My first year in Austin, I wasted money in ways that still make me cringe. I bought things I did not need. I paid for stuff I could have gotten free. I signed up for services I used maybe twice. None of it was a lot of money on its own. But when I added it all up, I had thrown away close to $600 in my first six months. This post is me telling you every single thing I did wrong so you do not have to do it too.
“You bought what?”
That was Jake, my first roommate in Austin, an American guy who had rented before and knew how things worked here. He was standing in our kitchen looking at the brand new mop I had just brought home from Target.
We did not have a mop. I thought we needed one. I spent $28 on it.
Jake pointed at the corner of the kitchen. There was already a mop there. It had come with the apartment. I had not even checked.
That was my first week. It did not get better for a while.
The Cleaning Stuff I Did Not Need
When I moved into our three-bedroom near UT Austin in August 2020, I went to the store before I even unpacked my bags. I bought a mop, a broom, a dustpan, a bucket, two kinds of floor cleaner, a bathroom spray, a glass spray, a scrubbing brush, and some wipes.
I spent about $85 that trip.
Then I found out the apartment already had a broom and dustpan in the closet. Jake already owned most of the other stuff too. And Marcus, our third roommate, had brought cleaning things from his old place.
We had three of everything.
The stuff I bought sat under the sink for most of the year. Some of it I never opened.
What I should have done: move in first. Look around. Ask your roommates what they have. Then go buy only what is actually missing.
The Kitchen Things That Felt Important
I also went a little crazy buying kitchen stuff.
I bought a full set of pots and pans. I bought a knife block with six knives. I bought a cutting board, a can opener, a cheese grater, a colander for draining pasta, and one of those spinning things for drying salad that I used exactly one time.
Total: around $140.
Here is the thing. I was 20 years old and living alone for the first time. I did not cook that much. I made rice, dal, maybe eggs. I needed one pot, one pan, and one knife. That is it.
The salad spinner is still in a box somewhere. The big knife block took up half our counter space. My coworker Sarah, who had been renting in Austin longer than me, laughed when I told her this later. She said she used the same one pan for three years and it was fine.
She was right.
Furniture I Bought Too Fast
This one hurt more because the numbers were bigger.
About two weeks after moving in, I decided our living room looked empty. So I went and bought a small bookshelf, a floor lamp, and a little side table. Spent about $130 at a secondhand store, so it was not the worst, but still.
Then two weeks after that, Marcus found a free couch on the UT Austin free stuff Facebook group. Someone was moving out and leaving it on the curb. We carried it in ourselves. It was in great shape.
The floor lamp I bought blocked the light from the window when the couch was in the room. The side table had nowhere good to go. The bookshelf was fine but I could have waited.
If I had waited one more month, I would have seen what the apartment really needed instead of guessing.
Subscriptions I Forgot About
Okay this one is embarrassing.
In my first three months, I signed up for:
| Service | Monthly cost | How many times I used it |
|---|---|---|
| Meal kit delivery | $60 | 2 times total |
| Music app (paid) | $10 | Had free version already |
| Cloud storage extra | $3 | Did not need it yet |
| Fitness app | $15 | Used for maybe 2 weeks |
That is $88 a month I was spending on things I barely touched. Over three months that is $264 before I noticed and canceled them all.
The meal kit thing was the worst. I thought it would help me cook more. But I was a grad student. I had no time. The boxes came, I felt guilty, I threw away the food that went bad, and I canceled after the second box.
If you sign up for a free trial of anything when you move in, put a reminder on your phone the day before it charges you. That one habit would have saved me $264.
Decor I Did Not Need Yet
I bought two picture frames, a little rug for the bathroom, some fairy lights for my room, and a fake plant.
None of these things are bad to own. But I bought them in week one, before I even knew what my room felt like to live in. Before I knew where the sunlight came in. Before I knew if I even liked that wall or not.
The frames are still empty. I never printed photos to put in them. The fairy lights looked nice for about a week and then I stopped noticing them.
