Let’s say that you just purchased a larger home than the apartment you are currently living in. You want and need to furnish your entire new home. Many people who furnished their very first apartment probably have taken the not-so-expensive route when furnishing it. If that’s the case, do you take that type of furniture into your new home or do you buy brand new furniture? Where do you start? What do you buy first? What’s your budget like?
To Take or Not to Take
If your current furniture is not of great value, it may not be worth it to take it along to your new home. On the other hand, if you have a few quality pieces, consider bringing them along. Selling your old furniture that you don’t plan to haul to your new place not only takes time but you won’t receive anywhere near what you originally paid. Therefore, consider donating it to your friends, relatives, neighbors, or a charity. There are charities out there, like Salvation Army, which will come to your home and pick up your donated furniture for free.
Room over Time
You may want to start by furnishing a particular room with the essentials first. Then add accent furniture and other accents as your budget allows. Keep in mind to purchase quality over cost when it comes to furniture. You don’t want to buy a sofa every two years or so because of subpar quality. There is a reason it costs so much less and do you really want to find out why? Buy it once and forget about it for at least a few decades.
For example, for a living room, buy a sofa, loveseat, cocktail table, and a TV stand to start with, because those are the essentials that you need. As time goes on, buy end tables that match the cocktail table, chair and ottoman that match the sofa and loveseat, table lamps, table accent pieces, wall art, and plants. You need to figure out a budget and create a long-term plan so that the end result is as beautiful as you dreamed it would be. As you can see there are ways to plan and budget your home furnishings purchases and you can truly see how affordable great style can be.
Payment Options
One of the biggest challenges of furnishing a home is figuring out how much to spend. You may wonder how much you should be spending to attain the look you want… and you might wonder what kind of payment options you have. You should be encouraged to think about furnishing your home just as you would other major purchases.
Buying furniture should also be made as simple as possible. Many furniture stores offer special financing options, like the easy monthly payments. You’ve probably heard the saying “interest-free financing for 12 months or 24 months” on a commercial or two. And it is exactly as it sounds like. If approved, you get to make 12, 24, or more monthly payments, depending on the plans that a particular store offers, on your new furniture. Just make sure that you pay off within the timeframe, otherwise the interest charges will kick in. There are even furniture stores that offer special financing where credit check is not required. All that is needed is proof that you have a job.
Whatever your idea of the perfect home is, chances are you’ll need to budget the home furnishings purchases. One way to purchase the furniture of your dreams is to do it over time and the other is to finance it just like any other major purchase. In the end, you can have not only the home of your dreams but furniture of your dreams as well.
