My Office Goes Down, My Love For TJ Maxx Goes Up!

BAM! Check out that upgrade ;) Total costs: $98. Not to shabby for my new office bathroom! For the fourth(?) time this year, I have once again moved my office to better cope w/ my work-from-home quirks. What started at my friend’s place renting a desk (was too hard to commute to every day) has moved to my kitchen table (my laptop died), to my upstairs guest bedroom (ended up being too hot), and now to the completely opposite level down into our basement (just perfect!) :) When my wife called me “fickle” the other day, she wasn’t kidding.

But that’s the beauty of trying to improve on things – if one thing doesn’t work, try another! It’s not just in offices where that applies. You can make tweaks to everything in life: goals, debt plans, savings tactics, friends, lovers, haters, everything. The second something isn’t working anymore – no matter what it is – ask yourself what you can do to change it? You don’t have to act right away, but keeping that open mind does wonders for your spirits and future accomplishments.

It can also start costing money. Which, in this case, is what happened because it’s VERY hard for me to pick a working spot and NOT want to spruce up my current surroundings! And when you happen to pick a spot of your house that hasn’t been LIVED IN for over 5+ years, there’s bound to be some work to be done ;) And decorations, lighting, storage, etc etc. So we started with the living area (which was really me throwing things out and re-organizing everything into our basement to be more comfortable), and then slowly migrated into the bathroom.  Which, again, was maybe used once in 5 years.  Remember how I was always complaining about having *too much* room in our house, and I felt like we were wasting it?  Well, not any more ;)

The cool thing about this latest move is that we’re now finally USING every single level of our house.  We still don’t NEED all of that room when it comes down to it, but at least now we’re taking advantage of it and making the best of what we’ve got.  And now that I’ve been successfully blogging down here for a good 3 weeks now, I’m starting to feel at work-home again :)

But back to the bathroom and me loving TJ Maxx so much.  And all other discount stores for that matter!  Which, without them, I’d be spending a pretty penny getting our place spruced up again.  Here’s how we got to that $98 total I mentioned there above:

  • Curtain: $29.99 — It’s actually one panel of a living room curtain too ;)  All the bathroom ones I came across were lame, so I went out to Kohl’s and picked up this bad boy. The only thing not from TJ Maxx.  And the only part of the bathroom that started out as an accident! Haha…
  • Curtain bar: $12.99 — Again, made for living room curtains but loved the style.  And I couldn’t find one that fit in that little nook of a standing shower anyways – I  hate those kinds!!  So we got a little creative :)
  • Hanging shower thingie: $14.99 @ TJ Maxx — Went with a dark one this time cuz all those chrome/nickel ones always rust… though I’ll probably never use this shower as we have 2 others upstairs! Haha…
  • Hand towel: $3.99 @ TJ Maxx — It matches its brother that you can’t see.
  • Hand towel’s brother (big towel): $8.99 @ TJ Maxx — mainly used for wiping hands since we won’t be taking showers in it ;)
  • Blue/gray rug: $7.99 @ TJ Maxx — Soooooooo comfy!
  • Brush silver trash can: $18.99 @ TJ Maxx — Also can’t see, but it’s pretty for a trash can (wow, did I just say that?)

Now the sad part to all this is that it took me HOURS to actually figure out.  You know how I suck at making the right decision all the time?  And always have to go back and return things?  Well, let’s just say TJ Maxx saw a LOT of my a$$ over a 3-day period… I think I returned more stuff than I ended up keeping! Haha… but what are you gonna do?  I’m the one that has to live with all this stuff :)

So that concludes office move #4. For now… I can’t promise I’ll stay down here forever, but so far it looks like it’s a good choice.  Maybe later I’ll blog about the new book shelves and lights and telephone and kick-ass DESK I bought for the new office too? None of those came from TJ Maxx, but you better believe I got the hook up for ’em ;)  I’ll save that one for when it’s totally complete… wanna make sure I got some snazzy pics again to show ya.  Upward and onward, friends!

————–
PS: If you, or anyone you know, works for TJ Maxx corporate, tell them they need a J$ to represent them. I could boogie with them all night long.

(Visited 13 times, 1 visits today)

Get blog posts automatically emailed to you!

15 Comments

  1. Sense October 28, 2011 at 7:59 AM

    I LOOOOOVE TJ Maxx!! And Marshall’s, and Ross and Rugged Wearhouse…Oh how I do.

    speaking of comfy bath mats, this is my current favorite (from Target): http://www.target.com/p/Target-Home-Memory-Foam-Bath-Mat-Basin-Blue/-/A-13667385

    Next time you need one, definitely give it a go. Stepping onto these is like having tiny angels massaging your feet with their feathery wings… :) hahaha, sorry. Have been drinking. :)

  2. Kim October 28, 2011 at 8:14 AM

    We are similarly just learning to use our downstairs space, too. In the summer, it’s the coolest place in the house, and in the winter, our wood stove is down there so it’s great for when I’m very cold. We painted/decorated it for fairly cheap (including painting the old firewood trunk BRIGHT glossy red as an accent piece), but it could use some newer, comfier seating when a deal comes along.

  3. Daisy October 28, 2011 at 9:07 AM

    I live in Canada, and we don’t have a TJ Maxx, but when I go to the states which is just a short jog away, it’s one of my favorite places to go. The prices are awesome! I love your new bathroom. Good idea with the curtain!

