Portable Storage Ideas for the Home Office

For entrepreneurs working out of a home office, functionality and portability is key. You're on the go and probably like the ability of being able to cart the main components of your office around to meetings or to another setting with the snap of a button or the roll of four wheels.

Storage can range in quality and cost based on where you are buying it from. Sometimes it makes sense to splurge, while oftentimes, it may not matter as much whether you buy some plastic storage bins from a Big Lots instead of the Container Store.

Here are a few suggestions of some innovative and some practical solutions for portable storage containers and devices to keep you organized and on the go. There's also a functionality rating with one being the least functional to five being the most functional.

Secret Storage Books: Ok, this probably has to be the least functional as a storage suggestion. However, there is some functionality to it, so it has to go on this list of suggestions. There's a company that actually takes old books and cuts the pages to create a hole to store stuff and keep it hidden. This is great if you are one of those neat freaks who likes his/her office to look a certain way (you share traits with someone who has OCD). The storage potential isn't that great. At most, you can hide valuable information such as media sticks and then grab and go as necessary, but this does make a great gift idea and it looks nice on an office desk or book shelf.

Prices range depending on the size of the book you buy and also whether or not the book is an antique book. Prices can be anywhere from $17.50 to $39 or more and come in regular, antique and premium book types.

For more information, visit www.secretstoragebooks.com.

Functionality Rating - 1

Filing Carts: Target on its Dollar Days sales usually puts these two-drawer storage carts on wheels on sale for somewhere in the range of $9. I've also seen it go as high as $99 for a mesh file cart made of steel. The plastic one serves the same purpose and I've had mine for nearly five years now and have continued to stuff the drawers with more weight than what they probably intend to hold. If you are low on cash (which most start-ups are), your best bet is to go to Target. The only problem with the Target carts is that they aren't equipped to hold hanging file folders, but you're an entrepreneur, be innovative and you'll figure something out. In most cases, the drawer are wide enough that you can stack your folders neatly and then just use something heavy to keep them from falling backwards until the drawer is completely full.

This is useful if you are moving or have some need to bring months worth of paperwork somewhere. However, the loading in and out of a car is not that easy. Though, the wheels are definitely helpful and do go over carpet with ease.

Functionality Rating - 3 (But why do you need to tote around this many files somewhere?)

Cart w/ Supply Tray: This is by Rubbermaid and is somewhat similar to the aforementioned storage cart on wheels. The exception is that this storage device has a supply tray on top. Plus, the drawer does support hanging files and the crates interlock. The top tray has its own little cubbies for paper clips, CDs and more. The crates can be separated if you only need to take certain items with you.

This is a pretty snazzy device and if you've got a little more money, this would be the storage supply piece to spend it on.

The cost ranges from $60 to $134 and can be found at www.office-supplies.us.com

Functionality Rating - 3.5

Ikea: Anything in Ikea's home office section is functional and (usually cheap). Plus, if you buy everything else for your office from there, it will be coordinated (not that that has to matter).

Try their Galant drawer unit on casters. It's pretty heavy duty if you're hard-handed on your stuff, but at $160, it's not the cheapest option out there. However, the drawers do lock, so that is a plus worth paying for.

You might also try the Helmer drawer unit on casters, a slightly cheaper version at $39.66.

Their kids' section also offers plastic crate-type boxes in bright colors with lids. The boxes are meant to stack on top of one another with interlocking features. They're great if you need to pull off one of the boxes and throw it in the car of your trunk to bring to something like a meeting.

Functionality Rating - 4

External Hard Drive: Anyone looking for portable home office storage supplies needs to invest in an external hard drive. Try My Passport for a 250 GB hard drive that usually goes on sale every other week at Office Depot or some other office supply store.

This is extremely portable being that it is small enough to fit in a briefcase or purse and, yet, the capacity and importance of what it holds cannot be matched with any other type of storage system for documents.

Functionality Rating - 5