How to get your place completely furnished.
It doesn’t matter if you are arriving directly to your own place, or if you are going to a homestay or a temporary rental first... the time will come where every international student will need to face the reality of finding furniture for their place! Of course, this goal brings some extra challenges, like trying to get things on a tight budget, hiring moving services or spending lots of time hunting for good furniture to buy. With that in mind, we decided to write this small guide for you so that hopefully, this info will save you some time in this process.🙌 Let’s get started!
Rent one that’s already furnished
It might sound a bit too obvious, but tons of people don’t consider this option! Plenty of people offer to rent their place or their room already furnished. And it’s an excellent alternative for newcomers to get these options since it takes away the burden of looking for furniture and allows them to concentrate on other things of higher priority, such as looking for work. However, and logically so, renting a furnished place is more expensive than renting an empty one. So it is up to you to consider if paying a little bit extra in your rent is something you would be willing to do to live more comfortably or if you prefer saving some money and start building your furniture on your own. You choose!
The Old and Reliable...
Yes, IKEA is always a good option! If you have never seen this store in your life and don’t know what IKEA is, well... it’s just the greatest furniture store ever!! The reason why, is because their business model consists of providing affordable, well-designed furniture with a DIY dynamic. In the sense that every piece of furniture you can buy in IKEA is a piece, you would need to assemble on your own (unless you pay an extra service for them to do it for you). This model allows this store to offer unique furniture at great prices!! So it’s always worth to check out. And don’t worry, they provide you with great manuals and even the tools for you to be able to assemble anything on your own.
Second hand
Either by finding second-hand furniture on your own, like hunting for it on FB marketplace or craigslist, or by going to a thrift shop and looking at what they have. Buying second-hand furniture is fairly common in Vancouver. Especially during the summer! As there is a trend for people to change and flip furniture during this time of the year!
*Note: just remember to be super cautious when doing so! as a lot of scams occur with furniture hunting as well. Make sure that what you are buying is in excellent condition, and don’t buy anything without checking it out in person first. Also, make sure to check for bedbugs!
For Free
Last way for you to furnish your apartment or room... do it for FREE!! That’s right !! You have no idea how many people do this in Vancouver. Of course, it will take you more time to have your place fully furnished, as with this process, you usually get one piece of furniture at a time. But, in a couple of months, you could have your whole living area already set for you to use 😍 You can find free furniture by looking either on Facebook marketplace or Craigslist under the “free” category. There’s always lots of stuff for you to discover!
*Note. Keep in mind that there are a lot of people doing this. So when looking for furniture, it is always a good idea to be ready to go wherever you need to, to get that piece of furniture that caught your eye!
P.S. you can also walk around your neighbourhood. During summer, many people simply place things they don’t want right outside their home for people to take. (they usually leave a note on those things saying “for free”). Want us to talk about a specific topic next? Let us know your ideas at info@thrivvemag.com or leave a comment below!!
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