It can be quite expensive to set up a home or small office – however, it doesn’t need to be that way. It is possible to design your office on a budget. An office that is furnished with inexpensive office furniture is potentially just as attractive and functional as a workspace that is full of top-of-the-line items.
When it comes to designing an office on a budget there are two main rules:
Only purchase what you need.
Spend most of your budget for your office design where it is going to do you the best.
You need to scrupulously follow those two rules if you would like to achieve a workable, affordable office design. However, to help you achieve your goal, the following is a list of office equipment and furniture that you need for setting up a home or small office along with tips on how to get what you need to have without having to spend a lot of money.
The Things You Absolutely Need To Have And Where You Can Find Inexpensive Office Equipment and Furniture
Office Desk
When it comes to office design, wrap around corner desk units are very nice, however, they can be expensive. First look at surplus stores, auctions, online listings, or local newspapers to find office desks on sale or a discount. They often provide a bigger usable work surface in addition to the lower price.
For example, my desktop has dual 24-inch monitors and so I need plenty of desk space. For that, I have a 36 by 66-inch steel rectangular office desk. I bought it at a government surplus store for around $75. It isn’t pretty, however, it is very functional and there are two drawers on each of the sides, which provides a lot of storage.
Would you like a less expensive option? Go to a thrift or resale store like the registered charity Habitat for Humanity and get a used interior door. If you want, refinish it and prop it up over two filing cabinets so that you can work and sit comfortably.
Filing Cabinets
Although all of us would love having a paperless office, in reality, a majority of business still have printed documents to deal with. Having a usable office design required you have somewhere to store your files. However, even the small, two drawer filing cabinets cost hundreds of dollars brand new. To stretch out your office furniture budget purchase used filing cabinets at such places as auctions, surplus stores, and online or local newspaper classified ads.
Office Chair
Remember the second rule of office design? Your office chair is one of the areas that you want to spend your money on. If your office chair is a place where you spend lots of time, then you want to get the best one that you can afford, with best-being design as a chair that has great ergonomic features and back support that will enable you to sit in the chair comfortably for hours. That will cost you a few hundred dollars – or even more.
Ways To Save Money – It’s definitely possible to find a good used office chair. Business sometimes go out of business and will auction off their office furniture. Surplus stores usually have used chairs on sale. You can even find them through local online classified ads. Also, websites like eBay and Amazon sell used items in addition to new ones. Make sure to carefully check used office chairs for damage and wear.
Computer
This is definitely not the cheapest item on the list of things that you need, but it also isn’t necessary for it to be the most expensive. Keep the first rule of office design into consideration, and purchase the computer that you need inside of an expensive model that the salesperson is trying to get you to purchase. You can get a decent desktop PC or laptop that has all of the features and power that you need in order to run your business applications for less than $500 online or at a chain store selling electronic equipment.
You can get a decent Android tablet at a reasonable price. More expensive and better-equipped units like the Microsoft Surface or iPad run the Microsoft Office Suite.
Don’t skimp on your computer monitor if you are spending on all day in front of your computer – your eyes will be grateful. Get a quality unit that is 24 inches or larger. If you own a Microsoft Surface or laptop for mobile use it can be plugged into a bigger monitor whenever you are in your office. If you are saving your documents locally be sure to get a backup system set up – either a USB flash drive, external disk, or cloud storage.
Computer Software
As cloud applications have continued to grow, it isn’t necessary longer to spend hundreds on an office suite that will have to be upgraded every couple of years; you pay an annual subscription fee instead.
Zoho Office, Microsoft Office 365, and Google Apps for Work are examples. Online storage (with different pricing levels, depending on how much space is needed) is included with every suite.
Multifunction Printer
Using a multifunction printer (which combines fax machine, copier, scanner, and printer into one) is an excellent way of saving space and money in your home or small office design.