Post-Commissioning - Furniture and "stuff" for their first off base living.

Herman_Snerd

Herman_Snerd

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Any general recommendations on where new officers can find furniture, dishes, pots/pans, end tables, dishes/ cutlery, lamps etc for their upcoming move to their new stations when living off-base? I recommended FB groups, garage/estate sales, thrift stores. they are making decent money now including their BAH but I'd prefer him to not go high end retail on things like couches and stuff since some of these young adults will likely be moving multiple times in the coming 3-4 years then perhaps living on a carrier or somewhere in the world where he won't "stuff". All ideas welcome. Thanks:)
 
My new Ensign and his wife used the preferred decorators FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE 😂. Seriously. Repurposed good stuff. Saved from landfills. And saved them a LOT of money. And they will pass along when they move to their new duty station.

It was a thrill for them to find deals.

They also connected with an amazing local mid mom, who was transitioning and downsizing, and gifted them really good stuff. Connected through FB parent groups.

Social media has benefits.
 
He won’t be making his home on a ship, except on deployments and underway periods. While on long deployments, if he has a roommate, roommate looks after stuff. While roommate deploys, he does the same. Or, he might go very basic if living solo and put stuff in a storage unit while deployed, skip paying rent and dropping his personal property insurance coverage to reflect he is not renting with a need for liability coverage. Or, he rents a basic bedroom suite and living room set, and is easily done with it when it’s time to move. I was at a 6-month school one time between duty stations, found a nice apartment but didn’t want to deal with splitting my HHG between storage and shipment, so I rented the basics for bedroom and living room from Cort Furniture rental. Always ask for military discount! Or, rent a furnished apartment.

The places you mentioned are good places to buy decent items at affordable prices.

The NEX and AAFES exchange websites off DIY assembly furniture shipped in boxes - desk sets, beds, dressers, end tables, etc. So do Wayfair, Amazon, etc. For my first real guest room, I ordered a Sauder headboard, end tables and dresser and assembled it all over a weekend. Inexpensive. It was cheap, but new and clean. I went to Michael’s and bought a lamp kit with a glass jar base you could fill with sand, river stones, glass beads, shells, etc., and made 2 nice lamps. The NEX and AAFES offer both name brand and house brand towels, bedding, etc. In store and online. Free shipping. No tax. I just ordered online my replacement Zojirushi rice cooker after my 20 year old one died. Cheaper than Walmart or Target.

Take up a collection of kitchen stuff from family members and neighbors - great way to get someone’s extra glass measuring cup, excess set of mixing bowls, old but serviceable cookie sheets, battered but usable pasta pot, Tupperware, etc.
 
Capt MJ said:
He won’t be making his home on a ship, except on deployments and underway periods. While on long deployments, if he has a roommate, roommate looks after stuff. While roommate deploys, he does the same. Or, he might go very basic if living solo and put stuff in a storage unit while deployed, skip paying rent and dropping his personal property insurance coverage to reflect he is not renting with a need for liability coverage. Or, he rents a basic bedroom suite and living room set, and is easily done with it when it’s time to move. I was at a 6-month school one time between duty stations, found a nice apartment but didn’t want to deal with splitting my HHG between storage and shipment, so I rented the basics for bedroom and living room from Cort Furniture rental. Always ask for military discount! Or, rent a furnished apartment.

The places you mentioned are good places to buy decent items at affordable prices.

The NEX and AAFES exchange websites off DIY assembly furniture shipped in boxes - desk sets, beds, dressers, end tables, etc. So do Wayfair, Amazon, etc. For my first real guest room, I ordered a Sauder headboard, end tables and dresser and assembled it all over a weekend. Inexpensive. It was cheap, but new and clean. I went to Michael’s and bought a lamp kit with a glass jar base you could fill with sand, river stones, glass beads, shells, etc., and made 2 nice lamps. The NEX and AAFES offer both name brand and house brand towels, bedding, etc. In store and online. Free shipping. No tax. I just ordered online my replacement Zojirushi rice cooker after my 20 year old one died. Cheaper than Walmart or Target.

