New home - furniture budget

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Am moving to a brand new home soon, luckily we do not need to purchase white goods, but have no other furniture.

How much realistically is it going to cost do you think, for us and 2 dc? so 3 x beds, mattresses, wardrobes, sofas, kitchen table and chairs, bed linen, plates, pots and pans etc. Need everything really.

Know it will cost a few thousand, but I have a tendency to think everything will be cheaper than it is I think. Would £5k cover it? Or am I being optimistic?

TIA

You really need to make a list, and then look online at your chosen shops. £5000 might be enough for some people, but others might spend that on a single sofa.

Argos is probably cheapest, then Ikea (they have different ranges, some are cheaper, some more expensive). There’s no point buying really cheap sofas as they don’t last, and you should always buy the best beds you can afford

some people would rather buy top quality furniture second hand, for the same price as cheap new furniture.

I don’t think anyone can answer this question apart from you.

Having said that, if £5000 is your budget, I definitely think it’s possible to buy everything for that.

I think you’re being optimistic spending just £5k. Would it be beneficial to spend more on a couple of important pieces like sofa and mattresses and buy super cheap everything else and then upgrade as and when you can? Sofas, beds, wardrobes, dining tables are all expensive. Crockery, linens, towels really add up.

I think 5k would be fine, we bought a flat last year and furnished it from scratch for £950, a mix of second hand and ikea stuff. Off the top of my head we bought:
Bed
Wardrobe
Cheat of drawers
Desk
Office chair
Dining table and chairs
Coffee table
Side table
Sofa
Bookshelf

The biggest cost would have been the sofa but we got a decent second hand one for £150 which has seen us through to now that we can afford to look at ordering a brand new one.

British Heart Foundation sell some lovely second-hand furniture.

Does the budget include a tv, curtains/blinds, carpet, hoovers, ?

Try to see if anyone is gifting things. We have a free facebook site in my sub division and people gift lots of things. I have done so.

If you are buying new use a cashback site to get a little back. I would try and buy a decent sofa and beds but the rest do not need to be expensive. Just to get you in and you can upgrade later.

3 x beds, mattresses, around £1500 - £2k
wardrobes, around £1000-1500
sofas, Up to £1k, could be less
kitchen table and chairs, £3-500, possibly less
bed linen, plates, not much, £200?
pots and pans etc not much, £200?

I think you'd easily do all that for £5k at Ikea prices and it's mostly really decent stuff, the estimates I've put above are their mid range stuff, not the cheapest available, although you might not be able to afford the most expensive option for everything. We bought Pax wardrobes when we moved in 16 years ago and they're still in excellent condition.

The beds and mattresses are good and we've had two Ikea sofas in the last 20 years both making it to around a decade old before they get anywhere near replacing.

I'd make a list of your absolute essentials (beds, sofa, bedding, basic cooking equipment) and get that first. If you're struggling to afford your choice of wardrobes, you could start with hanging rails. A kitchen table is reasonably essential but you don't need it straight away as much as you do beds.

Basically it can cost whatever you need it to. We put every penny we had into buying our first place, so it was furnished mainly from Facebook pass it on/ free cycle etc. And we spent maybe £300 in either IKEA or charity shops for any essentials we couldn't get free.

However we then gradually replaceed everything over the next few years, as we could afford it. If I was buying furniture I liked and wanted to last it would probably cost more than £5k, probably more like £8-10k.

FB free sites, Freegle etc for most things.
I'd buy the most decent bed you can afford - and spend up to 2k on it, take your time choosing and it'll last and be money well spent.
Ditto for the sofa - but you needn't do it straight away, get one free/cheap locally - we had one was in a posh house's 3rd lounge only being got rid of because they were redoing the room, lasted 25 years.

Thanks everyone, some really good points made that I hadn’t thought of - I’m taking from this the main thing to worry about is decent beds/mattresses.
can get cheaper tables and chairs /rails for wardrobes in interim and then save up for decent stuff as and when.
Am definitely going to make a list of everything, as there’s always things you forget about.

Can you afford it? To buy new?

14 years here and 70% is free cycle!

Wardrobes, bed's... furniture...mirrors...free.

Usually beautiful characterful antique stuff.
Interspersed with some - IKEA piece's.

Tk max die for bedding.... duvet covers, pillows.

Soak and sleep for goose down duvets.

Where ever for mattresses, agree this is where to spend money.

Our bed Frame for us was an emergency buy , 200 ish from Ikea....it's light,easy to manage for cleaning,5 year's lasted and I hope will last another 5.

Also sofa was under a grand IKEA.
It has washable cover's which was essential for me, it's also a very comfortable sofa bed.

I think you could do it for 5k.