Working from a quaint cafe in Paris, a peaceful beach in Greece or the mountains of Peru is a dream being achieved by a growing number of professionals in today’s digital nomad world. Not only does this type of career allow for more travel and time to deal with family emergencies, it also has the potential to save you serious cash, depending on how much it costs to live in your preferred destinations. So how do you make the most of your mobile office set-up once you manage to carve one out for yourself?

If your mobile office needs only require you to be compact enough to operate out of the passenger seat of your car so you can be productive in between ballet lessons and soccer practice, you find a myriad of tips with only some minor searching on YouTube. Open bags and boxes to hold upright binders, hanging files and other items seem to be all the rage. However, living and working between locations that require a multi-day trip means your mobile office bag will need to be packed with at least as much precision as your carry-on suitcase.

Eliminating unnecessary items is a great first step towards finding the space for critical gear. My short list of things to leave behind includes a thick passport cover, a battery-operated fluff remover and my wireless mouse and pad, which have been replaced with the touch pad on my new computer. Believe me, every little bit helps, especially when you are forced to operate your entire business out of a compact messenger bag. For example, I’ve been able to save a couple of critical cubic inches by creatively using hair accessories as impromptu office supplies.

Instead of packing a large binder clip to keep the cord for my earbuds neatly looped, I am using a miniature plastic hair clip instead. I would have had to pack the hair clip anyway, and the instances in which I use the earbuds are usually ones where I want my hair out of my face as well. So it works out nicely for me. Additionally, I’m leaving behind my small selection of paper clips and pressing bobby pins into service as a functional substitute. This allows me to clip documents together when I need to, and still have hair pins on hand when I want them.

Finally, I am using the multi-pack of covered hair elastics I just picked up at the nearest bargain department store as a working alternative to rubber bands. They do a fine job of securing business cards, rolled papers and other office-related tasks. The extra storage pocket I was able to empty out in my office bag as a result of these substitutions is the perfect size for my mobile phone charger.