Coworker didn't say she spent $3k on new furniture, she said she spent $3k on rent/deposits/furniture. This doesn't seem crazy to me. I remember my first apartment, I had to pay first and last upfront and give deposits to all the utility companies to set up service. It added up quickly, even with buying furniture at thrift stores. There are ways to make moving cheap, but they aren't always available to everyone.
Thank you, I read that number and didn't think it was "extravagant" at all. I recently moved as well and I had to pay the security deposit and the first month's rent at the same time -- this alone cost me almost $3000. A Uhaul for one weekend also cost me over $600(!!). So without even buying a single piece of toilet paper I've spent over $3000. Moving is expensive, and to the poster above who was able to move for <$1000 consider yourself fortunate because it does not work out that way for everyone.
In my area, rent for a bare minimum 1 bedroom/studio is $700, and to move in first/last/1 mo security is the norm. So $2100, just to get the key to a place. What is more typical is a 1 bedroom at $850-1200, or $2550-$3600. Haven't even physically moved a single item into the new place, so there's still the trailer/truck, and movers if you spring for them.
Now, $3k on just furniture? Yea, little out there, especially if it was all at once for just a handful of items. $3k on your total home, over a period of careful purchasing and curating for your wants? I could see that being reasonable as well.
I never tried to say that spending $3k on a move is always outrageous/extravagant. I never actually said that. All I meant was that if you have only €3500 of savings, in THAT situation, spending almost all of that on moving isn't a very wise thing to do. I might've framed it poorly by first mentioning the amount of $$ spent on the move and only then starting about the savings.
Now I didn't mention the COL; so to provide some more background:
- Her rent is €500-550 for a small studio apartment (carpeted, so no paint needed). Normal is to pay 1m deposit + 1st month. So that's €1100.
- Renting a van can be done for <€100 (for me it was €70), let's add another €150 on gas (was 90 in my case).
So that's another €1750 left that's probably been spend on furniture.
The reason I compared it to my own numbers was because I'm in literally the same situation (same job, same salary, same age, same distance of move, SINK etc.) so to me it sounded high due to 1. I did it for less than half and 2. She almost used all of her savings for it which isn't something I'd risk if it wasn't absolutely necessary.