Changing addresses often inspires one to consider how to furnish their next destination. Is it worth moving that old green vinyl chair with its orange pillows? It used to recline until the handle broke off. Carry it out of the home, onto a truck, haul it, remove from truck, then carry it into the new place. Now imagine there are stairs to climb.
Perhaps it’s a good time to think about new furnishings.
First, check the square footage of those rooms that need to be furnished. Prefer sleeping in a king size bed? That’s nice, but it won’t be of much use if, upon delivery, you find the box spring and mattress simply don’t fit in the bedroom’s available floor space. What about a bureau, chest of drawers, and a nightstand. The room fills quickly.
Second, if the new home has some tight quarters make the furniture selections commensurate. The fancy eight-seat chestnut dining room set looks nice at the store, but will it fit in the dining room? By choosing smaller furniture designs you’ll discover a visual trick known to interior decorators everywhere: downsizing the furnishings make the room they occupy appear larger than it really is. Windows help too as you design what goes where when furnishing the new rooms. Carefully placed wall-mounted mirrors are especially helpful at producing this effect.
Third, there’s the budget. Moving can be expensive. If buying a house there’s the cost of mustering as much of a down payment as can be reasonably afforded, so the attached monthly payments (including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance) will be as reasonable as can be achieved. If renting, landlords often require first and/or last month’s rent, and/or security deposits. Some charge a fee for credit report retrieval. These expenses add up fast.
If shopping for new furniture here’s a few things you can do.
Obviously, shop around patiently. When visiting a store many employees are paid commissions. Get to know the salesperson. Introduce yourself. Get their first name. You can volunteer your budget to them if you so choose, so they don’t waste time featuring those pieces that are simply unaffordable. A good salesperson is also intimately familiar with their inventory. Need something right away but don’t want to wait three days for delivery? They might be offer to deliver as soon as tomorrow. Some even offer same-day delivery (likely depending on what time of the day it is.)
If shopping for bedding a good salesperson can be very helpful. Did you notice how dramatically variable bedding manufacturers’ prices are? Why is that? Most know what size bed we need, but some are much more affordable than others. A sharp salesperson will ask you for the size needed. He or she should then be able to dance through their floor selection of samples and fluently explain to you that which makes one different from the other. They should invite you to see for yourself.
When it comes to your furnishings’ delivery, many stores announce a delivery fee (say, for example, $50). This is negotiable. Tell your salesperson a competitor you visited offered free delivery. They can match that.
If your store offers interest-free financing, some stores promote this just to get customers on-site. A $3,600 purchase might kink your budget. But if you can spread that over 48 months, $75 monthly suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. Be careful here. The salesperson will tell you “pending credit approval.” Many buyers are surprised when they learn their application is rejected, so they’ll have to pay for everything before leaving the store.
This is a good example of why you need to be familiar with your credit report(s) (there’s three of them) and your FICO© score. If you belong to a credit reporting agency you’re probably entitled to a free report and score. Get it. Bring it with you. Moving is a good time to review these and make sure they’re accurate. You should probably complete this task in advance of moving, as many interested parties along the move will require these.
The furniture industry is lush with retailers eager to do business. There are deals aplenty to be had. Staying informed and competitively shopping will save you money.
