thribble

Hi Everyone,

We've made it to Melbourne, after 3 awesome months of travelling. We've even managed to rent a unit, despite the real estate agents best efforts! Now we're stocking it.

We didn't ship our furniture over (to be honest, it wasn't worth it!) so we're looking for pretty much everything. Given we've been on holiday for 3 months, it's got to be as cheap as possible, so I'm prioritising massively.

We need

Fridge Freezer
Bed and bedding
Crockery, cutlery, pans, roasting tins (yes, that's a priority - sunday roasts call)
Iron, kettle, toaster

We've found the Ikea in Richmond, but we were wondering if there's any other options for cheapness and ease, particularly for the bed?

We were thinking of Radio Rental-ing the electrics for now.

Any tips?

Cheers,

--K

Pootle

Firstly... Welcome to Melbourne!! What do you mean roast dinners?? Its 30 degrees out there! Don't say what area you're in? We got some cheap beds from 40 winks shop.
http://www.fortywinks.com.au/

Also might be worth looking at:

http://www.fantasticfurniture.com.au/default.asp (these often do furniture packages fairly cheaply)

http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/v3/index.cfm (electrical)

http://www.retravision.com.au/ (electrical)


We're still renting some electricals from radio rentals after a year!

Best bet for kitchen stuff, bedding etc is Target, Big W, K-Mart.

Happy Shopping!

Ruth

thribble

Thanks. Off to pick up some stuff from Freecycle now, then will check these guys out. We're moving to South Yarra, so the Prahran ones look good.

Cheers for the quick reply!

--K

Bordy

Guests furniture hire is another one.

http://www.guestfurniturehire.com.au/


Theres a meet up at midday in Mordialloc this Saturday if your interested, more details on Britvics site.

Jessie James

Hi thribble,

Saw your message and thought I'd write because we live in Prahran and for secondhand electrical stuff and white goods there is a really good shop on Chapel Street. I don't know the name but it's opposite the town hall / greville st. corner.

When we moved here we'd done 4 months travelling and were also looking to kit out on the cheap. We bought a fridge freezer, TV, and video from them and they're still fine 2 years on!

We got our furniture from fantastic furniture which does have a lot of tat but the package deals are really good and you can 'upgrade' on certain things like fabric on sofas etc.

Anyway, good luck and pm me if you have any other 'local' questions!

Bordy

Cowboys in Chapel street, whatever next.

justgothere

Hi there

We are in a similar situation to you as in we've just arrived and need just about everything!

We've been pleasantly surprised by the quality and cheapness of stuff available in 'Op Shops'(charity shops) over here. We've bought a decent double wardrobe for $80, and have found lots of useful things like glasses and kitchen stuff for next to nothing. It's taken a few trips to find the wardrobe(as different things come in every day and apparently the best stuff is often snapped up by dealers early in the morning) but has definitely been worth the effort for us!

The biggest shops we've seen so far are the Brotherhood of St Lawrence on Lygon St, East Brunswick(tram no 8 goes there from Toorak Rd) and the Salvation Army store on Victoria Crescent in Abbotsford. I'm sure there are more around town and closer to you.

On the other end of the scale we've bought a bed from Freedom furniture which isn't cheap but seems to have some nice stuff.

We're still searching for a decently priced sofa. We've tried all the usual places like Ikea, Fantastic, Freedom, Domayne etc but thought they were either way too expensive or too tatty. We're going to have a look at Frog's sofas next(after seeing their website), if we can get to them. They're in Moorabin and Laverton.

Anyway good luck with your shopping!

Tina

Sass73

Welcome to Melbourne and enjoy the weather while it lasts.
We looked around for ages for some things and decided we couldn't afford a proper bed at some of the prices for mattresses so we went with the futons.
Good guys is one of the cheapest and you can barter over here, so if you buy a few items from the same store get them to knock some off the price. We brought a fridge freezer and washing machine and got the microwave free.
If you've been to Richmond, I would strongly recommend Dimmey's and Forge's on Swan Street for kitchen ware (baking trays, saucepans etc..)as they are definitely the cheapest.
It might also be worth looking in the trading post, which you should be able to get from local newsagents.
For TVs look at JB Hi-Fi. They are all over the city and suburbs.
Another thing to look into if the fact that alot of places offer a price match so if you find something you want in a store but it's more expensive than somewhere else, tell them and see what they can do.
I would never recommend Myer's to buy things but there are a few Myer's megamarts around and they are a bit cheaper.
Also, there are tons of homemaker sites around, usually by the shopping malls where all the shops are together so you can price match all in one place.
Fantastic furniture are doing a great deal at the moment for furnishing up house so definitely check them out.
Sorry, seems as if I am waffling abit.
Hope this is all helpful.
You didn't say where you were living so I can't get specific with the best places in your area.

Sass

Jessie James

Not sure if you're saying I'm a cowboy (which I'm not despite the name) or the cheap shop on Chapel street (who aren't either) - cheeky!

thribble

Thanks very much guys. We managed to get a bed, mattress and "manchester" in a package from 40 winks, to be delivered tomorrow in time for us to sleep on something before I start work on Monday!!

Radio Rentals have a great deal on a fridge freezer and washing machine at the moment (top loader, but there doesn't seem to be a cheap way to get a front loader over here). We're paying $5 each item per week because we took them together. You can also add a TV to that for a $6 or $7, but we decided to skip that.

I found the cheapy electrical shop (10% off for cash) in Prahran and picked up kettle and toaster, so thanks for that!

Ikea have come up trumps with ridiculously cheap kitchen ware - how on earth do they manage it?!

So we're sorted, for now, with the exception of something to sit on in teh living room. But as we don't have a TV to watch, it doesn't matter! The sofa will have to wait.

Thanks again, everyone. If my karma was worth anything, I'd spread it around!

Bordy

Do you want to borrow a tv until yours comes?