  4. Edward Antrobus October 28, 2011 at 9:20 AM

    If you ever decide to vacate the basement as your office, you could rent it out. That’s what we are currently doing. Or rather being done to us (somehow that doesn’t sound quite right). We rent out the basement of a townhouse. It gets us a much nicer place than we could afford otherwise. And the owner has a good chunk of the mortgage paid for them. Rents received get taxed at a lower rate if you live on premises.

  5. LB October 28, 2011 at 11:25 AM

    Not really into TJ Max, but I could live at IKEA. First place I go is to the as-is section and see what is half one. Got a whole room of flooring for about .33 a quare foot for my office/game room the last time I was there! Starting putting it in last night and I hope I can get it done before Saturday when all my friends are celebrating Haloween and having parties. Oh yeah, I bet no one can guess my Halloween costume. Give you a hint though, it is black and yellow and has a lot to do with home decor lol!

  6. Maria Nedeva October 28, 2011 at 11:28 AM

    Looking good! I have to say though, that this is an interesting choice to start on your new office. The first thing I showed people of mine is the enormous desk I have (yep, more space to organise but…). And the blues – cool, calming…It looks like you will continue writing cool posts!

  7. Jen @ Master the Art of Saving October 28, 2011 at 1:05 PM

    Your office bathroom looks a lot better after it’s little makeover. :-) I hate those kinds of showers, we have one in our apartment—evil!

  8. Barb Friedberg October 29, 2011 at 7:31 PM

    Wow, cool blogger and extreme decorator. You have it all! Love TJMaxx and what you’ve done with the place!!! Hope it keeps you going for awhile!

  9. Dannielle@Odd Cents October 29, 2011 at 8:37 PM

    Sweet! I love those stores because of the great bargains on almost everything. Whenever I travel, my mother gives me list of things to buy from Ross, TJ Maxx and Marshalls. lol. I always thought that the idea of using a curtain panel as a shower curtain was cool. Men everywhere should be inspired!

  10. Jon | Free Money Wisdom October 30, 2011 at 1:29 AM

    Looking sweet! I was just at TJ Maxx today haha. I found a paid of adidas sweats for $15, and retail was $50! I’m also a big fan of Ross and Marshals.

    Dude, you should go into interior design, just don’t start acting girly!

  11. Paula @ Afford Anything October 30, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Wow, I’m constantly making cheap upgrades to my space (hooray for TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Target!) but I never considered blogging about it! You’ve just given me a huge number of new post ideas!

  12. Jason October 30, 2011 at 8:19 PM

    I have an office space in my basement, but I almost never use it. Most of my work is done on a side table in my living room… which is where my laptop stays 95% of the time.

    Maybe in the future I’ll start to utilize it more, but for now my living room has been a fine working space!

  13. J. Money October 31, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    @Sense – Hahahhahah… drinking?? at 8 am?? haha you crack me up girl ;) I TOTALLY love Rugged Wearhouse too! Just wish there were more of them closer around… gonna think of angels now everytime I look at rugs, haha…
    @Kim – Ooooh glossy red sounds cool! It’s totally cold down here now too – only we have nothing to warm it up yet :( Maybe time for another fake fireplace? Aww yeah!!
    @Daisy – Thanks Daisy! I’ll try and convince them to come up your way ;) You guys love deals too!!
    @Edward Antrobus – Oh yeah, great idea for sure. And you know I would DEF look into that too, but no way in hell the wife is gonna allow that ;) “It’s too weird” – believe me, I asked… but it’s all good, I don’t mind running the show down there for a little while… we’ll see what happens when/if I get bored, haha…
    @LB – IKEA! IKEA!!! Haha… I wonder if you’re out and about right now as I’m typing this up? I’d totally give you all my candy if you stopped by, haha… I used to like Idea a lot too, but then everywhere I went the rooms were decked out w/ them – now it bothers me. If you’re good at blending it in w/ other stuff though, I’ll allow it :)
    @Maria Nedeva – Hah! Now that you think of it, I totally meant to blog about my desk first! From Craigslist!! It’s dope. Well, if you like green and browns and “old stuff” haha… but it’s what got me to get down here to begin with — I needed something exciting to get me to clean up! ;)
    @Jen @ Master the Art of Saving – Yeah! I refused to use mine at all until it looked nicer ;) And since it was up to me, it took ove 5 years! Haha… but now all is right in the world again.
    @Barb Friedberg – Thanks Barb! Me too :) Tell your daughter I say hi! (That sounded bad, didn’t it?)
    @Dannielle@Odd Cents – That’s what I’m saying! Even my wife at first doubted my curtain skills ;) Haha…
    @Jon | Free Money Wisdom – OOoooh I LOVE Adidas pants! Esp the one w/ the old school flower logo – those are hot. Well done! (And I promise to do my best to stay out of girl stuff, but I can’t promise it ;))
    @Paula @ Afford Anything – Yeah, you should!! As long as you get bargains and can relate it back to money, of course ;) Sometimes I have to stretch, and others I don’t care cuz it’s such a nice break from writing 100% about money sometimes, haha… you know what I’m talking about.
    @Jason – Oh man, I’ve always been jealous of those who can rock the living room like that :) I just can’t work well on a laptop unless it’s just pure typing… I always have like 10 billion screens open at any given time, haha… maybe I can blog during commercials though?

  14. Sense November 3, 2011 at 11:11 PM

    Dude NO! I wasn’t drinking at 8 am…not in quite a while. it was like 1 am here in NZ, kid!! (Yes, I always check my blogroll after a night out on the town. what, you don’t?!)

    long live discount stores! Love your ‘new’ bathroom.

  15. J. Money November 8, 2011 at 7:36 PM

    Haha… the best times I have on this blog are when I’m commenting drunk ;)