Maybe it’s just me — although I suspect not — but I have a tendency to work in a variety of areas in the house.  Since I’m not set up to work in each of those areas, I tend to leave a trail of papers (and stacks of books) in my wake.  So I decided what I really needed was a “mobile office” — a movable place to put away some of the key things I use when I work.  (There are still some things that just “live” in the “real” office downstairs.  But they’re used infrequently enough that I’m better about putting them away, anyhow.)

The Cart

The base of this project is a rolling cart.  I had a picture of the cart by itself, but it has vanished into thin air, so you’ll have to make do with this “finished” picture. 😉  The cart came from Amazon, and I like it because it’s attractive and very sturdy, and was still reasonably-priced.  The shelf height is adjustable, the “basket”-type shelf can be placed in any of the three positions you prefer, and the other shelves have just a little bit of a lip to keep things from sliding off.

Stocking the Cart

I was really excited about stocking this cart, because the current specials at Thirty-One were a perfect fit!  I ended up making a couple tweaks to the cart’s contents in the end, but I got:

• 3 Oh-Snap Bins
• 2 Oh-Snap Pockets
• 2 Fold n’ Files
• 3 Your Way Rectangle boxes
• 1 Flip-Top Organizing Bin

for the cart — as well as some extra items for gifts, etc. — and paid about $270 out of pocket (including tax and shipping) for all of it, because of the specials.  (I could have paid quite a bit less and still stocked the cart if I’d had someone else to place an order toward my party minimum, but this was with me placing the full party order myself.)  Here’s what’s on the cart, and the plan for making it work…

The Top Shelf

The plan is not for this bag to stay here.  The plan for this shelf is to put my laptop here when I’m not using it.  That way it can move from room to room with me.  (But the laptop was in use and I needed the laptop bag out of the way, so it went up here for the time being.)  I have a 17″ wide-screen laptop and even after that, there’s still room for the Fold n’ File at the end.  It is holding the binders I use frequently (my Projects binder, my blog binder, and my school binder).  It readily holds the three with a little wiggle room left over.  There are a handful of highlighters, markers, sticky note pads, etc. in the exterior pockets.

The Middle Shelf

Those two small plaid bins/totes (and the laptop bag) are the only items I didn’t get in this order.  (I already had them.)  They’re Littles Carry-All Caddies.  You could as easily replace them on the cart with a couple more Oh-Snap Bins.  The Littles Carry-All Caddies are holding various art supplies — a bunch of different colored pens, washi tape, etc.  The Your Way bin on this shelf is intentionally lidless, and is serving as an “inbox” (or “dumping ground”) for papers.  In the back (of the picture) is a second Fold ‘n File, which will hold some functional files, but I haven’t set it up yet.  And there’s an Oh-Snap Bin hanging from the upper shelf which contains some miscellaneous office supplies — glue stick, scissors, etc.

The Bottom Shelf

Here’s where I did some of my tweaking.  I removed the top box here (and put it to use elsewhere) and lowered the shelf above these just a little.  That made for a little less storage, but it’s easier to get into the boxes on the middle shelf.  The little Oh-Snap Bins here don’t have anything in them yet; I haven’t decided what I’m doing with them.  The Flip-Top Organizing Bin has my quiet time and art journaling stuff in it.

It’s the same size as the Your Way bins, and one of those would have worked okay, but I chose this for a couple of reasons.  One, it has some outside pockets, which I thought could come in handy if I wanted to carry it around as a portable journaling station.  Two, the flip top makes a mostly solid tray that can be used as a work space, which I thought might be beneficial for the same reason.

The other bin on the bottom holds books and other items that are awaiting my review (as in blog reviews — or similar).

The Side

This little towel rod or handle or whatever it is, is optional; you can assemble the cart without it if you prefer.  I like it for a couple of reasons.  First, it’s useful as a handle for pulling the cart in and out of its space.  Second, it’s a place to hang these Oh-Snap Pockets!  They were empty when I took the picture (obviously), but they will hold the papers for projects I’m in the middle of.   I accumulate stacks of notes, and this way I can keep them together and accessible, but not in a pile on the table…or chair…or couch…

What do you think of the idea of a mobile office?  What would you include?

I’m an independent consultant for Thirty-One, so those are my links.  If you should choose to buy through them, it helps me out.  If you should use this post as inspiration and buy something different, no hard feelings. 🙂  Do whatever meets your needs!