How To Set Up A Home Office on Budget

After you have decided that you are going to work at home, or that you are starting a home business, there are many budget details that may not have previously occurred to you. For example, if you are going to work at home for any amount of time, the fact of the matter is that you are going to need a work space or a home office of some sort. Fortunately, there are ways that you can create a comfortable and functional home office without going over your budget. 

Having said that, when you are first starting out, your home office budget will probably need to be at least in the range of $100. At a minimum, you will need a desk, some filing cabinets, a chair, and lighting. Obviously, if you already have some of these items, the budget for your home office will be less.

While a nice office desk might cost you more than $100 or more at an office furniture store, there is no reason that you can’t improvise at first. Maybe you have an old table that is sitting in your basement collecting dust. If all else fails, you can use a couple of mid-sized filing cabinets and a sturdy piece of plywood, sanded and painted so as to avoid splinters! There is no reason that a desk should have to be a major impact on your home office budget.

Speaking of filing cabinets, you might also consider looking at used products instead of new ones. Thrift shops, garage sales and going-out-of-business sales might provide you with some nice gently used cabinets for less than a third of the price of buying new ones. Technically, this can be true of any sort of office furniture, although filing cabinets seem to be more prolific than some other items.

Office chairs are a trickier item to do on a budget. While you might be able to find a used one, they tend to not hold up as well as other sorts of furniture. Still, many of the larger office supply stores will regularly run discounts and rebates on office chairs, so if you can hold off for a little while you may find you can greatly trim your home office budget here, as well.

Finally, if you are determined to buy new office furniture, make sure that you are buying durable and sturdy items. While that brand new ready-to-assemble desk might be only $10 more than the used one down the street, that used one might wind up lasting you three or four times as long.