Bed bugs and a Christmas nightmare - what next?

[amastewa93]

This Christmas has been insane. It is my husband and I's first Christmas as a married couple. If you've kept up with some of the other threads, he hasn't been making a ton of money recently, and we had to cancel our plans to travel home. On top of that, we also found out we had bed bugs two weeks ago. I've been thinking I've had some kind of skin allergy the entire time we've been here. Nope - the furniture that was already here had bed bugs in it.

It has been an absolute nightmare. Normally, they heat-treat to kill the bugs. However, I live in a high rise building and they didn't want to risk setting off the sprinkler system. So, he had to spray chemicals in my apartment yesterday. Long story short, we are "free" of the bed bugs and have to do a ton of laundry, but now I honestly want rid of this mattress and couch. The only way we'd be able to get anything new right now is to open a store credit with someone like Rooms To Go. As much as I don't want to open another credit account, but I'm just not comfortable having this stuff in my house anymore.

So, the question is to open a credit account and pay it off ASAP or live with furniture that has been infested?

Any advice or thoughts are welcome here - TIA!

[creditcardfree]

I'm assuming you do NOT have emergency cash savings? But yes, to me, this would be essential to replace. If it's going on credit, I'd buy the cheapest possible, pay off, save up for nicer versions at some point. Do not open credit and suddenly you need more than you can afford or all the extras, as rooms to go does like to price their packaged rooms to show a big discount if you buy all the piece. Only buy the essentials, and might consider used on the couch if I thought it looked like it came from a clean home.

[disneysteve]

Sorry to hear that. ABSOLUTELY trash the furniture. I'd rather sit and sleep on the floor if I had to. And no, I wouldn't go into debt to replace the mattress and sofa. Buy the cheapest mattress you can pay cash for. If you can't do that, buy an air mattress. You can get a queen size for $60 or so. As for the sofa, again, go as cheap as you possibly can. Buy a couple of cheap chairs temporarily if that's all you can afford. You don't truly need a sofa. Do you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore near you? They usually have great furniture at great prices.

[amastewa93]

I'm assuming you do NOT have emergency cash savings? But yes, to me, this would be essential to replace. If it's going on credit, I'd buy the cheapest possible, pay off, save up for nicer versions at some point. Do not open credit and suddenly you need more than you can afford or all the extras, as rooms to go does like to price their packaged rooms to show a big discount if you buy all the piece. Only buy the essentials, and might consider used on the couch if I thought it looked like it came from a clean home.

Right - we recently used up our emergency savings with my husband transitioning with his work situation. During that transition, we had to get a new windshield for my car and had a medical emergency - both of those costed us about $800 total. The extra $200 we had in our $1K EF went to keeping up with bills while his pay was low.

We are in a studio apartment so we don't need much. We are going to look at our options this weekend.

[amastewa93]

Sorry to hear that. ABSOLUTELY trash the furniture. I'd rather sit and sleep on the floor if I had to. And no, I wouldn't go into debt to replace the mattress and sofa. Buy the cheapest mattress you can pay cash for. If you can't do that, buy an air mattress. You can get a queen size for $60 or so. As for the sofa, again, go as cheap as you possibly can. Buy a couple of cheap chairs temporarily if that's all you can afford. You don't truly need a sofa. Do you have a Habitat for Humanity Restore near you? They usually have great furniture at great prices.

A family member of mine got bed bugs from a Habitat for Humanity Restore so I'm a little iffy about that right now. I would lose my mind if I had to go through this again.

Anything we'd be looking to buy would be zero-interest and we'd be able to get it paid off by the end of February - but I'm more inclined to go the air mattress route (I can't lose much more sleep than I already have). However, we also have to pay to have what we currently have in here towed off - which will cost around $300.



There is a chance (I'm still waiting to hear back) that my renter's insurance may cover the purchase of new items for the place (or cover part of it). Does anyone have experience making a claim like that?

[disneysteve]

Only buy the essentials

This!

Not to be harsh, but neither a couch nor a mattress is actually essential. If need be, you could sleep on the floor. Or you could spend $30 or $40, maybe less, and get a piece of foam that could be like a mattress topper and just sleep on that temporarily. Go to Goodwill and get a couple of non-upholstered chairs (no bed bug worries) to sit on until you can save up for a couch.

