Here's Why Furniture Rental Is Worth Exploring
We’ve got used to sharing cars with strangers. We'll get used to renting furniture too.
Whether you are an expat, someone who wants to live on your own beyond your parents’ shadow, or explore life together as a couple, the practical aspect of moving to a new apartment is never exactly fun-fun.
Yes, the prospect of having absolute freedom is enticing, but with that comes a million decisions that you’ll have to make. The last thing you would want to worry about is the furniture, especially given the money, effort, space, and time required to make sure it fits your lifestyle for the long haul. That’s where furniture rental comes in.
Furniture what now?
Enter furniture rentals: another facet of the ever-evolving sharing economy. What exactly is furniture rental? It’s exactly as it sounds like — instead of buying furniture, you rent it. Rental companies offer furniture for lease from a few months, to a couple of years. These companies may either produce and own their own products, or buy and offer them for rent.
Then there are some that act as marketplaces instead, in which case other furniture providers use them as platforms to help meet the demand. And if you think it is all about tables, chairs and sofas alone, think again. Some companies also include furnishings, gadgets, and appliances for rent.
As foreign of a proposition as it sounds, let’s not forget that it wasn’t that we are now willingly paying complete strangers to be driven to our destination, sometimes with other strangers as fellow passengers too! As another offering in the increasingly widespread sharing economy, furniture rental is an example of a service that is borne out of a growing mobile population.
The case for renting furniture
The commitment to owning furniture usually indicates that one is ready to settle down, or at least staying put for the medium to long-haul. Afterall, you can’t just pack a chaise lounge into your suitcase, click your heels and move on to the next place when the mood strikes.
However as lifestyles are shaped by modern workplaces and hybrid jobs to allow more mobility, people are preferring to centre their lives around where new opportunities take them. This makes the ‘no restrictions, no strings attached’ attitude of furniture rental very accommodating of this lifestyle.
There is no long-term responsibility typical of traditional furniture ownership. This opens up the option of being more flexible with what you choose to personalise your space with, without having to be anchored to something until you have to get rid of it. And even when you do, there would be no need to find affordable movers or whom to bequeath that chair or coffee table to — especially helpful when you plan to move into a new space that may not necessarily be as generously accommodating.
It's good for the earth, truly
Sustainability is another major benefit to furniture rental.
A growing global population is bound to put further strain on the planet’s already stretched resources. Like fast fashion, fast furniture means cheap, mass-produced furniture of poor durability intended to serve a very fleeting purpose. The short life cycle of fast furniture is yet another taxation on our overburdened waste problem. Furniture rental helps alleviate this problem by reducing consumption of fast furniture and providing consumers with high-quality products at a fraction of retail prices.
Are you convinced that furniture rental is the way to go? Or do you think it's a fad that will fizzle out eventually? Either way, if you're curious to dip your toes in to find out more, a quick Google search will get you started. And if you are looking to rent but don’t want the hassle of figuring out furniture and other miscellaneous stuff, head on over here to learn more about the types of hassle-free accommodation Hmlet has to offer.
