Temporary Apartment Living Tips

We are currently living in an apartment in Englewood, Colorado. We kept just enough furniture to get by for 4 months and the rest of our belongings were recently shipped to Australia so they'll arrive there before we do in January. 

So we have September, October, November, December and two weeks of January to live in this temporary apartment.

When we arrived in the USA in 2012 the company rented us a fully furnished apartment but those are extremely expensive and generally have very different stuff than what you really feel you need/are used to. So we decided to rent a basic apartment and bring our own sacrificial stuff which will be given away in January. 

If you choose to do it this way, there are 3 questions to ask yourself:

1. What can't I lived without daily?
2. What is of no use to me in the next house?
3. How long will I be in the temporary accommodations?

Then you begin to make lists, what travels to the new home and what goes to the temporary apartment?

What larger items did we bring with us to the temporary apartment? 

• Small appliances (Australia is 240 volt and our American ones are 110 so no point shipping them)
• Two foam mattresses to sleep on + bedding
• Two comfortable IKEA Poang armchairs
• Two folding tables (one to sit the TV on and one as a dining table)
• 4 stacking dining chairs
• 1 desk chair
• 2 desks (one each for hubby and I)
• 3 lamps
• 2 slipper chairs 
• 3 small end tables
• 1 small bookshelf
• 2 folding camp chairs for the balcony

The apartment already had a washer, dryer, refrigerator and microwave. But once you have those basics it's the small stuff that really makes a difference to whether or not a temporary apartment works or is a frustrating time. Like dishes, saucepans, wash baskets etc. So what we didn't have extra of or didn't want to sacrifice, I've bought:

• Dutch oven (my favorite Fall/Winter cooking style)
• Cutlery
• Utensils
• Wash baskets
• Desk chair
• Non stick skillet
• Stand mixer for baking
• Oven trays and Pyrex baking dishes
• Ottoman medium size (for the dogs 😁🐾🐕‍🦺)

Most of these items were bought in thrift stores! Dollar Tree is also another great place to buy cheap items. So setting up this temporary apartment was relatively cheap and easy. 

We fitted all the larger items sacrificed from our house in a small UHaul van in one trip:

Yesterday I thrifted a kneeling chair for my desk as I prefer them to regular desk chairs and mine went to Australia in the shipping container:

Bought for $25 (they are $150 new)

The Dutch oven I thrifted a few months ago for $5.99 at Goodwill:

The ottoman I thrifted was for Henry our Cockapoo to sit on next to my armchair when we are relaxing in the evenings. We got one at ARC for $10 and then steam cleaned it and laid his favorite apartment quilt over it:

The wash baskets were $3.99 each at Goodwill:

These items really make our day to day apartment life easier. So thrift stores are certainly handy for setting up a temporary apartment! 

We have two dogs with us, so of course we prioritized bringing familiar items for them to ease the transition:

• Favorite dog beds
• Familiar food dishes and treat cannisters
• Blankets and rugs to snuggle
• Dog toys
• Fake grass for the balcony
• Dog steps for our tiny dog to get up on the ottoman
• A dog kennel

The dog kennel fits under the TV table