However, your budgeting days aren’t over if you want to furnish your house. Setting a furniture budget for a new home is like budgeting for other areas of your home, but we have some specific tips below to help you get started.
Write Down What You Need—And What You Want
Your new home is a blank canvas. It’s easy to get swept up in designing as you imagine exactly what will look perfect in every room. Unfortunately, you need to step out of that sweeping imaginary tide and sit down with a notebook instead, or you’ll never furnish your whole home.
Write down everything you need, both large and small, for each room. Consider what will make the room function at its best for you, from couches to lamps. These are the basic needs of the room.
Once you’ve written these essentials down, play in your imaginary ocean of ideas. What do you want this room to look like? What will make it look great?
Write down those items as well. While you may not have the budget to buy it all immediately, having it written down means you can reference it and buy those items later.
Calculate Your Spending Limit Based on Your Home Price
It’s hard to give specific budgets for each person and household without knowing their individual needs. However, a good rule of thumb for furnishing your home is to base it on your home price.
People typically spend between 10 and 50 percent of their home price on furniture. That means if you bought a $200,000 home, you could spend between $20,000 and $100,000 furnishing it.
Select your spending limit within this scale or outside of it, depending on your finances.
Where you fall inside or outside that scale will depend on your living expenses, whether you already have some of the furniture you need, where you shop, and what financing option you choose.
There are various payment options for buying new furniture that can help spread out these expenses to accommodate a stricter budget.
Break Your Budget Down by Room
If you’re worried that your spending limit won’t cover all your furniture needs, break the limit down and use it to budget by room. This will help you focus on getting the priority necessities in each room while you save for other items.
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For example, the average cost of living room necessities is around $3,000. This is for a decent sofa, end tables, area rug, lighting, curtains, and décor.
If you need to save money in this room, buy only the couch, tables, and lights. Rugs, curtains, and other types of décor will help the room function and look better, but they aren’t immediate necessities.
Setting a furniture budget for a new home is tricky, especially since the house you just purchased is a considerable expense. Following the above tips can help keep you on the right financial track to get the furniture you need without going into debt.
Image Credit: tips for setting a furniture budget by Adobe stock royalty-free image #65189736
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