I want to "finish" every room of the house, there's no rush. When FMIL asks for our Christmas lists, we usually add things we want to that, or save Christmas money from relatives to put towards our next purchase. We just scored an amazing black Friday deal on a TV for the basement family room, for example. (FI likes to think it'll be his man cave...ha!).

I'd wait, because appliances can often be negotiated with the sale of the house. Plus, you'll have to store it for an unknown number of years. No thank you!

MadHops21 · December 2013

@ElcaB , is there the best time to buy big appliances? We aren't buying anything like that anytime soon, but I'm curious about what time of year is usually best for those types of things. I'm just learning for the future!

misshart00 · December 2013

Buy large appliances when you buy the house. For things like guest room furniture, etc., wait until after you buy a house, then watch for sales on things you like.

ElcaB · December 2013

@Kelcita21, as far as sales go always look around the holidays --- Labor Day, Black Friday, etc. But again, only after you buy your home! Can you imagine purchasing a washer and dryer only to find that your laundry closet only accommodates a stackable washer dryer set?

Again, though, those items can usually be negotiated with the purchase of the house.

MadHops21 · December 2013

Oh no, I'm not buying any of that before a home! I would have no where to put it, and I might get hand-me downs since parents are going to get a new washer and dryer soon. But who knows!

Thanks for the responses! I will not buy anything big before a home! Now to learn about home buying...

selenathegreat · December 2013

You can always get some cheap or free furniture on Craigslist to last you until you can upgrade. That's what I did, anyway! That's also where I've gotten my washer and dryer, but I am both particularly cheap and not a homeowner yet. I also was lucky enough to inherit a lot of furniture from my family when they got new items or downsized. You don't have to have the perfect furnished home immediately! Good luck!!

thisismynickname2 · December 2013

To share my experience, I did start collecting the "little things" after I graduated college. I lived with my parents for 6 months and then got my own apartment.

What I did was buy "cheap" stuff (Ikea and garage sale stuff) because I figured when I eventually got married, I'd end up combining households with hubby-to-be and having duplicates of nice stuff would be pointless. Over the years I've purchased some nice things though, but we do need to register for stuff we both lack and decide what to do with 3 colanders....

So, add me to the camp of people who agree with buying some little things now that you'll know you'll need when you buy the house.

And let me share a funny story--- I have a coworker who lived with her parents until marriage for traditional religious regions, and she and her husband bought a house around the time of the wedding too. She registered for everything. She also had a 400-person guest list. This woman flipped out at work one day because she'd checked the progress on her registry: "Towels! We need TOWELS! Why aren't people buying us TOWELS!?"

So uh... buy some towels, ok?

MadHops21 · December 2013

@thisismynickname , towels. Noted!

JCbride2015 · December 2013

thisismynickname said:

To share my experience, I did start collecting the "little things" after I graduated college. I lived with my parents for 6 months and then got my own apartment.
What I did was buy "cheap" stuff (Ikea and garage sale stuff) because I figured when I eventually got married, I'd end up combining households with hubby-to-be and having duplicates of nice stuff would be pointless. Over the years I've purchased some nice things though, but we do need to register for stuff we both lack and decide what to do with 3 colanders....

So, add me to the camp of people who agree with buying some little things now that you'll know you'll need when you buy the house.

And let me share a funny story--- I have a coworker who lived with her parents until marriage for traditional religious regions, and she and her husband bought a house around the time of the wedding too. She registered for everything. She also had a 400-person guest list. This woman flipped out at work one day because she'd checked the progress on her registry: "Towels! We need TOWELS! Why aren't people buying us TOWELS!?"

So uh... buy some towels, ok?

This is hilarious. I have a similar story: when Fi and I moved in together a few years ago, my grandmother kept sending us random boxes of her extremely high-end, and very old, household items. So we wound up with custom table linens straight out of the 1980's (gold and teal paisleys), elaborate heavy gold lamps, and excessive amounts of fancy crystal rocks glasses.... in our home full of Ikea and garage sale furniture. I never used most of that stuff, but I thanked her profusely! Sometimes people are trying to be helpful but forget the most basic stuff. Like towels!

NWR: Getting ready for a new home

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