How to furnish my room
How I did it: It took about 3 weeks for me to furnish my room due to delivery and processing times.
I shopped around for a while first; checked out Craigslist and kijiji for items, but not having a car made the possibility of picking things up less likely, so I decided to look for places that delivered.
I got my mattress from American Mattress, as my housemate went there and I mentioned that, and as I was a student, the guy took $40 off the price of the mattress and gave me free shipping (which would have been $50). So that was ok.
I ended up choosing IKEA furniture (no surprise), mainly because they deliver. They do take 7-10 days processing from the date of the order, followed by a week in my case before delivery could occur. The extra cost for the delivery was worth it (and the continued sleeping on the floor), because I didn't have to find a way to rent a small moving truck or van, drive the 1+ hour out to IKEA in Chicago (never drove here before), load it myself, move it into the house myself (not a good idea with a bad back), and then return said delivery truck, and pay for that.
I did save by creating a "table" for a desk out of the "choose your tabletop" and "legs" sections, and made one of the legs a bookshelf.
I've also seen some great things on sale at Target, such as a bookshelf and a few other things for around the house (bedspreads, sheets, towels, etc), which I needed.
I love sleeping in a bed that's not on the floor, and having a desk to do work at instead of having the computer sit on my lap or on a cardboard box.
Now, to decorate!
Lessons & tips: Shop around, if you have the time. Think about what's most important to you: time or money. Take your physical state and apartment location into account (do you live on the 4th floor with no elevator? maybe you'd want delivery in that case!).
Resources: I bought my furniture online though IKEA's website (www.ikea.com), but I also looked on craigslist.com, kijiji.com, and suggest looking at freecycle (a yahoo group) for your area. I also looked online at www.target.com and www.walmart.com.