Take up a collection of kitchen stuff from family members and neighbors - great way to get someone’s extra glass measuring cup, excess set of mixing bowls, old but serviceable cookie sheets, battered but usable pasta pot, Tupperware, etc.
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Ah, choices. . .
As an Ensign assigned to a ship back when I commissioned, there was no "Single BAH" for Officers or Enlisted assigned to a ship so I lived aboard. It really kept my belongings to a minimum and my car trunk held a good deal of stuff as well. Soon after I got to my final destination - a ship under construction about 15 months after graduation, I got married and finally got BAH (then called BAQ) for a few months but kept the furniture pretty spartan at first and then the opportunity to buy a house dropped into view and Wife 1.0 and I jumped at it and bought House 1.0 at USNA Graduation + 18 months. It was a pretty good sized house but we had so little in the way of furnishings that our whole move was done in 1 load of a regular Pickup Truck. My pay at the time was pitifully low and interest rates were 12% so we were lucky to assume an exiting mortgage at ONLY 9%. We had very little money and really took a long time to accumulate furnishings as we did not ask our parents to kick in. We finally moved out 6 yrs later and still had some empty bedrooms at that time.
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As for where to buy stuff, I'll just add that some friends pointed us toward a furniture auction that was "out in the sticks" - an hour or so away from the city and we discovered that was where antique dealers bought a lot of their stuff. Over the years, even after moving to different states, we continued to use the auctions as a place to buy quality furniture for a fraction of what new stuff would cost. It did sometimes mean doing some refinishing but the stuff was much nicer than what we would have been able to buy and still much more affordable.
 
Be VERY careful buying any sort of upholstered furniture second-hand. You can end up adopting critters that you had no idea were going to become part of your household.

Getting them to move out afterwards can be problematic.
 
Don't know where you are, but every month I donate stuff to Cerebral Palsy organization. In the box ready to go are one set of wetsuit, cooking pots, a rice cooker, mismatched bowl covers, and two buoyancy shorts.

On the military base, there's usually a Thrift Store - concession stand. Prices are reasonable.
 
DTT!FSA! said:
Be VERY careful buying any sort of upholstered furniture second-hand. You can end up adopting critters that you had no idea were going to become part of your household.

Getting them to move out afterwards can be problematic.
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Yes should have included that. No upholstery stuff. They got their kitchen and dining room, TV’s etc.
 
My mother was appalled when she came to visit DW and I when we were first married and DW was I. Flight school. Our cups and plates were happy meals cups and plates. Yeah, that use to be a thing. Our furniture was patio furniture from Walmart, plus some boxes. Our dining room table was a card table. How could we entertain other officers???? We did have a nice TV and bed. Priorities.
She gave us fine family china, Venetian glass stemware, and fancy silverware. The stuff has been in boxes for our 15 moves. We open it up and inspect after each move, then box it back up.
So yeah… cheap is good.
 
Two schools of thought: Really cheap furniture so you won't be sad when it comes in looking like it was left outside for a month (because it was). High quality, expensive stuff that will actually last more than one move.

Keep all the receipts for high value items. Something will get broken into little bits during a move (or all the hardware will be gone), and solid documentation will help the claim move faster.

Big fan of Corelle dishware. Shatter/chip resistant. I haven't had to replace dishes yet.
 
Having gone through all this alongside my friends a year ago I will echo buying either secondhand or cheap at a big box retailer. Facebook marketplace and Craigslist can have good finds. Otherwise I got a lot of my stuff from Walmart, Ikea, and Amazon.

You’re on the right track, there really is no reason to shell out more money for shiny new cocobolo and mahogany. We move a lot, don’t have money (or maybe we have some, but we’re trying to build up a nice rainy day fund), and soon there won’t be much time to enjoy the furniture anyway.

And hey, even if he only buys a bedframe, he’s already one step ahead of most Zoomer guys.
 
