Moving with very little - setting up apartment in new city

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Originally Posted by SteveinMN

There's always the time-honored method of lashing a (twin) mattress -- carefully -- to the top of the car :)

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Pay for the delivery, please!!! I can only see this ending in various disasters.

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Originally Posted by Tradd

This is a hypothetical exercise for now, but it might turn into something else...

You move 500-1000 miles away, with only the stuff you can fit in your small car. That would mean clothes, bedding, a few books (although most are on eReader), basic kitchen stuff, a few towels. When you first get to area, you plan to stay in an extended stay hotel for a week or two until you found an apartment. Once you found an apartment, friends back in your old city would mail you a few boxes of items.

You will have a job in new city, found before the move.

The goal is to minimally furnish the new apartment as cheaply as possible. Bed/futon or upholstered furniture must be bought new, not at thrift stores, due to hygiene reasons (bed bugs and the like). Needed are something to sleep on, a small kitchen table with one chair, and something more comfortable to sit on. If apartment has a breakfast bar set up, then you would just need a stool (if one didn't come with apartment), not a table/chair. There is an IKEA in the city you're moving to. The items have to be something you can move yourself in small car - no delivery.

My first ideas: get full-sized air mattress at Walmart/Target (bedding you have is full-sized)

If you can't find a table at thrift stores, buy the smallest kitchen table at IKEA with one chair.

Something comfy to sit on: ponang chair ($70) and foot stool ($39) from IKEA. Get a side table and floor lamp.

Other items needed would be: shower curtain/rings, kitchen & bathroom trash cans, toilet brush, basic cleaning supplies.

Your ideas?

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I did that in 2012, though it was just across the intracoastal.

I bought a futon at Big Lots, and a combo floor and task lamp. I could sit on it to read and lay it down to sleep. I ate there too. That was good for a few weeks.

Eventually I bot bar stools and an actual bed. Now a year and a half later my condo is fully furnished

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Originally Posted by Tradd

The no delivery thing was more for independence.

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I can't figure how having something delivered is a sign of dependency. It's a service. Costs less than buying a truck and hiring people to help. Thus depending on the truck and the helpers instead of depending on an available delivery service.

reader99, I'm stubborn. :)

And no, I wouldn't tie a mattress to the roof of my car!

Just to share my experience... I tried an airbed when I was in temporary quarters a few years back. I bought the queen size airbed (had queen linens) at Wal*Mart for about $60. It was very comfortable, except that all that air inside the bed got Very Cold at night in the winter! The dogs wouldn't even sleep with me because it was too cold for them, too, even though the air temp in the room was comfortable. I ended up buying 2 fleece blankets to put Under me!

As soon as I could I went to Ikea and bought their least expensive (unpainted) bed frame, $99, and mattress, $80. That was 7 years ago. I've just finally painted the pine frame to match the dresser and night stands I got on craigslist. I was thinking about replacing the mattress but decided to try a foam topper, and I Love it! So, I have a comfortable and relatively low cost alternative to an expensive bed. And I was able to bring all of it home in my car! :)

Costco delivers a nice foam mattress for no extra shipping fee.