My cousin Ranjith Roy, who moved to Austin in 2023 for his MS at UT and stayed with me at my East Sixth Street place, was much smarter about this. He moved in with almost nothing. He waited to see what he actually wanted. Three months later he bought one small thing he actually liked. His room looked calm and clean. Mine looked like I had tried too hard.
Paying Too Much for Internet
This one is less about buying things and more about not reading carefully.
When I set up internet for our apartment, I picked the plan the company showed first on the page. It was $80 a month. I thought that was just what internet cost.
Jake saw the bill and said wait. He showed me the plan below it. Same speed, same company. $55 a month. I had just not scrolled down.
For the whole year we were on the more expensive plan, that cost us an extra $300 for no reason.
Always check if there is a cheaper plan that does the same thing. With internet especially, the jump from the second cheapest to the cheapest is usually small. The jump in price is sometimes not small at all.
The Grocery Problem
I did not waste money on bad groceries exactly. I wasted money on groceries I did not eat.
When you move into your first place, you want a full fridge. It feels good. It feels like you are a proper adult. So I bought a lot of food in week one. More than I could eat before it went bad.
I threw away spinach, tomatoes, half a loaf of bread, and some yogurt that I opened once and forgot about.
Harini Roy, my cousin who came to Austin in late 2024 and works in healthcare, made the same mistake her first week. She told me she threw away almost $30 of food in her first ten days. She lives alone and had bought like she was feeding a family.
The fix is simple but hard to actually do. Buy for three or four days only. Go back more often at first. It feels like more work but you waste almost nothing.
What I Would Tell Myself on Move-In Day
Do not buy anything in the first two weeks except food, toilet paper, and soap.
That is it. Live in the space first. Open the closets. See what is already there. Ask your roommates what they own. Check the Facebook free groups for your area. Give yourself time to see what the apartment actually needs before you spend money guessing.
The $600 I wasted in my first six months was not one big mistake. It was twenty small ones. Each one felt small at the time. Together they added up to real money.
You can read more about the full cost of moving into a first Austin apartment here, and if you want to know what the monthly costs look like after you move in, this post on hidden monthly costs is worth reading before you sign anything.
FAQ
What do most first-time renters waste money on?
Cleaning stuff and kitchen things are the biggest ones. People buy everything before they move in, then find out they did not need half of it. Move in first, look around, then buy what is actually missing.
Is it okay to buy furniture before you move in?
I would wait. You do not know what the space actually looks like until you live in it for a week or two. The couch that looked perfect in the store might block the only window in the room. Buy the big things after you have spent some time in the apartment.
How do I stop forgetting about subscriptions?
The moment you sign up for a free trial, set a phone reminder for one day before the trial ends. That is the only thing that worked for me. If you do not do it right then, you will forget. The companies are counting on you forgetting.
What should I actually buy before moving into my first apartment?
Food for a few days, toilet paper, hand soap, dish soap, and a sponge. That covers you for the first week. Everything else can wait until you know what you actually need.
Did splitting costs with roommates help with the wasted money problem?
Yes and no. Splitting rent and utilities saved me real money. But I still went out and bought my own cleaning stuff even when Jake already had some. Having roommates helps if you actually talk to them before you go shopping. Which I did not do. You can see the full breakdown of what living with roommates saves you versus going solo in this post.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you before you moved in?
Wait two weeks before you buy anything that is not food or soap. I know it feels urgent. It is not. The apartment will still be there. The stuff will still be in the store. Give yourself time to figure out what you actually need. You will spend so much less and none of it will end up in a box under your bed.
Is buying secondhand stuff for a first apartment a good idea?
Most of the time yes. The UT Austin free stuff groups, Facebook Marketplace, and the Buy Nothing groups in your area are full of good things people are giving away when they move. I got a couch for free that way. The only things I would buy new are a mattress and anything you cook food in, just because those are harder to clean properly when you get them used.
