Moving to new house with nothing

[TeaAndHobnob]

Not me, my bil, sil and niece. Things have become intolerable at mil's so they are moving out asap.

They don't earn much, and they won't have anything other than bedroom furniture to kit out a new place with.

What are the essentials? We could buy a few things for them, we have a TV they could have and a few kitchen bits.

Where could we/they go to buy household stuff cheaply?

If they can't get wardrobes then Argos do some cheap hanging rails which would tide them over for a while. You can also buy cheap starter sets of kettle, toaster etc that are handy.

Try local church/food bank etc. They might kmow of charities able to help

Try local Freecycle (or similar) sites.

cutlery. toaster. kettle.
food.
bedlinen.
fridge.
Washing machine is very useful, but if a Launderette is accessible, not an essential.
pegs for hanging washing outside. Clothes airer for drying clothes inside.
Chairs - would be useful for watching tv.

Charity shops, I furnished my entire house from charity shops when I left my husband, you can get whole sets full of lovely glasses and cutlery there from house clearances.
You can furniture from places like this, I bought a bed and sofa that kept me going for a few years. They have them in every town.

reuse-network.org.uk/

Facebook marketplace and Freecycle could well help them out.

Facebook marketplace good for cheap/free furniture.

I’ve seen lots of posts like this on the local Facebook pages. People always seem to offer lots of helpful thongs to people in this situation.

Find out if there's a second hand place for washing machines. Because sometimes it's cheaper than using the launderette even for a few weeks.

We have charity furniture shops near to us ( Age Uk and british heart foundation). When we returned from abroad many years ago with nothing we got a lot of stuff from there- sofas, drawers etc.

For second hand, try Preloved, Facebook and Freecycle. British Heart Foundation have lots of good quality furniture once they reopen.

Tesco has decent quality, range and price on kitchen essentials.

Definitely Facebook with people on furlough clearing things out and charity shops shut I'm sure people will be more than happy to help out

The following may not all be practical at the moment, but anyway:

If they have means to collect it, second hand furniture auctions can be very inexpensive indeed, but I am not sure if you have any near you. At our local one a very decent three piece suite went for £3 pre lockdown. Other furniture that didn't sell would go to local charities.

Freecycle is another option if they can collect.

British Heart Foundation has new furniture that they will deliver.

Argos and ikea has relatively cheap stuff.

Overall though the main essentials are mattress, bedding, fridge, means of cooking and means of cleaning.

You can also get plastic garden chairs cheaply from the tip as something to temporarily sit on. Again though they need a means of transport.

Would MIL lend them anything temporarily?

Yes on Facebook groups. Most areas have groups called things like ‘[Town Name] free group’ where people getting rid of things post seeing if anyone wants them, or people who need things post asking if anyone has X or Y. The Nextdoor app can also be handy.

My priorities and the others who were homeless were.

Basics to cook something so a kettle or microwave and hob or oven if possible but if not at least one of them so you can warm up food and water (also as quite often there was no money to heat water to wash so heating water in the kettle was great) and then something to eat with and off even if it's one plate and fork and the ability to wash them.
I.e. Sponge.

Something to sleep on and under even if that is a sleeping bag or blanket on the floor but preferably at least a mattress a cushion or pillow and a duvet.

Somewhere to wash and dry with afterwards so a towel

And if possible something to sit on even if it's a fold out camping chair.

Check out local churches - mine runs a second hand furniture project with all the basics for a home, including PAT tested electrical goods and access to food bank. Probably not, but if they're in Glasgow drop me a pm.

This is fantastic thank you. We have some wooden folding chairs with cushions they can have, we were going to give them to charity, I'd forgotten about them.

Yes, towels, cleaning stuff, a kettle. Great suggestions. I'll try and put a list together. They're not hopeless by any means but they've never lived except with parents so some things might not occur to them.

Ask on local Freecycle.
With charity shops closed for the moment, there may be lots of things people would like to be rid of.

They need:

Something to sleep on
Something to cook on
Something to cook with - pots / pans etc
Something to sit on - big cushions if nothing else

And then bedding / towels / cutlery.

A kitchen bin? A Hoover?

Hi OP what area abouts are they moving too as might be able to help of close enough.

As pp have said plus Curtains and a a lamp so you don't have to sit with main light. Mirror and hair dryer.

A fridge is pretty essential imho. Radio.

My lovely colleague made me a bucket with these things in : candles Screwdriver set. Bin liners for various things. Lightbulbs. Tea towels. Surface wipes, toilet roll. Kitchen roll.

Thanks everyone.

Are charity shops reopening soon? That would have been my first port of call. Never used a furniture auction but I will have a look. I know a lot of places are trying to move online now.

Local Facebook selling pages are a great face to find second hand stuff. Need time to going arranging collection though.

We have a place here called the Furniture Mine which is a bit like a charity shop but only available to low income families/ families in need. Might there be something like that in your area?