To continue my post about tips and tricks for moving cross country, I wanted to post up some ideas that I have used on where to spend money to furnish your apartment/house and where to save.
Since I am a recent college graduate and uber geek guru I dream of having that 103 in Plasma, but realize that dropping the kinda loot on a TV is not nessary. When moving into a new place think about where you will spend most of your time as well as thinks of things you may be replacing in the next 2 to 3 years. For myself, I double down on the fact that I need to sleep and had to have a comfortable bed. A bed can be very expensive once you add up the sheets, down comforter, and pillows. I am a big guy (6’2 for us Americans, 1.8 meters for the rest) and wanted a large bed. I chose a queen because it was a cheaper then the king by about $300, but only $100 more then the full. I shopped around and found that costco had a “home” specific store that sold furniture and got a great deal. I also thought about what I would be doing while at home, like using my computer.
Since I am staring at a monitor prolly about 16+ hours a day, I decided to go all out on a chair. Yes I jumped on board with the dot comers and picked up a aeron. I know who spends more on a chair then a bed, or even a TV! Well, if you have ever sat in one for a long period of time (stay a night at a expensive hotel, they normally have them) you will realize that its WORTH the money and cheaper then massages or visiting the chiropractor. Anyway, I SAVED by picking up a cheap desk and bookshelves at target, only $55USD! So I know that doesn’t off set the price, but understand that you should SPEND on things you will use or at least improves your health and SAVE on things that you might throw out in a couple years time or never use.
Another place to SAVE is on bookcases, call me a young blood, but I do NOT see the point in buying $1000+ USD bookcases to HOLD BOOKS! Maybe if you have priceless first editions, but I am a readaholic and picked up a 29.99 bookcase that is 6 feet tall and took only 15 minutes to put together. It hold all my books as well as has plenty of room for the books I plan on picking up in the future.
So here is where some of the audio/videophiles may differ from me, but I choose to shop around for a solid TV which had all the latest technology and didn’t cost me $2,000+ USD. I found a AKAI 37in at walmart for $874.00 USD or $944.79 for pickup at store. This TV has HDMI as well as being 1080P (yes thats REAL HDTV!). I know cox, the $@%# ISP/TV provider here in AZ is ONLY 1080i (WTF, I HATE YOU! I <3 FiOS 4 Life!) Anyway, I got a nice TV that will last a pretty long time and it is high quality. I am currently looking for a TV for my living room and plan on spending a shine penny for it, but hope to have it until I have my own house and have a nice daily driver.
As for other advice, I would highly suggest moving during the END of the summer this way you can hit sales and SAVE while moving in. I am a big fan of moving in after or near when colleges start up. This way I can find cheap, quality stuff at a bottom price.
For the Green side of me, I took some furniture from a friends who was planning on throwing it out, so I decided to take it and “recycle” it. Let me know some of your tips for where to spend and where to save whenmoving into a new place.
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I stumbled upon this blog while typing in “post college moving cross country” into google and seeing what advice was out there to calm my nerves. I’ve talked to a lot of people about moving and they all offered good advice – the only thing I don’t feel comfortable about asking is the money thing. So I figured you’re a stranger and thus the awkward dollar amount inquiries are greatly reduced by the annonmity. I’m moving from Orlando, FL to Denver, CO. Right after Christmas (I figured I’d stick around and get a few housewarming gifts from relatives) and taking my boyfriend with me. We’re driving our cars out at alternate times to get our crap out there (I have a friend willing to house it temporarily til we get a place). My question is, how much would you say is a comfortable amount to move and get settled in with? I graduated last year and have been working a low-paying social services job so I don’t quite have the ballin’ money that computer geeks seem to have. But if you had a ball-park figure for all your costs that you’d be willing to share hopefully it’ll help alleviate my worries. Unless of course you say 20 grand, then I’m screwed. . .
Well thanks for your time. The website I entered is a piece of crap the boyfriend made yesterday – so judge me not by my techno/www deficiencies. Thanks again!