One of the best ways to be productive when you’re working on your business is having a dedicated space to work. And that can mean having a home office, or at least a corner somewhere in your house dedicated to work.
Sounds expensive, doesn’t it? But fear not frugalpreneur, you can decorate your home office frugally. Sure, you can go crazy on beautiful items and amazing organizers, but who has the money when you’re trying to bootstrap your business?
Having a nicely decorated office help you be more serious when it comes to your work, but it can help with bettering your mood. Having a dedicated space to work means you can turn your brain off (well, not literally) when you leave the office. And that’s a good thing.
Without further ado, here are some cheap ways you can decorate your home office.
Have a Rolling Desk
You don’t have to dedicate an entire room for your home office! It’s like a portable office you can take anywhere you want in the house. For less than $60, you can have a nice one that accommodates your laptop, a wireless mouse, and even a small filing cabinet or space to hold your stationary. The great part is that you can roll it all into a medium sized closet and rest and relax when the work day is done.
The Dollar Store is Your Best Friend
Grab some frames, your imagination and maybe a few family photos and you’ll be on your way to a beautifully decorated wall in no time. You can frame some wrapping paper so you can use that as a cheap (and arguably more beautiful) option to a whiteboard.
Don’t want to frame family photos? There are tons of websites (like the New York Photo Archives) that have free high quality photos in a wide variety of styles so you can pick and choose as you please.
Other ideas you can use is to use double sided tape and cork coasters and grouping them together on the wall instead of buying a regular corkboard (which can be really expensive).
Shoeboxes Are Your Best Friend
Actually, any sized cardbox for that matter is good to use as storage solutions instead of buying expensive bookshelves or organizers. Do yourself and grab any extra paint or decorative paper and make them pretty. The great thing about boxes too is you can stick them in drawers for organizers or as filling containers to put your paperwork (such as contracts and receipts) in.
Look for Business Buyouts
There are lots of companies out there that buy furniture from businesses that are closing and resell them for cheap. Or take the middle man out of it and find businesses yourself that are replacing their furniture, are going out of business or can’t be bothered to fix broken stuff. You’d be surprised how much furniture gets thrown away.
Dumpster Diving
Which leads us to this last one: if you’re adventurous, try dumpster diving! You don’t literally have to dive into a dumpster, but driving by one or in the back of offices can yield some surprising treasures. Make sure though, that these are indeed unwanted items or else you might be actually stealing instead.
