IKEA, What have you bought!

[oscarina]

Made a first visit to Ikea, big store well organised quite regimental, bought a few nik naks, what do you think of the store what have you bought !

[craft1948]

I've never been........my favourite shops are John Lewis and Heals......

[sherrardk]

I always try to go with a positive attitude but by the time we get to the checkout I want to kill my husband and I am positively evil until we have paid and have got everything into the car (or not - as happened last time), vowing never to go to Ikea ever again.

[annie0000]

Half the contents of my house are from Ikea - I love it. But, the reason we have quite so much stuff is that we relocated from a small 2 bed semi to a 4 bed detached when our boys had just turned 2 and just turned 1 and me working full time and OH working weekends - we just didn't have a lot of time to go wandering round shops so we drove down to IKea with a big list and basically furnished most of the house including curtains, curtain poles, blinds, flooring, beds, bedding etc etc etc. The only thing we didn't get was the appliances and sofas and our bed. We moved since then and most of it came with us though we did need to buy blinds again for this house. We did the whole lot in a couple of hours while the kids were in the creche, had our lunch and drove what we could back with us and had the rest delivered. I even have one of the step stools right in front of me propping up the monitor to a good level!

[welshlibranr]

I go there sometimes, and just buy little bits!........like it, but would never buy large items! Cannot be bothered with transporting them home!............Too much effort needed!..................

[annie0000]

I have to say though it is like being on a parallel universe wher time has no meaning!

Mark, it doesn't have to look cheap. They have a wide range of things from really cheap and cheerful to more expensive and it also depends what you mix it with. In my case that does tend to be more Ikea!! I can assure you my house does not look cheap.

[crisgal]

craft, if you like those, i would give it a go. You may be surprised.

Sherrard, that made me laugh so much.

The first thing to remember is that it is bigger than you think, you will buy more than you meant to and you will be in there much much longer than you intended.
Now, here's what you do:
~arrive at 10ish and go straight to the cafe for a slice of dime bar cake and a coffee (free if your a family member)

~go around the showroom taking note of everything you like, but don't pick anything up (you can get it later in the marketplace). The kids love it because it's the one place where they can lie on the beds, open all the cupboard doors and try everything!

~at 1.30-2.00 you will be heading back down and so you go back in the cafe (you have cleverly avoided the lunchtime rush) and get some swedish meatballs, fries and loganberries - but don't have a pudding (you'll see why later)

~ now you get your trolley or pallet and walk through the marketplace and collect all your lovlies. (don't forget to visit bargain corner, in the warehouse)

~ now you have to queue. If it's very busy then you take turns in waiting and one of you goes to get a delicious whippy ice cream from the ice cream robot (told you not to have that pudding!

~hubby loads up the car while you take the kids for a play on the playground (for being so good), and grab a bag of meatballs for home (don't forget the loganberries)

~enjoy a little nana nap on the way home (if you're not driving!) and dream of opening all the lovely things when you get home!

Sorted! I love Ikea!!!!

[looobylooo]

blimey cris! youve got it down to a fine art havent you?!! lol ...

[crisgal]

they are open till midnight too, so if you really want to take your time:

~ swap the dime cake for a full breakfast, have the cake at 4ish and the meatballs for supper!

welshlibranr - they deliver now you know!
And you could buy online - but to me, that's like watching songs of praise instead of going to church!

[looobylooo]

oh crisgal lol ... ever thought of attending ikea annonymous? ;o) .. lol....

[welshlibranr]

Oh, cris, didn't know that they deliver!................may look again then!.............thanks for that!........

[sherrardk]

There's a Ikea family card thing too - you get special offers and I think you can save up points (forgot the stupid thing last time we went so have never actually used it).

[crisgal]

it's not a loyalty card unfortunately, they don't give you points :(
It tracks your usage and what you buy. The more you spend, the more offers you get. They recently sent a 'spend £60 get £10 off, for example.
But you can have free tea or coffee during the week, and shop in the exclusive members only section!

[annie0000]

Cris - our plan was that we arrived, put boys in creche for 2 hours, do shopping and go to checkout, when through checkout - leave hubby to schlep stuff to car while I go out exit and straight back into entrance and pick up boys then head up for lunch - 3 x meatballs and 1 fish for junior#2. Boys a bit old to go in creche now, but also not so much a pain to drag round store.

[jno]

crisgal, the ones down our way are no longer open till midnight.