How To Furnish Your First House on a Budget

Any place can be a home, but there’s something special about buying or renting an entire house that feels even more homey. You suddenly have more space than ever before. And unless you’re part of a homeowner’s association or have a landlord, you can do whatever you want to the place. That includes furnishing it to your liking. If you’ve lived on your own before, you may have some furniture to bring with you, but it probably won’t be enough to fill an entire house. And if you’ve never lived on your own before, then you’ll have to start from scratch. Luckily, we have some ideas to help you as you start this furniture-hunting process without overspending. Keep reading to learn how to furnish your first house on a budget.

Use In-Store Financing

One of the best ways to furnish your new home on a budget is to take advantage of in-store financing options. While some financial experts believe that store financing can hurt your credit, that isn’t entirely true. So long as you make your payments on time, your credit won’t see negative effects; you may even build your credit. Depending on the store, you may have several of these financing options that you can pick from based on your situation.

Low or No Down Payment

Whether you’re a buyer or renter, you’ll find that moving into a house is expensive. You’ve saved either for a down payment or security deposit on the house and now have either mortgage or rent payments to make. That means you probably don’t have tons of extra money lying around to hand over for furniture.

This is where store financing can help, especially if you can choose a plan with low or no down payments. Without a down payment, or with a small one, you can get the furniture you need at a reasonable price that becomes split up over several months. Work those payments into your monthly budget, and furnishing your first house will be a breeze.

Low Monthly Payments

Maybe you’ve saved for the house and the furniture you want to put into it. You have a choice to make depending on how much you’ve saved. You can use your savings to fully pay off a few good pieces for your house, or you can use it as a down payment and start low monthly payments.

The down payment and low monthly payment option will allow you to get all the furniture you need quicker than if you bought it room-by-room as you could afford to pay for it in full. While you may not need to rush to furnish every room in your house, you’ll need a considerable amount of furniture for your new home to be livable and comfortable. Therefore, getting the most furniture as quickly and efficiently as you can is ideal.

No-Interest Financing

When they hear about store financing, many people immediately start thinking about high interest rates. But depending on the store and your financial situation, you may be able to take advantage of financing options that have low interest or even no interest for the first few months. In some cases, you may even find stores offering years of no-interest financing, making your furniture purchase much more affordable.

Without interest, all your monthly payments will go directly to paying off the furniture you have, so you should be able to pay it off quicker. Depending on what furniture pieces you buy, how big of a down payment you give, and what your budget is, you may pay off most of your furniture before you get charged interest. Doing so will help preserve and improve your credit.

Take Advantage of Sales

If you’d rather avoid financing, you can look to other options to help you afford furniture on a budget. Sales happen year-round in the furniture industry. So if your moving date is within a specific season, you can take advantage of those sales.

Winter Sales

The furniture industry likes to release new styles every six months or so, which means there are sales at almost every furniture store around that timeline. In the winter, that falls in January and February. These sales may overlap winter holiday sales like New Year’s sales, or they may stand alone. It will depend on the store.

Summer Sales

The other seasonal shift in the furniture industry comes around August and September. By August or September, the new styles have arrived, and stores have to make room for them by getting rid of their older pieces. Like the winter sales, these may get grouped with summer holidays like Labor Day, or they may stand alone.

Holiday Sales

As we mentioned, some holidays fall in the January to February and August to September sale window. Other holidays fall outside those windows, and stores may offer sales around these occasions as well. Stay on the lookout for St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Juneteenth, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Eid, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanza sales. Most stores won’t celebrate all these holidays. But depending on the culture and demographics around the store, they’ll probably participate in some of them. And you can take advantage of those sales when they happen.

Go Thrifting

Some people don’t mind bringing some gently used pieces into their homes. If you’re one of those people, you can go thrifting to find furniture for your home. You should probably still buy your big pieces new to ensure they’re of high quality. However, smaller items like home décor, lamps, and rugs are easy things to thrift from different stores.

Local Charities

Every area has its own local charities. Some of these may take donated furniture. If you know of a thrift store that a local charity runs, stop by and see what they have to offer. If they have furniture, set aside some time to look at what they offer, consider their pricing, and ask about transportation options if the piece is too big for you to move on your own. Learn what day they put out new donations so that you can go check for pieces you need.

National Charities

Several national charities run stores in almost every area. These stores have certain quality standards you can trust and will probably have more options than local charities since they’re more well known. They may also offer delivery options, depending on what you buy. Stop at a national charity store to see what they have and consider their pricing as you work to furnish your home.

There are many ways to furnish your first house on a budget. No single method is necessarily the best. Combining different options, such as in-store financing, sales, and thrifting, will help you get the most bang for your buck. If you’ve already moved and are looking for specific items, including dining sets on finance, Grand Furniture will be happy to help. Come into our store to see what we have and talk to a sales associate about financing options so that you can get what you need while sticking to your budget.