My Portable Office

Ok, so I have a confession to make.  While I have a wonderful and huge expedit desk in my bedroom, I tend to do most of my work on the couch in the living room.  This is where Melissa and I spend most of our time, so I naturally just hang out there while I'm blogging or doing other work.

This wasn't a problem, except that all of my office supplies started following me out to the living room.  It started with a couple pens, then I brought out my sharpie pens (love them), and then a stack of post-its or two would follow.  Eventually I had a full blown pile of office supplies that was constantly cluttering up the coffee table.  I knew I needed a solution for this, so here is what I came up with.

I made a portable office for myself.  This way, no matter where I want to work around the apartment, I can grab my little office tray, which holds everything I need and use on a regular basis.  And when I'm working in the living room, my 'office' is no longer spread out over the entire coffee table.

I started by gathering all my supplies.  This included all my various office supplies, a pencil cup to hold all my writing utensils and a tray to act as my portable office.

The tray I already had on hand.  It used to hold beauty products, but since I reorganized those a while back, this guy didn't have a job.  So I scooped him up, and prettied him up with some blue washi tape.

The supplies I decided to include were all things I used on a daily or regular basis.  Everything else could be stored in my desk.  These regular use items were things such as page flags, my favorite sets of pens, pencils, various sized post-it notes, washi tape, sticky dots and my laptop screen cleaner.

I played around with a few arrangements of my office supplies in the tray, and ended up with this:

I love how everything I need is all corralled into one neat little tray.  And the best part is, with the handles, I can take this baby anywhere I please.  Even if I decide to work out on my patio on a particularly nice day, no problem.

I use a lot of post-it notes, so I knew I had to keep a large variety at hand.  I've tried other note taking approaches (Evernote...I've really tried) but nothing has seemed to stick and work perfectly for me.  So for now I'm sticking with my trusty post-its (pun intended).

I also love how I can easily see and grab all of my washi tape.  I was considering storing them in a pretty glass bowl or vase for a while, but then I would have to take every single roll out if I wanted one from the bottom.  This way, I can easily see and access all my choices, and then just pull out the one I need!

This is a great way for me to keep everything I use close at hand and organized.  I am so smitten with how it turned out, and get a silly grin whenever I look at it all organized and colorful!  It really is the small things that make our life so much easier and more enjoyable.

Do any of you have a portable office?  Who else out there neglects their desk, and prefers to work elsewhere in the house?  If you do and you don't have a portable office, it will make your life a hundred times easier!