And I raise you two weeks (at least?) with no furniture.
We picked up the keys to our new place on the 1st of August, and are awfully excited to move in! The same day we also spoke to our shipping company and heard our container was (finally!) packed and leaving that day. It should arrive in 5-6 weeks (which really means 6-7-8?! weeks).
Thing is, we’re out of our furnished rental at the end of August, regardless of whether our things have shown up.
We knew this was a possibility, and figured we’d do ok since we’ll need to furnish the guest room, and we have the pack & play for Isaac to continue sleeping in for a few more weeks. We also need to replace our small appliances, since we abandoned all our 110v 60watt motors before we left (we’ve already got a stick blender/chopper/mixer thingie).
Except I didn’t really think about the non-sleeping, non-blendering(?) parts of living: namely bathing and eating!
With all our perfectly good things coming over, we don’t want to end up with a ton of duplicates in terms of linens, cookware, and gadgetry, but we can’t live on takeout for weeks on end either.
I’m hoping between the charity shops and Ikea we can rustle up just enough cheap and cheerful stand-ins to carry us through the days between when we move in and when our container arrives.
And I’m hoping you, gentle reader, will help with your own additions/omissions/suggestions to this hastily-thrown-together list of things we’ll find it hard to live without.
Linens:
Bedsheets for us and Isaac
Towels: one large bathsheet each, one hand-towel, one floormat
Tea Towels
Dishes:
Two mugs
Two tumblers
Cutlery for two (fork, knife, teaspoon, tablespoon)
Two Plates
Two Bowls
(We already have toddler cups/dish/utensils for Isaac)
Cookware:
One saucepan
One frying pan
One oven-safe casserole
One measuring cup
One wooden spoon
One spatula
One chef’s knife
One cutting board
Gadgets:
Can opener
Grater/microplane (we grate and zest a surprising number of things on a regular basis)
Vegetable peeler
What else would you add?
(Isaac says “Thanks!” and he’s super excited for you to come visit. AFTER we have a place for you to sit, of course)
Patio table & chairs to act as a dining set in the interim? Cheap Ikea wine glasses, scissors, paring knife, mixing/salad bowl.
Ooh, the mixing/salad bowl thing is a good one. I figured we could use the tumblers for any beverage, we rarely use paring knives, and we do have scissors (I thought far enough ahead to pack some basic tools: scissors, tape measure, screwdriver, but stopped there).
And our patio furniture is coming along as well – I figured we’d do floor picnics for mealtime.
I see measuring cups but no measuring spoons. And you have a can opener but no wine opener (unless that’s one of the things you also thought ahead to pack, which wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest).
How about a dish-drying rack?
And you clearly need an electric crepe maker. Doesn’t everybody?
Looks like youre already good, thrift shop is the way. Thinking of stuff when going minimal when camping, cause that’s basically what you’ll be doing…inside!
– Colander
– Big pot (which could in turn be used for boiling hot water, whatnots large and small. It can also be used to frying if you really wanna go minimal).
– wine bottle & can opener
– whisk
– maybe some Ikea throw pillows for your sore bums…lol.
That’s all folks, Queenie is fussing. Enjoy the new start!!
Team Picardo xoxoxo
ps. Isaac is looking most adorable btw. 😉
I like how everyone so far has suggested something to do with opening or consuming wine! Y’all know us so well 🙂
There’s already a dish-drying rack in the place, and I’m pretty good with guesstimating teaspoons/tablespoons for cooking (and we won’t be baking until our stuff arrives).
Wine/bottle opener, whisk, colander added to the list!
And I’m good with making crepes the old-fashioned way, but I may need a waffle-maker.
Some kind of lawn chair? Could use them inside for now, but also great to throw in the car for future picnics and holidays. Blanket for sitting on – not sure if your new place is carpeted, but we spend a lot of time sitting on our hardwood and a blanket makes it a lot nicer. Also good to take outside later.
I did that for a week when Brook moved to Kamloops with our stuff while I had to stay for my Masters defence. We also had possession for a few weeks prior to moving the stuff, so we spent a couple weekends in the “crack den” in Kamloops with a mattress on the floor. You will want some sort of chair. You can live without it for a few weeks, but if you see a cheap one or two you are unlikely to regret it.
David and I believe strongly suggest twist off caps in regards to wine. The water glasses are great for wine drinking as you don’t have a table to put wine glasses on. It does sound like the essentials are being met and you can think of it this way that you are camping but have no need for a tarp. That is a new thing for someone from the Pacific Northwest.
Please let us know when our room is ready!
Love ya,
Team America
Many comments for chairs – noted!
I’m sure we won’t be sad to have a few extra chairs around (especially if we get folding ones) for when all our lovely guests come to visit anyhow!
TK Maxx and Argos are also great for cheap ‘n’ cheerful homeware/linen etc. Do you also need a clothes airer/pegs for a washing line? The large Ikea blue plastic bags make excellent laundry baskets!
@Emma – yes! clothes airer/pegs will also be handy. I’ve already gotten a small load of things from Argos – I sense a return there in the near future for things like a kettle, microwave, toaster.
No advice this time either 🙂 but have to share memories from my ex-pat days (way back in the mid 90’s). I stayed in a cheap hotel for about ten days before finding an apartment to rent. One of my new neighbours-to-be was a fellow Finn who urged me to move from the hotel to the apartment as soon as possible and borrowed me all the essentials I needed before my own stuff arrived a couple of weeks later (including a mattress, kitchen ware, a small table and couple of chairs, table lamb, even a small tv!).