MAN I love IKEA. 🇸🇪
Ever since the time I first visited an IKEA store in Australia, back in the 90’s, I’ve loved the stuff they sold. The products appeal to me on many levels – they’re functional, decently-priced, well-built, nicely colored, and usually designed for smaller spaces. A lot of the items are incredibly unique and they really seem to have a lock on what people need, along with visual appeal.
Went shopping with out-of-state friends at our local IKEA yesterday. They also love IKEA but there isn’t one near them so this was a rare and exciting treat. I knew that I would be buying certain items, but I also absolutely knew that I would be buying even more things that I didn’t even know I needed, probably things I didn’t need as well. That turned out to be very true. I would up spending $108, which under normal circumstances would be a regrettable amount of money. In this case I got a huge number of things, some of which I’m sure I WON’T ever use, but none of which I will regret. Guaranteed. I have never regretted anything I have bought at IKEA, and I still own and use some things I purchased there well over 20 years ago, when plenty of other stuff has rusted, rotted or just plain broken.
Here’s what I got for slightly over a hundred clams:
- VESKEN – two small storage units with four shelves each (already have two of them)
- VESKEN – one small storage unit on wheels (already have one)
- CHOKLAD (NOT/LJUS) three blocks of chocolate – two milk, one milk and hazelnut
- KALAS – six small pastel-colored bowls
- KALAS – 18-pack of cutlery, all pastel-colored
- KALAS – 4-pack of spoons, all pastel-colored (all KALAS links in this post go to the relevant item pages)
- YUPPIENALLE – two cute little phone stands – no idea where to place/use them but they were just 99c each!
- NOJIG – three small, three medium and three large storage containers
- TAGARP – floor standing lamp (with two bulbs)
- BARLAST – floor standing lamp
- LAMPAN – desk lamp
- KLOCKIS – a small LCD desk clock that is also a timer, alarm and thermometer
- SVAMPIG – six soft/scour dish sponges
- LILLNAGGEN – shower squeegee (the kid will use this on his car)
- TILLAMPAD – 2-pack of small stainless steel tongs with hard plastic clamping ends
- GLIS – 3-pack of small storage boxes with locking lids
- NYSKOLJD – dish drying mat
- FRAKTA – IKEA’s giant blue shopping bag
If you click the links you’ll see how much I paid for them. Those prices may change in the weeks/months/years since I’ve posted this blog so I’ll write a few out here so you can see how insanely cheap they were. The 3 small NOJIG organizer boxes were 29c each. 39c for the mediums, 99c for the larges. Shopping bag was 99c. Sponges were 3 for 99c. Clock/timer/thermostat/alarm was $5 – you activate the different modes by turning it and placing it on different sides. The BARLAST floor lamp was $9.49 (!), the TAGARP floor lamp was $14 and the LAMPAN table lamp was $7. Four pastel spoons – 49c for the pack. $1.99 for the 18-pack of cutlery! The 18-pack, which I saw later on in the shopping trip, was so cheap that I left the 49c one in the bag and bought them both. God help me.
I already have two of the VESKEN units. One of them is actually in my shower stall, and I place large push-top dispensers of shampoo and conditioner as well as bodywash on it for easy access. Plastic, has drainage holes and is completely water-safe. Another is in the mancave and I store a stack of ziplock bags containing firesticks and other electronic components on it. VERY useful. Needed more. Also have one on wheels on which I store bottles of water (or cans of drink, or protein shakes) as a staging area for my fridge. Â Wanted another. No planned use yet.
Most of this stuff was arranged out on the main warehouse floor in different sections and I couldn’t help just dropping stuff in my bag randomly. Last part of the experience was the marketplace which is basically like wonderland for me. It was all I could do not to buy twice as much stuff, but I managed to exercise a little restraint.
And of course I had to have a Swedish meatballs, peas, mash potatoes and lingonberry jam meal. Simple and tasty and very inexpensive.
The kid will be doing freshman at university later this year, and will be living on-campus in a shared dorm room. They’re small – we did a campus tour on Thursday – and he had a lot of fun imagining items that he could buy that would make his room more functional and fun. IKEA’s 1000% the place for that. We’ll be back for an additional shopping run once he’s checked into his dorm and we know what-all additional stuff he’ll need.
