Occupying an apartment from scratch

I'm 100% confident you'll figure it out.

All I'd say is, you should buy things as you realize you need them rather than trying to kit everything together at the beginning.

 

Jesus. I'd rather have dirty clothes than resort to this

 

Dryer sheets are a buck for a box of 80 at the dollar store. At 1.25 cents apiece, you can splurge and use your own.

(Yeah, they can be re-used. When you're re-using your own you don't have the 'ewwww' factor.)


Several people have mentioned a microwave: get one. There are plenty for $15-20 on CL.

While in the long run it is healthier for probably both your body and mind to cook on a stove/oven, almost by default a singleton is going to be microwaving a time or two a day no matter what you do.

 

When I divorced I started in a new apartment with only my clothes, a weird sideboard that used to belong to my grandfather and my desk. Everything else went to my ex-wife because she got custody of the kids and I wanted them to at least be around the furniture that they new. I moved to a city about 4 hours away to take a new job.

I bought an air mattress and pump and that was my bed for about a month. I got a $25 card table and chairs and that doubled as living room and dining room furniture. Bought a cheap set of pots and pans, a spatula, a wooden spoon, a knife and a small set of plates, silverware and cups. And I bought a lamp.

Every time I got a paycheck I bought one thing. I was pretty happy the day I bought a TV, and I felt like a grown up the day I traded the sideboard at the second-hand store for a couch and a chair. Buying a bed was huge. Buying a little dinette set helped fill out the space. Within a year, my two-bedroom apartment was OK and I wasn't embarrassed about living there.

Take it slow and easy, and you'll be OK.

 

Great ideas here and pretty much what I would do.
I was close to having nothing when I moved to take this job I have now 3 years ago and I did well for the 6 months I needed to kill until my wife moved and brought the house's stuff with her.
Best of luck!

 

Had a job years ago where they kept me in a long-stay hotel. When they finally decided to just give me the cash each month, I got a downtown apartment. I had no furniture, just boxes of books and clothes and small odds and ends. A buddy gave me an air mattress that turned out to have a slow leak. Didn't need an alarm clock, because that fucking mattress would be completely deflated by dawn every morning. Took me sixth months to save up enough for a decent bed, and needless to say, I was never late for work in that time.

So yeah, get a bed first, DH

 

Another idea that I haven't seen on this thread -- and it can help as far as furniture.

Estate sales. You can find them near you in either the local paper's classified or online. Second day is usually half off the listed price. I have a damn nice Ethan Allen dining room set from an estate sale and got it for $50.

You can get all kinds of really good stuff for very reasonable prices.

 

I tell you dixiehack, there's a very tiny little piece of me that's a bit envious of you. The idea of doing some seriously light traveling is somewhat appealing to this 50-year-old married father of three. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to toss my life aside. But this quote from Robert Fulghum sure does resonate sometimes: "The quality of the trip depends a great deal upon what I can live without."

 

Hey Dixie. . . . how about an update!

 

Definitely.

Fortunately, though, you can get mattress bags at Walmart and keep those suckers in or out. If you have an infested mattress, they will all die within a year if you bag it (probably a good idea to double-bag it in case of a tear). You can also kill external ones by running your sheets, spread and pillowcases in the dryer for about 20 minutes.

 

To take this in the bit of a tangent... If you're at a place where you can stomach it, do try to think longterm a bit. Is this someplace you'd ideally like to be for a year? Three years? Five years or more? The timeframe you're working with will significant alter what you want and need to acquire. You mentioned a washer and dryer, but as others have said, unless you have hook-ups for one, it's probably a lump sum of money you don't need to spend.

Also, if you're going to be moving - or think you might even be tempted to move - within three years, be careful of accumulating toooonnnssss of stuff. I moved from an overly-spacious apartment three years ago to my current apartment, and it took four trips with my parent's pick-up truck because of all the crap I had. When things are free / low-cost, it's very easy to fall into the trap of just piling it and piling it into your apartment. The same goes with food - I'm now making a concerted effort to make a dent on my pantry, which was probably full of about $100 worth of canned and other non-perishable food that I simply hadn't eaten in the past year or so.

 

Just a random question to add to this thread. Let's say you don't have a couch or a truck/ friends with a truck. Is there a manageable way to get furniture from CL, etc., delivered or are you pretty much resigned to using a UHaul?