AIBU to feel disheartened by the cost of furnishing my first home?

[binocularsgranda]

I am single and live alone. I moved into my house about a year ago and it's my first home so I've had to get everything from scratch. My furniture is a mixture of freebies and things I bought over the months before I bought my house.
Once I have paid regular bills, mortgage etc I have £400 left each month for petrol, food, toiletries, clothes, shoes and parking.
I went for a walk around a home furnishings shop this evening to window shop essentially, not because I was planning to buy anything, just for a look. Even though I hadn't intended to buy anything, I left feeling disheartened. I can't see how I will ever be able to afford even the floor lamp for the living room, bed for the spare room or shelving for the dining room that I need. Yes I can - and will - look online for people giving things away but I think that should be my choice, not my only option because any other route to furnishing my home is simply out of reach. I have very little left over to save each month (and I am frugal - my outgoings are as little as they can be via comparison sites etc). It made me wonder how people afford to go into, for example, Next and buy a sofa. AIBU to feel down about the gap between everyday finances and the prices of necessities? I just want to make my home my own, nothing extravagant.

When I bought my first house 3 years ago almost everything I used to furnish and decorate it was from charity shops and online platforms like Freegle and Facebook Marketplace.

The British Heart Foundation for example has decent furniture.

I would get second hand stuff rather than trying to buy everything new and get yourself into debt.

Please avoid getting into debt, OP. It's far easier to get into debt than it is to get out of!

I started out with second-hand things from Marketplace, British Heart Foundation, secondhand shops and Gumtree. The only new things that I had were a washing machine and a tiny fridge. With the additions of one bed, a sofa and a dining table and chairs, my house looked empty for a long time! I am filling it... slowly... but I dread having guests who will take one look and think that I am impoverished because I don't have lots of fancy furniture or 'things' that make it look homely. It is a constant work in progress! If I do buy new furniture, it is usually on sale.

Don't borrow/take credit it will only make the situation worse. There also didn't much capacity for potential interest rste increases down the line.

Most people I know who bought solo, rented out the spare room for 2-3 years to build up the rennovation/furnishings fund from that. They only did up the house when the tenant left and funds were there to do so. Managed with minimal until then.

Most people start with Ikea. The people walking into a high-end furniture shop and paying £1500 for one item are usually not first time buyers; they're people like us in their 40s replacing the cheap stuff they bought in 2009.

All my single friends used 0% finance for sofas, beds and appliances.

I think it's pretty normal to get some first home furniture second hand or freebies. I still have some of those pieces in my next home. My parents were given furniture and bought second hand in the 80s, this is not a new thing. I don't know anyone that fully furnished a house, all new as soon as they moved in.

Well done on buying your first home! I’m 70 and we downsized 2 years ago and this is the first house where we have bought new furniture. I never imagined in my life ever looking round John Lewis and actually buying a sofa and dining table! Up to now everything has come from EBay, FB Marketplace, charity shops or local FB bargains page. The only new stuff we bought over the years was shelving from Ikea. Buy nice shaped furniture and sand and paint in modern colours. Frenchic paint is incredibly easy to use.

Absolutely not. That's just adding more debt and causing more difficulties to pay it all off!

OP, look at local giveaway sites in Facebook, Gumtree etc. Charity shops. Friends and family having a clear out.

All my early furniture was second hand except my mattress. All my kitchen stuff came from a car boot sale.

No point in spending money you don't have.

Keep an eye on freecycle too - some good things come up on there.

OP check out your local auction house. Most towns aren’t far away from one that will deal in general household effects as well as those who specialise in fine art/antiques.

Im an auctioneer and I see so many high quality lounge/dining suites sell for little from house clearances. Many also have decorative furnishings like lamps and other interior design items.

Our house is a mix of vintage and antique and so many friends who visit love our decor - much more than having the identikit oak furniture land / next / John Lewis houses they all have!

I’m not sure how old you are but imo that’s exactly how your personal style develops. When you can afford to get everything at once, imo things start to look dated very quickly because trends move fast. However when you buy a bit at a time, but always things that you’re drawn too, I just think it looks better and reflects the person who lives in it better too. As someone who is skint and wants my house to look better though, I completely appreciate your frustration!

Everything in our house is second hand. We just got a new second hand bed because our old secondhand bed was shite 🤣
I scan FB market place all the time to look for bargains and freebies. We just don't have the money to buy new and although I'd like to, I'm fine with it

Congratulations on your home ownership!

