First Apartment on a Budget

Contributed by: Marty Sinclair, The Hive Overland Park

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My oldest son recently graduated from college and got his first "real" job. This meant moving to a new city and into an unfurnished apartment. The thought was slightly overwhelming as he had lived in furnished dorms/apartments throughout his college years. His job was starting in a few weeks (two of which he was on a trip) and he owned a chair, a floor lamp, and two pieces of wall art. He selected a studio apartment, printed a piece of paper with the floor plan and dimensions, and then called his mom!

In my mind, we had two options:

Run around like crazy people hunting down possible deals through Facebook Marketplace and then driving a U-Haul to his new town.
Go online to Walmart, order the necessary furnishings, and then load up our cars with the delivered items knowing that some (okay, actually a lot) of assembly would be required.

Being on a budget, my son opted for the Walmart route where the expenses would be more predictable. He set to work selecting what he needed online while tracking all of his selections on a spreadsheet (like a true business major!). All of the items arrived just in time and we loaded up the family minivan with all of the Walmart purchases while his car contained his personal effects and some additional items he didn't know he needed (aka cleaning supplies). And off we went!

Full disclosure here - I was not sure how this was going to go. We had basically one weekend to move him in and get him settled before he started work. I decided this would be an "all hands on deck" move so as soon as his dad, sister and brother got out of work on Friday they made the trek to assist with this fairly ambitious/slightly crazy plan. Mind you, this now put all five of us working in a studio apartment space! Would we kill each other in this process? That was one potential outcome!

I am happy to report that everyone survived (although his sister pinched her hand during furniture assembly and made sure everyone knew about the extreme sacrifices she endured for her brother). We assembled all of the items and had the entire apartment pulled together by the end of the day with a little time to spare to run out for celebratory ice cream.

The first apartment on a budget was done and mom and son were both thrilled with the results! I would highly recommend looking at Walmart if you are needing to pull together an apartment. The selections, the delivery and the final products truly exceeded our expectations. Take a look!