Excellent advice by the above posters. Don't forget Goodwill, flea markets, driving through neighborhood the night prior to trash pickup. Apartment complexes on the last day of the month can be a great source. etc. Consider out-of-the box approaches like folding sports chairs as furniture until you find a good deal.
 
I’m another fan of FB marketplace. Both my son and my daughter pretty much furnished their homes this way. And while you want to be smart about upholstered items, I wouldn’t necessarily avoid them altogether. Over the past three years, my son got two couches and my daughter one couch this way. They were all from folks who had bought new furniture. One was a smoking deal, practically new - the people decided it just wasn’t enough seating for their family and upgraded to a sectional after less than two years. But we also got an entryway cabinet, book case, night stands, freestanding kitchen island, an incredible oak queen bedroom set (headboard, footboard, two dressers, two nightstands, mirror all for $150), coffee and end tables, and a beautiful dresser and mirror combo for very little money. We even scored a bed frame, lamps, and a small desk and chair for free from three different sources. Two were moving and realized last minute they didn’t have room in the truck and one had just moved in and again realized they didn’t have room for some items in their new space. It helps that we have a pickup truck to go fetch the large items. To get the good stuff, you will need to set up FB alerts for the items you want and must be prepared to go collect the items quickly. People with the good deals usually want whatever they’re selling out of the house right away.
 
Try Caring Transitions and their online auction site CTBIDS. They specialize in the downsizing of seniors as they move elsewhere and literally sell/auction/dispose/donate anything left. Search by zip code and check back periodically. You can get some really good stuff depending on what/when you look.
 
Thrift shops are great for dishes/glassware and small furniture.

I do advocate for some quality stuff--a good mattress matters. A decent quality couch and kitchen table will last a while.
 
I am a fan of the one-room-at-a-time method. Quality furniture lasts, but it’s not advisable to spend a huge chunk all at once. We started out with second hand stuff. We bought roughly one room of quality furniture each time we moved and it worked for us, and also for our oldest son. Second hand stuff works until eventually you get a houseful of quality stuff.

Stealth_81
 
Capt MJ said:
The NEX and AAFES exchange websites off DIY assembly furniture shipped in boxes
Click to expand...
Speaking of NEX... Do you find their prices and tax benefits to be the best all the time, or is it still worth it to shop around for bigger ticket items?
 
Definitely shop around. NEX purchases are tax-free, but even with that there's still places (i.e. Amazon, eBay) that are cheaper. They price match, but I've never tried that with furniture so I don't know how that goes. Pretty nifty for electronics though.

Larger bases will have a furniture store that offer basically the same stuff as the online site, except you get to take it home with you (imo a bit of peace of mind to be able to bring it home same day and drive it back if you need to return it). They charge a small fee to deliver and/or assemble as well.

Unrelated, but parallel: Most bases have some kind of furniture locker with basics like beds, couches, tables, chairs, and plates for folks working through PCS. Also, take advantage of unaccompanied baggage allotment. There's very little reason for someone to be living cold in a sleeping bag for a few weeks while they wait for HHGs to arrive.
 
brewmeist said:
Speaking of NEX... Do you find their prices and tax benefits to be the best all the time, or is it still worth it to shop around for bigger ticket items?
Click to expand...
I shop around, but when the NEX has their scratch-off cards, for the additional “mystery” percentages off, I am all over it. I routinely buy the Brooks Brothers, Vineyard Vines, Ralph Lauren clothing items, the big name workout gear and shoes, all usually 20% off regular retail. Tech - hit or miss. Dog chow - $7-$11 cheaper for a 30-lb bag. No tax. MD is 6% outside the gate, so the tax-free helps too.

Oh - and DH gets his “barn/horse attire” at great prices - Carhartt, etc.
 
... been shopping for a couch in HomeWorld, PX, and NEX.

- HomeWorld. Price average around $2K. Overated.

- PX. Not much selection and the setting resembled like a warehouse. Price is a tad lower than HW.

NEX. Nice setting. Sale ongoing. $500+
 
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