10 Value For Money Home Set Up Items For Temporary Stay In USA

value for money home set up usa

This article is good for people who are visiting USA for short term stay like 6 months or so and want to set up a kitchen and home with minimal amount of dollars. I have been through this experience myself and hence want to share what I did to keep my costs lower and still purchased the good and worthy items. This list is also based on what I got to know from desi (Can say Indian + Pakistani) people and how they save money by buying things from the right vendor.

1. 16 piece dinner set:
   If you have not brought any plates and bowls set from India, the best and most affordable option that we have found is Correlle 16 Piece Living Set. There are multiple design options available. The cost is about $27. It has got 4 plates, 4 bowls and 4 small plates along with 4 cups and i feel that this is the best value for money. We picked it from Walmart and i think the prices at other places might be higher. The plates and bowls are not at all heavy and our son did test their resistance to break at several occasion. If you have seen our recipes videos and the food pictures, you would certainly seen those plates .
2. 16 piece Glass set:
   Again, we picked up this 16 piece Anchor glass set from Walmart. The price is about $11 and it contains 8 large and 8 small glasses. We have also used it ourselves. Do find them in our food pictures if you can sight them. These glasses will help you in serving juice, cold drink, wine and yes water too.
3. Signature Sleep Mattress:
   I think this is the value for money item as well. The king size 6″ memory foam mattress would cost around $179 from Walmart. The most important aspect of this purchase is that you can order it online and Walmart will deliver it at your home free of cost. The mattress comes in a compressed form (vacuum packed) and fluffs only after you open the packaging. The price for twin Mattress starts from $129 and is good for 1 person. If you are two in the family, i would suggest to go for Queen size. The king is recommended for people with a kid.
4. Air beds:
   If the Mattress mentioned above is out of budget, then the another option is to go for air bed. Intex Vinyl Air Bed would cost about $13 for a twin size air bed. It is again a value for money if you are comfortable sleeping with air. Before jumping on the conclusion to buy this bed, please do remember that you would need to buy the air inflator as well. The one we bought and tried was Ozark Trail AC 120 V Electric Pump for $10 from Walmart.
5. Dining Table:
   Mainstays 4 chair with a table is one of the best buy as a dining table. This table and chair set is basically a card table but, nobody can stop you from using it as a place for your food. We bought it for about $56 and have seen the price going down to about $45 couple of times during the Walmart rollbacks. This is also a value for money buy and is pretty good in quality.
6. Vacuum Cleaner:
   This one is a must as most of the homes in US have carpets and you would need it. The Bissel’s cheapest vacuum cleaner is priced at about $15 in Walmart. The cleaner is pretty strong and is good enough for the cleaning purpose. Off-course you can buy anything what you want, but if you want to keep the costs low, this one is your best bet. The current price shows up as $20 but we picked it for $15 in 2012.
7. Water Filter:
   This is USA and you might think that water from the tap is already pure and safe to drink. You might be true if you compare with the kind of quality we get back in our country, it is still advisable to drink filtered water in USA. You would not find anything wrong with the water here in terms of sand or visible impurities but it might have other elements like Iron etc. and may not be good for your hairs. Yes, we have seen that water in USA contains higher amount of Iron and hence people lose their head hair much faster than they would lose in India. The best option would be to buy the BRITA water purifier jug. it is available for about $15 in Walmart (Yes, this is the cheapest option and has the capacity of about 8 cups).
8. Broom, Trash Can and Toilet cleaner brush:
   Buy it from Dollar Tree Store. Everything is just available for $1 and i bet you don’t want to spend more on these items. We got them there too.
9. Paper Napkins and Towels:
   Many people might argue on this topic but USA does consume a lot of paper. So, if you are in USA, you would also get habitual of it. We have personally tried the ‘Great Value’ brand from Walmart and they almost always have lesser price than the other well known brand. The quality is highly competitive with the known brands and at times have found it to be better. The ‘Great Value’ brand of Paper towels is what we have used extensively as compared to ‘Bounty’. The one we used to pick was available for $6.84 (without taxes) and it was a bundle of 8 Paper Towels Rolls. This is good enough for at-least 3 months but depends largely on your consumption.
10. Lamp:
    It is possible that the home that you lease out in US may not have the lights already installed. It has happened with us and this is one of the value for money buy for your home. The Mainstays Lamp comes for about $12 and has 2 bulbs. It is again available at our favorite Walmart.

This is one of the list that we have created and i hope it will help you as well. If you have other and better options to add, please do mention in the comments.