A Mobile Office for People who Work from Home

Working from home presents certain challenges with regards to separating work and family life. To maximize productivity, it’s best to set aside an area for storing files, references, and projects, as well as actually doing the work you need to do. The best solution is to have an entire office or at least, a dedicated desk and a set of shelves.

As a blogger and an at-home mom, I not only work from home, but I’m also highly mobile within my home. Sometimes, the place where I work is my own choice, but there are times when it is dictated by my children’s mood for the day. For now, there is just no way I can seclude myself inside an office to work in peace and quiet. As a result, I’ve blogged from just about every room in my house.

While I’ve been working on setting up a space just for my files, I also found that I need a container of some sort that could move around with me. RealSimple’s Portable File Tote is just the right thing for the purpose.

This sturdy tote is a mobile filing cabinet. There’s a frame for hanging folders (as well as three folders ready to use). The top is open, which makes accessing files very easy. There are also a couple of pockets and pen loops on the inside, as well as an ID window on the outside.

I use my tote to store and carry the current month’s magazines that I subscribe to, my planner, notes about future and work-in-progress writing projects, extra sheets of paper, and a couple of pens. These files are now ready to go with me anywhere, even in the car!

If you work from home and find that you’re constantly going to your filing cabinet to retrieve items that you use often, consider setting up a portable system like this. It will save you time, keep you from misplacing papers and help you be organized wherever you choose to work for the day.

There are other similar totes out on the market. I found this particular one at Target. You can even adapt a simple tote bag to carry files.