[Thrif-t]

I don't know Steve about goodwill. I've read bedbugs can hide in the seams of even wood! I'd get new! I'm sorry you are dealing with this, it is my greatest fear!

[disneysteve]

I don't know Steve about goodwill. I've read bedbugs can hide in the seams of even wood! I'd get new!

I didn't know that. That's pretty concerning. I wonder what effect that has had on the used furniture business. Heck, even the antique business if wooden furniture can be infested.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Oh, when it rains it pours! Does your exterminator think the bed bug infestation was limited to your apartment only? Otherwise, it seems like the bugs could make their way back into your apartment from its surroundings. New furniture could be a new loss if that happens. Does the exterminator say that they are no longer on your furniture? I'd wait until at least one expected bedbug life cycle's worth of time has passed to give you confidence that every last one of them is dead.

One of my neighbors homes got bedbugs and the exterminator used chemicals, heat, and cold! Neighbor told me the exterminator went through the furniture with some sort of cryo-wand (not what she called it; just my name for it.) But I think they also paid for sort of a deluxe treatment and re-treatment that took a few visits over a month or more. They seem satisfied that the bugs are really gone and I did note that their youngest kid no longer had bite spots. Their treatment ended around mid-October and so far so good.

[scfr]

I agree with Joan.of.the.Arch … keep your current furniture until you are 110% sure the problem has been resolved.

Have your boxspring and/or mattress been encased?

[kork13]

Seriously though.... Really sorry to hear the mess it's been... I'd honestly be inclined to move completely, get all new furniture, and literally camp while you save the money to do that... Camp chairs, air mattress, etc... Just the bare minimum until you can get out.

[~bs]

bringing in used furniture can be penny wise hundred dollar bill foolish

[disneysteve]

bringing in used furniture can be penny wise hundred dollar bill foolish

I'm generally a huge fan of used furniture, especially when folks are just starting out. The bed bug issue is a problem, though. That would probably make me hesitate before buying used soft furniture like a sofa. I think I'd still be fine with hard furniture as even though there's apparently some chance of bugs there, it's probably pretty slim.

In my first apartment, everything was used - sofabed, dining table, desk, bookcase, dresser.

[amastewa93]

Oh, when it rains it pours! Does your exterminator think the bed bug infestation was limited to your apartment only? Otherwise, it seems like the bugs could make their way back into your apartment from its surroundings. New furniture could be a new loss if that happens. Does the exterminator say that they are no longer on your furniture? I'd wait until at least one expected bedbug life cycle's worth of time has passed to give you confidence that every last one of them is dead.

One of my neighbors homes got bedbugs and the exterminator used chemicals, heat, and cold! Neighbor told me the exterminator went through the furniture with some sort of cryo-wand (not what she called it; just my name for it.) But I think they also paid for sort of a deluxe treatment and re-treatment that took a few visits over a month or more. They seem satisfied that the bugs are really gone and I did note that their youngest kid no longer had bite spots. Their treatment ended around mid-October and so far so good.

Definitely! We won't be getting anything new right away for sure. Obviously, we are going to save for something new and we also can't dump the mattress and box spring downstairs without knowing they are all gone. It could be a public health hazard and could possibly cause a bed bug catastrophe if others got it from the bed and couch being moved through the building.

He mentioned possibly needing to come back for a second treatment but he's fairly confident that we are rid of them. He also did an inspection of the adjoining apartments and the folks above and below us, so hopefully it was just an isolated incident.

Evidently the renters before us were using the apartment as an Airbnb. He said we've likely been living with them since we moved in in April. Because all the future we own is used, it is hard to tell though.

I haven't gotten bitten at all since he was here last Thursday, thank goodness. But I did have to do about 12 loads of laundry (ugh). I'm hoping this is the end of it for us.

[amastewa93]

I'm generally a huge fan of used furniture, especially when folks are just starting out. The bed bug issue is a problem, though. That would probably make me hesitate before buying used soft furniture like a sofa. I think I'd still be fine with hard furniture as even though there's apparently some chance of bugs there, it's probably pretty slim.

In my first apartment, everything was used - sofabed, dining table, desk, bookcase, dresser.

Right - just about everything we have is used. However, I'm thinking with the bed and the couch (in this instance) we may have shot ourselves in the foot keeping the used furniture.