After nearly a decade of working jobs doing geek stuff sitting in front of a computer all day, I started developing lower back pain. Even being active off hours wasn’t enough, so I caved and talked my boss into a GeekDesk v3.

However, now that I’ve moved on and am part of a small startup team working from my home office, that’s just not a purchase I was ready to justify again. Nine months into my new adventure with iDoneThis and my enthusiasm is high, yet my back is killing me…

Colin, the founder of Customer.io, has an awesome and famous post about his $22 standing desk. This is truly a creative gem, that I really wanted to set up for myself.

My problem was that my desk has a raised monitor area. I would either have to remove part of the desk or hack off half of the back legs of the table in Colin’s solution. :-(

Desk Sitting

I thought about finding or building a couple simple boxes as the dimensions I would need for the monitor section of my desk and the work surface were roughly the same.

After searching around for those dimensions I found this stackable shelf unit (11.63" H x 24.13" W x 11.63" D and holds up to 20 pounds) at Target. The total cost with tax and shipping was only $19.84 ( due to a 10% off coupon code + free in store pickup).

Once I brought the shelves home, it took me all of 20 minutes to clear my desk, assemble them, and set my gear back up. I’ve been standing for a week now and once again my back pain has subsided.

Desk Standing