Smart ways to store gear

[Crake]

Ok, so until recently I had a pretty sweet robe which had a portable hole on one side giving me a 3'x5'x1' extradimensional pocket where I could safely store things like my 4'x2' scrying mirror, my spellbook, some expensive material components/foci for those spells I might need to cast one day down the track... you know, standard wizardy stuff. But then it turned out the robe was an evil robe of necromancy that wanted to turn me into a lich, so I ended up ditching it (had it locked up in a temple of pelor) after going through some trouble to actually get it off me.

But now I'm stuck without an extradimensional space and I'm kinda worried about storing my stuff. We have a bag of holding in the party, but it's the paladin's (was given to him by a prince) and he's quite possessive about it. He lets us store stuff in there, and is quite generous with whatever loot we have (as in, take whatever you want/need kind of generous) but I don't like the idea of keeping my spellbook in there at the very least. So what can people recommend wrt storage (it doesn't necessarily need to be extradimensional, but I don't have a huge carrying capacity, str 10). I personally don't really need a large storage space, mostly just something for my spellbook really. I can replace the mirror with a scrying shard if I can find/make one. I considered using shrink item and making a tiny pocket or false tooth for my spellbook, but shrink item doesn't work on magic items, and my spellbook is a boccob's blessed book.

[ArcturusV]

Well, you already sound like you had the perfect item at hand, and wanted it. You could look up the Item Conversion rules from Exalted Deeds and try to turn the Robe into a Good item rather than an evil Lich thing.

[Juntao112]

The Secret Chest (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/secretChest.htm) spell might work in a pinch.

[Bakeru]

Knowing your budget would kind of help.
A Portable Hole (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#portableHole) lets you store tons of stuff, but costs more than any bag of holding.
A Handy Haversack (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#handyHaversack) hasn't even remotely the same capacity, but you always get what you want out of it as a move option (instead of having to use a ladder for the portable hole).

[Crake]

actually, I'm a little embarrassed to say that my budget right now is almost nil, but that's hopefully not gonna remain a concern for too long. As for secret chest, we're playing in greyhawk, so Leomund is an actual guy and his spells aren't exactly at a high level of availability, even from the free spells I get from leveling up.

I'm actually almost tempted to take a level in psion for the ACF that lets you store stuff in your own body. As for redeeming the item, I'm not entirely sure how redeemable it is. The thing is close, if not at, artifact status. It was made by one of vecna's apprentices, and functions similarly to a legacy item, giving you lich abilities as you level up, with the level 20 ability full-on transforming you into a lich. I'm not quite sure but I think it's irredeemable. That said, I could maybe ask my DM if I could reverse engineer the pocket on its own, but until then (portable hole requires planeshift which is still 3 levels away for me, or at the very least level 12 for the CL and get one of my cleric buddies to supply the planeshift spell) I'd like to be able to keep my stuff both safe and on me.

[Eslin]

That makes trying to redeem it all the more important - turn the evil undead near artifact good, Pelor will love you for it.

[magwaaf]

Arming Ring!!!

[Deophaun]

actually, I'm a little embarrassed to say that my budget right now is almost nil, but that's hopefully not gonna remain a concern for too long. As for secret chest, we're playing in greyhawk, so Leomund is an actual guy and his spells aren't exactly at a high level of availability, even from the free spells I get from leveling up.
That's a big problem, as secret chest is required for almost every extradimensional storage device save a portable hole.

Um... get a big chest and cast a permanencied shrink item on it, then. Fill it up, shrink it down, fold it in your pocket.

[Kazyan]

A Glove of the Master Strategist, from Ghostwalk, is a much cheaper version of the Glove of Storing at 3,600 gp. You probaby can't afford it now, but when you can, get it.

Someone here came up with "Tome inna tooth". Shrink Item on your spellbook or other small object, fold it up, and stick it in the hollow of an Alchemical Tooth. May or may not fit, depending on how nice your DM is. Alchemical Teeth cost only 300 gp a pop, but it means losing a tooth, which your character might not go for.