Living frugally can be rewarding. When first starting out, college students who have little money, need to be frugal. As an example, their first apartment away home can be furnished almost for nothing by using others’ castoffs. Whatever the circumstances, an apartment can be furnished inexpensively. This is especially important if money is scarce and if the apartment is to be only a temporary residence. As an example, a college student has found an apartment. It is a garage apartment with a stove, refrigerator, already in place. All else will have to be supplied. How can this be furnished while adding little cost? Where to begin?
Furnishing the kitchen
In the above example, the kitchen will be the first place to start. After looking over the apartment and make sure it’s clean the first step will be to buy food for the refrigerator. Of course ,you first must clean it with Clorox wipes or some other cleaning method to make sure it’s sanitary. It’s then stocked with food. However the kitchen is reckoned with, after an hour or two of intense involvement, you’re now assured you won’t go hungry. If you have no bed, you can sleep reasonably comfortably on the floor, but with careful planning you won’t need to do this for more than a day or two.
With a full stomach and a whole new outlook on the future start begging from friends and family. Fill it with finds from Goodwill Industries or some other resale place. Toasters aren’t expensive and neither are hot plates, if there is no stove, that is. These old items can be replaced later when money is more available or you find a better one in your mom’s garage.
But a word of caution here, don’t throw your items out as you replace them with better items; donate them to friends who may need them. Don’t just toss your discards into the dumpster and make the needy dive in after them. Remember the kindness of your family and friends when you had a new apartment and no money left over after buying food. Being a good neighbor never goes out of style. It is also something needed in college dorms or in scantily furnished apartments anywhere.
Don’t bother with a kitchen table until you have furnished the living room and bedroom. Your living room desk will serve as your kitchen table, at least until you have time to visit yard sales and other resale shops. The idea is get by with whatever is available. Save money for when a more permanent apartment is to be furnished.
The bedroom
Buy a new mattress and a new pillow. The mattress can be placed on the floor and will be well worth the money spent on it. A single one will be less costly than a double and will do well at first. Then, when money is available, buy a second one. Find a frame from some resale shop or purchase one cheaply. This will be used as a day bed, for company, and a bed at night. If the apartment is an efficiency one without furniture, and has only a living-room-bedroom combination, kitchen and a bathroom, then the two mattresses will serve as a couch. Surely your family can spare a few sheets; if not thrift shops are loaded with them.
A chest of drawers will be necessary, and these are easily found in resale shops. Until the right one is found, select one of the plastic carts with wheels and five or six bins for clothes. Later, this will be used for multiple purposes. It’s surprising the things that you don’t need when you don’t need them. Don’t buy anything new at this time, wait until you can afford to be more selective.
A chest of drawers will be necessary, and these are easily found in resale shops. Until the right one is found, select one of the plastic carts with wheels and five or six bins for clothes. Later, this will be used for multiple purposes. It’s surprising the things that you don’t need when you don’t need them. Don’t buy anything new at this time, wait until you can afford to be more selective.
Don’t fret over that empty living room. You can gradually fill it up with items you collect when home on visits or from friends’ castoffs. Hopefully there will be a closet, but if there is nothing but four walls, you will need a place to hang clothes. For a temporary make-do, buy a sturdy laundry room rack and use this for your clothes until something affordable can be found. Don’t be impatient. Look around.
The living room
Furnishing the living room will take time. You will find items that you need slowly. A couch is not absolutely necessary, not at first, neither are chairs or ottoman or coffee tables. What is important is a desk, a good lamp and a couple of chairs. As long as you have a place to come into out of the weather, food to eat, and a place where you feel safe, you can relax and have fun decorating, rearranging, and making your very first apartment your own. Be creative and innovative and make your furnishing your first apartment a joyful event. Remember you only get one chance to have that first apartment.
Don’t buy anything new until it becomes something you can hardly live without. In this way you will not clutter up your apartment with “things.” You will have space for you and time for your college studies. Living frugally has its own rewards. You learn responsibility and you save an amazing amount of time and money left over for study and buying school supplies.
Frugality isn’t only for the young starting out in life, it is for everyone. Even those with money to spend will find living simply and without fuss and clutter is freeing. Their time is in not used up in dealing in things; it’s used up in dealing with the issues in life that are important to them. However, this life style is often learned while young. As they will often tell you later in life, living simply is best. That way, there is time for interacting and being mindful and helpful to others.