Let us be honest: two hundred dollars does not furnish an apartment. Anyone telling you it does is selling something. What two hundred dollars can do is make a place livable, and that is a completely different, achievable goal.
Spend on sleep and light first
A way to sleep and one good lamp will change how the place feels more than anything else at this budget. Get those right before you think about anything decorative.
Buy for function, not for the photo
You are furnishing a place, not decorating one, and those are different jobs. A sectional is not on this list. A pan you will use every day is.
One corner, done well
An empty apartment gets loud in your head. You do not have to fix all of it. Fix one corner - a lamp, a rug, somewhere to sit - and let the rest wait. People tell us this is the change that mattered most.
What to skip
Matching sets, anything with "kit" in the name that includes a garlic press, and anything you are buying because a store told you that you needed it. If you cannot name why you want it, skip it.
If you would rather not decide every item yourself, the One Corner kit is the cheapest thing we make and the one people come back to thank us for.