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 😊

I’ve experienced this twice

I finally bought my own home at 25. It was small and empty, but it was clean and new and it was nice to gradually make it mine

I also lived in a shabby flat in my very early twenties and had nothing and it was living in squalor, when you don’t even have a proper bed, no fridge or washing machine or even a sofa to sit on. It’s not much fun.

I suspect a lot of the replies are from the first paragraph not second.

🤣

Do you have the Lions or Rotary Club near you? Where I live they focus on helping young people kit out new homes either for free or very cheap.

The local fb group will probably have loads of offers if you ask.

We can't use free cycle

Why not?
If he saved he could get a man with a van - if £50 or so

Surely no-one has furniture before they get their first house, or if they do it's their deceased grandparents. I still have my Nans chairs and I'm in my forties. You have fun roughing it and saving up for stuff.

Please make sure your son realises that what he's been offered is like gold dust and it's worth any short or mid term difficulty to hold onto it.

I lived with just a mattress and a hanging rail nailed to the ceiling from string for a long time.

Make sure he understands that he doesn't have to buy shit - he can make it or upcycle it.

Make him be someone who builds upon the incredible luck that he's had.

I tried turn to use it really confused me. I'm getting confused with everything lately. It's worth another look though.

The British Heart Foundation has several furniture shops south of the river and the stuff they sell is really good quality. They also deliver.

Like a lot of people on this thread, when I moved into my first place with my own front door, I had nothing. A colleague lent me one of those foam armchairs that fold out into a single mattress (I have no idea if you can still get them) and I slept on it for a year. I was so glad to have a place of my own after living in horrible shared houses that I didn't mind!

I don't know if it's already been mentioned (not read full thread) but St Christopher's charity shops do very reasonably priced furniture and will deliver for an additional fee. Theres a few around SE London. Does depend where he is though because I'd imagine delivery costs go up a bit the further he is from the shop!

Also do you live near a studenty area by any chance? It’s graduation week/month for most unis at the moment, and for lots of the students they’re either going off to travel, or move back in with mum and dad. When I was at uni there would literally be oodles of stuff just out on the streets this time of year free to a good home. You can get all kinds, if you’re up for a little jaunt maybe with a few of you. I bet you’d get some good freebies!

If he has a disability, try the hospital Saturday fund. Ask your local lions/rotary/WIs. Look at Turn2Us for grants.

Does your son have a support worker? If so there are a range of grants he might be eligible for that help people get things like new white goods and larger furniture items? Some charities that support young people with tenancy issues also have agreements in place with local second hand stores for better rates.

Also this. Social housing in London is rarer than actual gold.

Friends.

Plenty free stuff around on FB if 1. You aren't picky and 2. Prepared to collect it or pay for a man with a van to collect.

Can he afford to live in it though, if he's struggling so much will he be okay with utilities etc?

His housing association/council may offer free white goods if he meets criteria.

Hes gonna hire a ban and van. Because hes only got his bed mattress and a few bits. It shouldn't be yo expensive.

But it doesn't work for picking things up fron free cycle etc. Because collection may not be at the time as having man and van. Also collections are at different times and different locations. So a man and van wouldn't work for that.

Scour Facebook marketplace - loads of freebies you just need to collect, also try freecycle.

Our local tip also has a Reuse shop which sells white goods and furniture. I'm not in SE London but it's worth checking out if there's something similar near to you.

This is one in East London:

https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/rubbish-and-recycling/second-time-around-shop

And this is South London

https://slwp.org.uk/your-services/community-reuse-shops/

The south london one says it delivers so others might.

When I bought my first flat , I slept.on a mattress on the floor for.a year until I could afford a bed

I took a friends very worn out sofa she was getting rid of and used it for 3 years. I had a bathroom with broken tiles and walls with holes in the plaster for 6 years before I could afford to have it done

I stored my clothes on one rail and several plastic boxes on the floor for years before I could afford to put in fitted wardrobes

I has no table or other chairs for months

I had a good well paid job but it still took about 6 years to save up to have all the furnishings and furniture i needed

He gets 200. Hes going to use that for fridge freezer.

Ask his housing officer; they will have seen this situation before and will know which organisations can help.

I was born at the end of 1995. I’m not old. I am just not minted so I had to buy stuff as it came about.
i ate a lot of jacket potato cooked in the microwave and had a weird electric plug in hob thing.
my first two rental properties were teaming with damp and black mould.
I’m also disabled and whilst I have a professional career I’ve been out of work for various periods of time on benefits due to my disability.
living in a shithole was very depressing. Living in a shithole with a baby who had to be in a cot all the time in the house because she couldn’t walk or crawl on the floor because it was so damp and the walls were so mouldy (for 70% of my salary for rent alone) even more so.
just because it’s a bit shit, doesn’t mean it’s not normal - and actually it can be quite damaging
I’m all for social housing, and really think we need more of it.
But the OP’s son has just been given a subsidised rent on a secure tenancy in the most expensive city in the country. And they are hoping that they can kit it out entirely for free, in what appears to be a fairly rapid fashion. That isn’t normal, and if I’m honest it creates a culture of dependency and entitlement.
I don’t want people to have a shit time because I had one, that’s not what I’m saying at all.
but I think we are losing track of what is normal especially because we are fed a continuous stream of perfect lives on the internet.

I’d post your OP on your local facebook page, loads of people rally for that sort of cause