Finance

Nifty and thrifty

On top of your deposit and legal expenses, first time buyers may face the additional problem of having to furnish a home from scratch. Kay Hill looks at ways you can cut costs on furniture and furnishings

If you are moving from furnished rented accommodation or from living with

parents, then you might find that you have relatively little in the way of furniture – so how do you furnish all that empty space when you’ve just spent every penny on getting the keys?

The first thing to remember is that you don’t have to get everything perfect right away – prioritise the essentials, like a fridge, a bed and a sofa, and make do and mend elsewhere. If you have moved into a new home, you will usually find that flooring and major appliances are included, which makes life easier.

NOTHING’S CHEAPER THAN FREE!

Firstly, make the most of what you already have. Think about updating tired childhood furniture with a coat of paint (the Frenchic range is easy to use and works wonders) or buying a new throw for your old student sofa bed.

Look for free giveaways. It’s surprising what people are willing to donate; a quick look on Facebook Marketplace, with the search word “free” and a distance of 5km, revealed 15 free sofas, a couple of double beds, a handful of wardrobes, bookshelves and coffee tables, a dining room table and two pianos! You might have to factor in the cost of van hire, but you could probably rent a self-drive for the weekend and furnish your home for free. Most towns have recycling/free stuff groups on Facebook you can join, plus check out Freegle and the “freebies” section on Gumtree.

PRE-LOVED BARGAINS

Charity shops that sell home goods not only have bargain prices, but also sometimes offer free or cheap delivery. Look out for Emmaus (which also sells bargain white goods), British Heart Foundation and the British Red Cross.

Secondhand shops are a mixed bag – the kind which is piled high with stacked up random furniture is likely to be cheap and cheerful, but the swish retro places are best avoided if you’re on a budget.

Auction houses used to be scary to the uninitiated, but a surprising bonus of Covid has been that auctions have moved online, so you don’t have to worry about scratching your nose and buying an antique four-poster by mistake. The Saleroom (thesaleroom.com) gives an overview of local auctions and explains the process, including the fact that the buyer pays fees as well as the seller. For example, if you bought a sofa for £100, you would pay a “buyer’s premium” on top, often around 20%, plus VAT on the premium, so you would actually

EXPERT COMMENT

Try to invest in at least one goodquality item of furniture in each room and you will instantly lift the overall look and feel of your space. Don’t be afraid to go secondhand to do this; you can nd some great pieces online or in charity shops which can be brought back to life with some new upholstery or a lick of paint. If a piece has great bones and ts your space, you can make it look beautiful again. If quality ooring isn’t in your budget just now, avoid the temptation to just pop something cheap down to see you through – area rugs can be a great option and can often be found at reasonable prices online, allowing you to save for ooring that’s right for you. Artwork can be expensive; if you have large walls to ll, mirrors are a good lower-priced option, as is scouting out young unknown artists at art fairs. Once you have a good foundation, it’s all in the styling. Accessories can be used to personalise and brighten your space, and don’t forget plants! Check out supermarkets for low-cost plants and accessories.

Georgina Fraser, MD, Fraser, MD, Jeffreys Interiors Jeffreys Interiors of Edinburgh of Edinburgh

BILLY NEW MATES

IKEA has long been a favourite with those setting up home, for its modestly priced, sturdy and stylish furniture – even if marriages have occasionally been shattered attempting to put together Billy bookcases... The Swedish company is also well known for its commitment to the environment, and its newly launched Buy Back initiative will help both bargain hunters and the planet.

The scheme enables people to sell back most IKEA furniture and receive a store credit for 30-50% of the original price, depending on the condition. The returned items (fully assembled you might be pleased to know) will then be sold in Bargain Corner, now renamed Circular Hub. In some stores, those who sell back their pieces will even be able to write their history on a special label, so buyers will know they are buying a much-loved item.

Greg Lucas, Country Sustainability Manager, IKEA UK and IE said, “Our research shows that there’s a huge demand to buy quality secondhand products. In fact, three in four would now consider buying pre-loved. For many, this comes down to affordability, but sustainability has a huge role to play in this decision too. Encouragingly, 32% people say that the reason they purchase secondhand is to extend the lifecycle of that item, with over a third (35%) agreeing that they like items with a history. We are trialling Pre-Loved Labels for that reason, so people can nd out about their furniture’s unique past before giving it a new home.”

pay £124. You also have to arrange your own delivery for your purchases.

Don’t forget the old favourites either – eBay, Gumtree, newspaper small ads, supermarket boards, Facebook Marketplace and Preloved.co.uk; plus Craigslist, not as well known as it is in the US, but growing in popularity in the UK.

NOSE FOR A BARGAIN

Compared with a generation ago, new furniture can be surprisingly cheap, especially if you assemble it yourself. As well as IKEA, you might want to check out Dunelm, The Range, Wilko, George Home, Argos, B&Q, Wayfair and DFS – but only when the sale is on, of course! If you have no carpets (or hideous, stained ones), a 2m x 3m rug at IKEA can cost less than £100.

ON THE NEVER-NEVER?

If only new will do, then it’s worth mentioning finance. DFS, for example, offers an interest-free credit deal which allows you to have your sofa straight away, with no deposit, nothing to pay for a year, then payments spread over three years. This can help you through the difficult first year, but the monthly payments could come as a shock, so make sure you put it in your diary. Any company offering you credit will do a credit check, which will leave a mark on your file, and you could, of course, be declined. Beware of pay-weekly furniture firms – while the payments seem fairly small, the APR can come in at more than 100%.

Credit cards and overdrafts will incur interest, but several new options allow you a short breather on payments free of charge. PayPal credit allows you four months interest-free on payments of more than £99 (but requires a credit check), while if you see Klarna as an option (Made. com and Wayfair both use it), it means you can pay a third up front and the next two instalments monthly, with zero interest (and a soft credit check that won’t show on your file). Similarly, Clearpay, offered by Marks & Spencer, lets you pay in four instalments at two-weekly intervals.

EXPERT COMMENT

Make a list well in advance of moving in. Start to plan and budget for the furnishing of your new home long before you get the keys. Write a list of everything you might need (including room measurements – there’s nothing worse than falling in love with a piece of furniture only to realise it doesn’t t in your new home!) and keep a running checklist of items that you’ve managed to secure from family and friends, or that you’ve managed to nd a bargain for. This will help you spread the cost of decorating and stay on top of the urgent things still needed. Make sure you have an idea of the maximum amount you can spend per item or room, and give yourself the option of allocating more budget to the “bigger” items. Live with the bare minimum to begin with, then add to your possessions as you adapt to your new home. You’ll nd out where an extra side table would be handy, where you need some more lighting, or where you need some added decoration for any bare areas.

Salman Haqqi Salman Haqqi, Personal Finance Personal Finance Expert, money.co.uk money.co.uk