Of furniture buying and moving

noir_blood

It looks like I might be moving to my first real apartment(I been living in one of those extended stays hotel dealies for a while), and wanted to try to get people's feedback when it came to furniture.

Basically, apart from my bookcases and a computer desk That I don't know if I want to keep, I really don't have anything else furniture wise. There's no hurry on the apartment thing, so right now I'm trying to gaugue about how much I'm looking to spend to actually make the place look somewhat nice.

First of all, bed-
Ideally, I would prefer queen size, as that's what I have now, and I gotten used to that(plus I bought covers and such not too long ago). I'm really easy to please, so I'm not looking for anything extravagant or the like. Just a bed and frame. How much am I looking at for that?

Sofa- Again, not looking for something fancy, just one that I can put in the living room and be able to chill in.

There's an IKEA nearby where I got the furniture I have, so I figure I can go over there to pick up a small dining table and chairs, though if you guys got other recommendations, I'll hear them too.

Finally, the moving itself. Does anyone have any experience of how much a moving company would charge? Obviously it's going to come down to lots of factors, but say to hire them for them to move a lot of boxes and two mid sized bookcases, is it even worth it, or should I stop being lazy and do it myself? What about a uhaul?

truck-a-sauras

if you really have that little move everything yourself.

The general rule is you have a couple friends help. When finished you buy them dinner and a case of beer or bottle of booze. Between friends this is fine because when they need to move, guess who is helping....

Gdiguy

noir_blood wrote: »

First of all, bed-
Ideally, I would prefer queen size, as that's what I have now, and I gotten used to that(plus I bought covers and such not too long ago). I'm really easy to please, so I'm not looking for anything extravagant or the like. Just a bed and frame. How much am I looking at for that?

So I'd say the ikea bed frames are about as cheap as you're going to get for new - I have a http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39849855 and am perfectly happy with it (and honestly I like the look of it more than the expensive stuff in mattress stores). Mattress, however, is a bit more touchy - I had an Ikea mattress for a year (i think they're ~200-300), and while it wasn't terrible, if you're buying something to use for many years I'd suggest getting a real mattress (even one of the cheaper ones from a mattress store will be way better than ikea's). Bed frames are also something you can certainly get used, but I'm not a good person to give advice on doing that (I'd be more wary of buying a used mattress)

And I'd say for your stuff you'll be much much better off doing it yourself; I would only consider a moving company if I was a) moving multiple large pieces of furniture, and even then only if b) it was a far enough distance that I couldn't convince friends to help out. Uhaul rents vans in addition to the trailer-type things, which is what I wound up doing for my last move (needed enough room for a desk / tv stand), and I *think* it was pretty cheap (sub $100), but that was for like a half-day. The rental fee itself isn't bad, the mileage fee can get bad...

Hypatia

For furniture I'd say the best way to go about budgeting is to try to figure out where you are between:

"Keeping is optional, I'd rather have an easy move"
--- to ---
"I want furniture that will last me 10-20 years so I don't have to buy it again, even if I have to haul it around"

The closer you are to the "keeping is optional" side, the less the furniture will cost (you can get beds for instance for $80 if you don't mind them being really crappy and/or stalk craigslist). The upside is you can opt to just toss it when you move if you don't feel like dealing with the hassle.

If you're closer to the "nice furniture I want to keep", the last time I was looking for a queen size bed prices ranged from $600-$2000. We got a really nice bed for $1200 which included the frame and the movers hauling it in for us, but of course it was a really nice bed and we're planning on keeping it for 15 years-ish.

Sofas when we were looking ranged in price from $250-$1200, loveseats (2 seaters) are less expensive than the full ones (3+ seaters).

Some pointers on buying furniture:

For both couches and beds, make sure you sit/lie on what you're thinking of getting to make sure it feels comfortable.

Once you've found something you're interested in, keep the store in mind and if possible wait a month or two. Sooner or later, usually sooner, the store will have a sale and special coupons/offerings. If you can afford to be a bit patient you can get some pretty huge discounts.

For moving, the most economical way I've found is to pack your furniture yourself and hire movers to move just the heavy pain-in-the-ass stuff, then move the boxes yourself.

Movers charge by the amount of time it takes them to move things, so ideally you want to have both apartments available at the same time and everything packed and ready to go to minimize the cost; however, since they're used to moving stuff they move it way faster than you and your buddies would (and with a lot less swearing).

