Ds has been offered a flat but he doesn't have furniture.

[Yellowrose57]

My son has been offered social housing.i can help him with sone things. But not larger items.

I'm hoping i can find a charity of some sort that sells 2nd hand furniture. As we could probably get most things he needs under one roof and its likely they will deliver.

Just to ad British heart foundation and simlar are to expensive. We can't use free cycle . Facebook anything that requires collection . We do not drive or have access to a car. So it makes sense to use a charity

So bit of a long shot but does anyone know of charity's that sell 2nd hand furniture in the southeast london area..

Thanks 😊

Great advise. Just get the essentials and basics to begin with. Cheap,Second hand or from charities etc. If it is a flat , probably wouldn't be that big anyway.

1. Bed/Mattress
2. Even better still a bed settee.
3. A couple of garden type chairs to sit on.
4. A cheap coffee table which can be used to eat off.
5. A microwave.
6. An electric kettle.
7. A few cheap plastic cups, plates, cutlery etc.
8. A washing up bowl and plastic bucket..A few dish clothes
9. A multi use saucepan.

10. A toilet bush.

Should be able to get a long with these basic items for a few months.

Put clothes and other items into cardboard boxes for the time being.

He gets takeaways almost every day?!

For a temporary fix Tesco is selling 2 camping chairs for £16 and then buy more as and when you save money

56 years ago, we did the same. Bought a single mattress from local shopping area, put towels up at the windows. We had no cooker and sat on the mattress eating salad and drinking Mateus rose out of the wedding gift crystal glasses.

Try this charity
https://emmaus.org.uk/your-local-emmaus/?region=greater-london

A quick google search gave me a list of options like grants from turn2us and other charities. It seems like there’s plenty of support out there for people in his situation.

Ymca at Swanley have some nice things it a furniture store mainly. Yiu coukd calk and see if they can deliver

The opposite of living independently, means you're living with 'care' or 'support' under a formal arrangement.

Living with mum doesnt mean someone isnt living independently necessarily

However in any case I was talking about his circumstances where he is about to move into his own accommodation. Living independently.

Russell Hobbs made my tea taste awful. I bought a kettle and had to chuck it, it was awful.

He hasn't lived at home for over a year. He stays sometimes. But hes been here for about a month.

On Facebook here in the North West we have a “Before the tip” and lots of people who are happy to give good quality furniture away for free but obviously you would have to pay for someone to deliver and even charities charge for delivery .

If he has his bed, he can get other things as he goes along. Our first flat was a mattress on the floor, garden chairs to sit on and a cardboard box as a table/tv stand.
Quite often free cycle donors will deliver locally (I have) you can always offer a couple of quid. Join the Nextdoor group and appeal for what he needs.

How can a home come with no carpet? That’s outrageous. Yes, I know councils are doing tough, as are most, but you’d think a home should come with the basics in place.

Your best bet would be to post on your local Facebook page explaining your situation. People are often incredibly kind and generous.

Social housing usually comes with no carpet- they remove it between tenants.

You say a man and van won't drive round to different addresses, but if within reason I am sure you can do that.
I have had some one come and collect a coffee table off me in the past for free and they asked if they could do it on a certain time/date as they were collecting other stuff then too. They turned up in a van and it must have been a similar situation as they were picking up various household items.

If your son only wants new though that's a different matter. I hope he has sense not to get credit cards and end up in a lot of debt. I would be keeping an eye on him as he sounds like a vulnerable adult if he cannot understand he is unable to afford new and is influenced by a girl into trying to do so.

Should he be trying to live in sheltered accomodation as a step between home and living independently?

But it's what people used to do all the time. We had a cardboard box with an old tablecloth over it for a coffee table and another for the TV. A couple of mismatched free chairs and we were good to go. When DS and his girlfriend first rented they had make do and inventively repurposed stuff. Over the years we've passed on old stuff to other people just setting up.The only problem is you need stuff very local so you (and a mate or two) can carry it if you don't have suitable transport.

I don’t know if this link has been posted already but try here https://endfurniturepoverty.org/help-for-individuals-and-families/

when DH and I bought our house we didn’t have money for furniture and decorating, we went from a 1 bed flat to a 3 bed semi and had a bed, fridge, sofa and telly. We got everything else slowly over the next couple of years as we could afford it. We bought heavily discounted roll-ends from online flooring stores and carpeted the rooms ourselves, we got tins of paint from a scheme ran through the local refuse centre, we asked for vouchers for every birthday/xmas and saved them towards items we wanted new.

he has a flat now, it will be a secure tenancy so he has time to set it up long term.

I think many recycling centres have some sort of sale area. Googling gives

Southwark: Visit the Southwark Household Reuse and Recycling Centre at 43 Devon St, SE15 1AL. Unwanted items in good condition are donated to local social enterprises for resale.

Greenwich: The Greenwich Reuse And Recycling Centre is located at Nathan Way, SE28 0AF.

Bexley: The Thames Road Waste Transfer Station at Crayford, DA1 5QJ, operates an on-site Community Reuse Shop.

I am 37, and I got bits of furniture as I went along. Even when I was in a bougie flat, we bought £7 folded cardboard side tables, and kept them into our first house, which we slowly furnished.

In doing so we made some bad choices quickly (though my cheapy bed frame from my first flat is still in the spare room), but also got some stylish absolute bargains, like the scandi 50s sideboard for £40 and the round walnut side table with drawers for £25.

Trying to do it fast just gets you what's available right now.

I know you're trying to be kind and helpful, OP, but this is on him. If he's old enough to move out and live on his own, he's old enough to sort furniture out. Knowing he was doing this, he's had time to gather some bits and pieces over the months/last year or two. Obviously he has to be realistic in terms of what he buys.

When I got my first flat, I took all my bedroom furniture as it was mine. Someone I know kindly gave me a chair. Knowing I was moving at some point, I'd bought kitchen utensils as and when I'd seen something cheap the months before. I soon met my husband to be after I moved, so at that stage I bought some picnic chairs but him and family to visit. No TV or cooker for over a year. I didn't have a car either and happened to move out when my parents were away - I sorted it. Obviously not large items, but I'd buy something from a charity shop like curtains, a coffee table and carry them home from work (about 30mins walk). My SIL kept her eyes peeled before moving and as and when people she knew were getting rid of stuff, but bought off them - she literally couldn't get in her bedroom at parents house as there was a table on it's side, chairs, spare mattress, bedding, kitchen stuff and she had a fridge covered up outside.

Ds1 bought his house last year.

He had to buy a washing machine for the kitchen, but these were available on marketplace.
A friend had a second microwave they sold him for a tenner.
He found outside seating on marketplace which he used in the living room (failing that he contemplated beanbags).
He took his bed.
He found a table in a charity shop
He took hanging rails for his clothes

He has since added to his furniture but they don't need much when they first move out.

Yes they come with no flooring apart from kitchen and bathroom. The walls are stripped back as well. Just how it is .

the Besom

Hi OP, I've seen a lot of people asking on Facebook spotted groups if anyone with a van could help with collecting items so that might be worth doing. You could always bung them a few quid

I doubt very much he would get credit. He wouldn't pass the checks. And hes not mentioned it.

I did speak to him last night only very briefly. I only managed to say you need to be more realistic about what you can afford. I said you can't afford to be fussy about a gap at the side of a washing machine. He said yeah I know. It did seem sincere. But i might even speak to both of them. I will see.