What makes a home?
True to my nature I get overly excited about something even though it’s not going to happen in the near future. Recently I’ve started seriously thinking about moving out. This coming December I’ve saved for 2 years which is the minimum, but I definitely don’t have the planned 12 000€ saved yet. On Monday I’m going to the bank to change my monthly deposit but I’m afraid I’m stuck here for quite a while. On Wednesday I told my boss that I want a raise, but we’ll see…
I already know that I won’t live in a studio; I want separate bedroom and living-room. The other night I couldn’t sleep, instead I started thinking what I need for my own place.
- bed
(Even though I have a bed I’m going to buy a proper one and leave my current bed here for visitors.) - bookshelf
- couch (sofa bed?)
- armchair
- TV (and sidekicks)
- subscription to some sort of TV guide (I’m a program circler)
- stereos
- desk (I hope I don’t need a separate desk because I already have a computer desk)
- computer
- Internet connection
- phone (i.e. cell phone)
- kitchen table + chairs
- fridge-freezer
(Ticked off on Sep 23. I don’t have to buy a fridge-freezer. It’s already there!) - coffee maker
(Ticked off on Sep 23. We have 3 coffee makers. Mum says I can take one of them
) - microwave oven
- wall clock
- washing machine
- vacuum cleaner
- iron + ironing board
- 1 mug, 1 plate, 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 knife, 1 cereal bowl
OK, maybe something to make food in, too
(Comment on Sep 23) Mum bought me a set of utensils for my nameday (in July). It has 6 forks, 6 knives, 6 big spoons, and 6 coffee spoons. Plus a cake cutter (?) and salad servers.
My mug collection is huge and I have 4 or 6 cereal bowls (which double as soup plates). And mum has apparently bought me 4 soup plates.
(Comment on Dec
Grandpa bought me 6 dinner plates and oven pan (for lasagne etc.) for early Xmas present. - a nice big plant (something looking like this)
- sheets, towels, carpets of course
Hmm… What else?
I’ve decided I want to find a nice couch first. After that it’s easy to find curtains and such things. Wow, I can’t imagine a toilet without an orange sink. Don’t believe I have one?
I don’t undestand what the previous occupants where thinking! A very good reason for wanting to get out of here, don’t you think? 
Curtains easy?!? I have lived without curtains for the past half a year just because I find them too intimidating to shop. I’ve decided I need to hire a decorator if I ever want to get curtains here…
For the living room I’d also plan for a comfy chair. It is much easier to hold a conversation sitting across each other than next to each other. (Comfortable isn’t always the same as b-i-g.)
A freezer is really a must: where do you keep the ice cream otherwise???
Seriously, it is so convenient to have some emergency rations in the freezer for when you forget to shop or you return from a trip or …
Lamps, plenty of lamps: for the ceiling, for the desks, by the bed. I didn’t have them in my original plan… I’d seriously consider ceiling lamps with fans (unless you have air conditioning). I got such things for the living room and bedroom, but since I moved in in the fall, I’ve yet to really use them…
Rugs, unless you have carpeting (or maybe even then). Towels of all sorts. Pillows, sheets, mattress.
I would consider not getting a landline phone at all. I only recently gave in, because it is really too expensive for people from abroad to call a cell phone in Finland.
And then there’s a killer: if you want to do your own layndry in your own home, you need a washer and a dryer. Actually, in my building they don’t even have a washer in the basement anymore. (Is using a laundry really an option in Finland?)
I’d also really want speakers for music: a good set on a computer is often sufficient and practical.
So what do you mean by a TV Guide?
I kinda guessed you’d run to pitch in. Thanks! I thought I had washing machine listed but apparently I didn’t… now I do. I don’t think I want a dryer, it just destroys the clothes quicker. I’m hoping to find a place with a windowed balcony where I could dry clothes if the bathroom isn’t effective enough. I’ve never seen laundries here, if you mean the laundromat type of places?
That’s a good point about the comfy chair. Need to get one of those… I guess visitors wouldn’t like sitting in a beanbag.
Oh yeah, apartments don’t usually come with lamps. Totally forgot that
I’ve got two desk lamps and a reading lamp by the bed (and a lava lamp — don’t laugh! Maybe when I move out, I’ll actually use it…) so I just need something for the ceiling.
My stereos have nice speakers so I just need to place them nicely. And I’ve got the sheet/towel/bed department covered.
I need a paper magazine where I can circle programs to watch.
Of course, I could print out Telkku.com every day, but that’s a bit inconvenient. (And I’d need a printer.) I think Helsingin Sanomat is a bit too pricy, so I’m hoping there is an inexpensive weekly magazine with TV schedules.
I think you should break down and perhaps get more than 1 fork, knife and spoon… perhaps a set – I think they come in sets of 6 or at least 4. And I don’t know if they have laundromats over there, but we find them really convenient – we leave our laundry for a month and then take it all to the laundromat and it’s done in about 2 hours. Otherwise, if I wasn’t so far, I’d sell you my apartment sized washer and dryer that we’re not allowed to use in our *apartment*.
There are places here that sell used stuff, sometimes you can find a deal on things that aren’t too bad, and things you might not otherwise have thought of, but can use (like little end tables for the lamps, or even lamps themselves).
Over time I’m sure you’ll end up with a whole pile of stuff that you don’t even realize you have until it’s moving time again and you say, holy crap, that’s a lot of stuff to move.
I don’t have enough clothes to have them washed only once a month!
Washing machine is the coffee maker of the bathroom — it’s so common — I need to get one of those. Quite odd that a washing machine is prohibited, why is that?
Yeah, there are places where you can get used stuff. My sister has pointed this out. There’s one somewhere around here, too.
Stuff accumulation is a fact of life. I do hope that over time I’ll have as big book collection as Grandpa.
lol.. the necessities!!
Exactly!