Some tips for minimizing moving costs while protecting your furniture:

- Shop around for movers and ask what they charge. If there's time when one apartment won't be available then they're going to charge you a ton of money to hold your stuff in a truck while they wait around for you to get access to your new apartment.

- Go to your local U-haul or other truck company and buy packing materials from them. Specifically for furniture, get one of those big rolls of that saran-wrap stuff. Do not buy those stupid crappy bed covers they sell in a pack. They're just slippery and make it harder to move stuff. Take your saran wrap and any extra padding and then saran wrap the -crap- out of your furniture. Turn that stuff into a big plastic cocoon. This minimizes the chances that they rip/gouge your furniture when they're moving it.

- Move all your stuff right next to your door or right next to your elevator for the movers. That way they just load it up onto their carts, push it onto their truck, and are ready to go.

The last time I moved last year, I got the moving costs down to about $200 and they moved all of our furniture and a couple of boxes, then we just moved the rest ourselves.

Thanatos

My biggest piece of advice would be not to skimp on the bed.

Get a cheap couch, a cheap entertainment center, a cheap table, cheap chairs, etc., but get a fucking nice bed. You spend a third of your life in there, and the nicer it is, the better you'll sleep. The better you sleep, the better your overall quality of life.

I cannot express to you the improvement I felt going from a cheapass, old double bed to a brand new, extra-firm queen.

Kate of Lokys

wasted pixels and I went all-Ikea when we furnished our new apartment, and it worked out wonderfully. We did a basic Dalselv queen frame with a $200 foam mattress, and both of us sleep just wonderfully on it. The total cost for our entire apartment (two big desks, an office chair, a couple of end tables, a coffee table to use as an entertainment unit, the bed, a bedroom dresser and nighttable, a small kitchen table with four chairs, random kitchen stuff including pots and pans, plus some other things I'm sure I'm forgetting) was maybe $600-700.

Don't forget to check Craigslist/Kijiji, too. I'd never buy a used bed, but we scored a gorgeous black leather Ikea couch for $100, and it's also a great place to look for solid, utilitarian stuff like tables and desks.

CelestialBadger

With very little furniture you don't need the expense of a professional company. Look in the small ads - there are often guys with vans hiring out their services for small moves.

Elrosst

I also have the Dalselv bed; it might be a sob to put together, but you can't go wrong for $100. It doesnt look like much, but is very sturdy.

Since it doesnt sound like you have alot of stuff, go with the U-Haul. Maybe you could enlist a friend or co-worker to help with the bookcases? Tipping the maintenance guy $20 to help lift a couple things also works wonders :P

Youre going to save alot of money if you move everything yourself, get a U-Haul, and box everything. Go to a Target/Walmart, or a grocery store, and ask someone (not a manager) if there's any way you could snag some boxes. I used to work at Target long ago, and we had shit-tons of cardboard lying around and would always give it out to people who asked nicely and were shopping---not just looking for free shit.

mts

this may be obvious, but don't buy anything until after you move in. it will make moving in to your new place that much easier

Limp moose

Couple things.

First Before you buy anything CHECK CRAIGSLIST holy crap most of the furniture is utter shit. But there are gems in the rough. I got a very nice leather sofa for 25% of what ashley wanted for the same model. And it didn't even have a dead hooker stuffed in it or anything.

Second. DO NOT SKIMP on a bed. Just don't You have no idea how much of a difference in your life a comfy bed can make. It is the difference between happiness and despair.

Third when it comes to moving. If you have more stuff than you can move yourself depending on how far you are moving Uhaul is a good way to go. Get a couple of strong buddies and a case of beer to reward them with and make it a Saturday afternoon. Also look around on craigslist for someone that just moved and has extra moving boxes. Boxes help a lot.

Fourth don't get the scotch guard and what not if you buy your furniture at a department store / furniture gallery. Its a rip off.

Elin

Don't forget to check your local salvation army for furniture. You can find some nice things there. Also, with couches remember that there are slip covers for a reason. Get a cheap, comfy couch. If it's ugly as sin just throw a nice slip cover on it.

VisionOfClarity

If you plan on having overnight guests then I would suggest getting a futon for the living room.