When I started Uni, my girlfriend Vicki and I decided it was the perfect time for us to get a place together. I had to move anyway (my new school was almost 100 km away from my apartment in Sydney), and besides that, I had worried constantly over the past year how I would maintain a long-distance relationship while working and finishing school. Moving in together just seemed like the natural progression.

After only a few tries, we found an apartment we both loved on the ‘right’ side of town that was very reasonable in price. As soon as my previous lease expired, (the following month) we were ready to move in. Now, you would think—hey, two kids, both in school, have never owned a home before. Heck, my girlfriend was moving straight out of her former dorm. We shouldn’t have that much stuff, should we?

Oh, but we did. Things started popping up out of thin air. For example, a week before we moved, an old classmate of mine dropped by with an entertainment set that my Grandmother had given me. I had loaned it to him almost hoping he wouldn’t return it. I wasn’t very fond of it, and it was enormous in size and awkward. But, as luck would have it, Vicki was there when he brought it by and she thought it was just wonderful, so we had an ‘instant’ entertainment center. Horray.

So, when it finally came time to move, we had somehow amassed this huge (and somewhat junky) collection of furniture. Needless to say, I was not thrilled at the prospect of moving it all. Especially with the prospect of moving interstate—from one side of the state to the other. Vicki insisted that we hire a moving house service to come in and take care of packing and moving everything. Thank God. I must say, I was under enough pressure at the time with school and work and an internship that I definitely did not need any added stress.

Well, the removalists came and went; all in all it was a good experience. The removalists took care of everything. They loaded and unloaded all of our stuff. We weren’t at each other’s throats by the time the unloading was complete (which I’m sure we would have been if we had done it ourselves). We were moved into our new apartment and completely unpacked within a week’s time. Within several months of moving home, we got rid of most of the junky furniture and replaced it with some nicer pieces that we had picked out ‘together’. Come to think of it, getting rid of the old furniture was actually more of a hassle then moving in was.

Which brings us to my point. For any newbies, first time homebuyers, or college kids taking the plunge, a word for the wise: it might be a good idea to go ahead and take the plunge and buy some mediocre, semi-tasteful furniture if you are moving away from home and can afford it. While Aunt Pam’s and Grandma Norma’s stuff is free, it probably won’t last for long if you really don’t like it.