When you and your friends decide to move in to an apartment, you will have two options. Either you will rent a furnished apartment or take up an unfurnished apartment and buy your own furniture and other essential house hold items. Renting an already furnished apartment has the advantage that you don’t have to bear the hassle of moving your stuffs to a new place when you shift or figuring out how to handle the situation where one or more roommates are moving out. But if you have a good understanding with the people you are moving in and are likely to stay in the same city for say at least a year; it usually comes out more economical to buy your own stuffs. However, this is from our own experience in Bangalore. We are not sure how it works out in other places.

So you and your roommates have decided to buy your own stuffs. Now the next step is how to go about it. It is quite a big move to invest in things for a property and depending on where you purchase the stuff from, can be rather expensive. Some people choose to withdraw money from their savings accounts to fund such a venture. You want to get stuff that is good quality but at the same time obviously you don’t want to break the bank. Before you invest in those items, have a candid discussion and reach an agreement on the following points:-

  1. Items to buy: Make a list of household items you are going to buy. Some essential items that you will definitely need are beds/cots (you may consider buying some extra cots for guests), chairs, Washing Machine, Refrigerator and a Television Set (You need something to relax after coming home after all)
  2. Budget: Reach an agreement on the total amount you are going to spend on such items. Research on the internet about the best deals you can get. You will be surprised to discover how the price of same item can vary across multiple dealers.
  3. What to do when someone leaves: The stuffs you are buying today will not have the same market value one year down the line. Agree among yourselves what should be a fair depreciation you can put on each item when someone leaves and the rest of you folks have to reimburse the person’s share. Some items will have higher depreciation than others. To figure out a fair rate, just go through the classifieds and find out how much the same items fetch in second hand market.
  4. Personal Items: If there is something that you want to buy for yourself, say like a study table get in our own personal tab.
  5. Next start shopping

Set up a home, not just a place to live in.

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