I agree that time and patience will be your friend - take joy in small items, thrifted cushions, small mementos from travelling …
definitely not worth piling on debt.

I bought solo and with no family help, by the skin of my teeth- think I had to pay for the conveyancing on my credit card.

I did have to buy a bed but lots of things just had to wait. Admittedly it was a very tiny flat to furnish, though.

Well done on owning your own home, but as pp have said £400pm is not much at all... I know its not what you want to hear but I think you need to get a bit put aside before you start worrying about furniture. Home ownership is expensive when things go wrong with the house.

Yes it's all very expensive.

Like other's I've bought mostly second hand and just picked up stuff over time.

I'd be reluctant to put stuff on finance as some people have suggested and just buy second hand (can pick up a decent sofa on ebay or fb market place for from as little as £150) and then save up to pay to replace things new.

If you’re in London I know someone that is giving away their glass dining table and an ottoman which is navy? Dm me if you want

When I got moved into a flat with dd, she slept in a (open obviously) suitcase fashioned into a bed until I could get a cot a week or two later. We had patches of my parents spare carpet to make do, an 80s style sofa (was bloody comfy).

She's 17 now and I have gone on to marry and have 3 more dc. We've just moved house and essentially had to start over, was only the fridge, washing machine, dryer and our bed that could be moved into this house (old house was all essentially built in). It's truly cost us absolutely thousands and that is why it's all on ikea credit, bnpl, PayPal pay in 3 etc.

Now that I think about it, in my adult life I've always just used buy now pay later for furniture, very rarely have I ever bought anything expensive outright.

I agree. Also for bits and bobs decor wise. Vinted is good especially if you find a seller with similar style and can bundle.
Car boots etc are good, make it fun. Make a mood board and enjoy.
If you have transport things like a barely used bed etc are given away.
I also like to put items in my online basket, then leave. I feel like I have bought.
Learn to paint.

We’ve owned a house for over 10 year and have a relatively high joint income, but our house is still furnished with mainly hand me downs and IKEA furniture. I refuse to put home furnishings on credit cards or finance, and other things like savings and kids and having a life has always been more of a priority for us. I don’t see anything wrong with the cheap furniture really.

We had hand me down furniture meaning Dh brough black bookcases and I brought knotty pine, it was the 90s. Luckily we could paint it. Our dining table was £10 from a second hand shop, again I painted it. Our sofa was the ugliest thing you had ever seen, a hand me down from PIL and we just covered it in a lot of cheap throws so you couldn't see the brown velour. I did rip off the fringe from the arms and base.

Our first 2 houses were rented so just furnishing it rather than decorating. But before we moved in together I was working post uni and Dh was finishing uni, I built a slush fund for things like a bed, mattress, pillows, duvet and bedding, also things like a hoover and bought small items like tea towels and bath towels from Matalan.

It takes time. Social media has made people believe that we all live in beautifully decorated and furnished homes and we don't. Ds has said he wants a house deposit fund and a separate furniture/decor fund because he knows how much things cost. He is saving for his first house now.

Blimey. My first sofa was from the staff room at work where it was being thrown out because it was too tatty for the staff to use!

There's a real joy in anticipation which seems to have been lost these days.

We’re well off. All of our furniture is second hand and I don’t mean vintage. We’ve got lovely stuff!

Absolutely!

Second hand charity furniture shops/warehouses basically

So much second hand wooden old fashioned carpenter made items

Bed frame and shelving for the price of me new armchair - easy

We can buy new if we want but we always look second hand first always - it’s just better stuff even if you put aside cost and environmental factors - plus profit goes to charity not big business

You may have to hunt a bit or wait

it’s so worth it

You have a spare room. Get yourself a lodger and use that income to furnish your place. I put core furniture -
sofa, my bed, the dining table - on a 0% credit card and then got a lodger and the payments from the lodger in the first year paid off the credit card, built up an emergency pot of £500 or so savings as I realised that, with a lodger, if something like the washing machine broke, I’d need to be able to fix it quickly. Then, in the second year, the lodger paid for some nice to haves like a side table in the sitting room and a console table for the hall and eventually we moved onto soft furnishings. By that time, I’d had a couple of promotions and pay rises so had a bit more wiggler room myself so, when the lodger wanted to move in with boyfriend, it was perfect timing! We’re still friends and I still have some of the furniture and we sometimes comment on it.