Organize This: Your Purse!
Quite often, I embark on organizing projects, both big and small, because I simply enjoy the process of thinking it through, planning, shopping for supplies, sorting, containing, labeling, and putting it back together in a fun, functional and pretty way. And while I have certainly been guilty of taking on organizing projects just for the kick of it; most often, these projects are born out of a serious need to get some aspect of our home or life in order. Today’s Organize This project was one that I didn’t exactly have time for considering all the crazy things going on in our life right now…but my purse was so out of control and driving me crazy on a daily basis that I had to make time for it! Today, I’m giving you a glimpse inside my purse and sharing some ideas for getting yours’ organized too!
It will be no shock to see that I implemented my tried-and-true-and-used-everywhere strategy of corralling like items together in containers. Instead of using bins or baskets like I do around our home, in my purse I implemented a series of pouches to contain and corral the items I need and use the most.
Sure, everything looks nice and neat and orderly up there, but that’s not exactly where I started. Everything that is now nicely contained into the little kits you see above started off floating around the bottom and in the pouches of my trusty cobalt blue Vera bradley purse. The day I finally had enough I dumped it out and this is what I found…
Years ago when I bought this purse, I had really good intentions by buying these two laminated pouches to corral toiletries and coins. For the most part, they functioned perfectly…it was everything else that didn’t have a place!
Even though these two pouches were more or less doing their job, I knew a good purge was in order. I started by emptying everything out and evaluated what I used, what was expired, and what was still necessary…
I purged down to just the necessities (and got rid of a lot of trash), and now my on-the-go toiletries fit much better and are much easier to access!
We pay for a lot in cash, which means we are constantly using and getting back change. Instead of trying to fish coins out of the tiny pocket on my wallet, I use a small coin purse. I’ve done this since we lived in Okinawa (where much of their currency is in change form) and the habit stuck!
With coins and toiletries mostly under control, where was the issue? There were two main culprits cluttering up my purse and driving me crazy: receipts and snacks. Because of the blog, I need to keep a hold of most of my receipts. I am horrible at remembering to take them out of my bag and transferring them to my blog business binder, so it doesn’t take long for every pocket in my purse to look like this:
Corralling like items into dedicated “containers” is a solution that works for me time and time again, so I implemented it here too. I started by snagging two of these adorable pouches that I had been eyeing for weeks at Michaels…
And then cut out labels that say “THIHM” (for blog receipts) and “YUM” (for snacks) from gold vinyl using my Cricut Explore.
Into the THIHM pouch went a few pens and highlighters, as well as the few receipts I wasn’t quite ready to file because of returns.
I then packed the YUM pouch with a variety of non-perishable snacks for both Henry and I. Both he and I get pretty “hangry,” while out running errands, so keeping this pouch stocked should help prevent grabbing snacks in store checkout lines.
Thanks to the addition of these two pouches, everything that usually lands in my purse now has a dedicated place…
…and since everything fits juuuust right, there is no spare room to toss in extra things (except for a water bottle!) I’ve been using this system for a few weeks now, and it’s been a game changer for keeping track of the things I need to access the most and keeping purse clutter totally at bay! Yay!!!
Organize This
My Organize This series is all about (relatively) simple and quick organizing projects that make a big difference in your day-to-day life. These aren’t intended to be large organizational overhauls, but rather quick sessions you can accomplish in an afternoon or weekend! This Purse Organization project took just an hour but has made a huge difference in my daily routine! Catch up on other projects in this series by clicking on the pictures below:
So how do you keep your purse organized? Do you use pouches, pockets, or something else? Do you change out purses frequently? I’d love to hear the solutions that I have worked really well for you!
I hope you all have a wonderful July 4th weekend! I’ll be back here Tuesday with one final project for the Master Bedroom! See you then!
Megan
9 Comments on “Organize This: Your Purse!”
Smart advice! It seems like every time my purse gets out of control, it’s because I need another pouch to corral something. Keeping things in pouches also makes it super easy to change out my purse on a whim!
Love the purse organization. I usually try to have stuff in apropriate pouches and it really works. It’s a prettier view when the purse is open.
I use pouches in my purse too. It makes it very easy to switch between bags especially when I travel. I never thought to have one for receipts so I will be adding one for that as that is the one mess I have in my bag. Thanks for sharing.
The organization is fine and good, but I really want to know where to find the blue purse. So pretty!
Hi Gretchen!
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you!
The purse is a Vera Bradley purse that I actually bought at the PX (on base store), but I’ve seen them at other Vera retailers. I often tire of the the patterns on traditional Vera purses, and I fell hard for the solid blue. I’ve also seen solid black and raspberry too. I did buy it a while ago, so I’m not sure there are available anymore!
Hope that helps a bit!
Thanks,
Megan
Hi Megan
I see I’m not alone to have found your blue purse so lovely, as soon as I saw the first picture I made a loud wouah ! 🙂
Yes what a nice idea to organize eveything in pouches, to contain is always a great idea. I do love your pouches too because once you begin organizing it’s better to do the next step and find lovely things, especially when everyone could see them in shops for instance.
What about your mobile phone and your glasses if you have to change them of course, it’s my main problem as I have always too many of them, the ones I wear on my nose of course, the sun glasses as I do need them in the car, the ones to be able to read too and they are always very nearly to fall and break of course !
Have a nice 4th day, I will think of you overseas.
Michèle
Totally need to work on this. I have a huge wallet (Hobo) that takes up so much space. And then with 3 kids having some sort of snack in the purse is also very nice to avoid the whiny kids in the checkout line. And the water bottle. I either have a huge bag, or just take my huge wallet. I need to find some middle ground, or pack my car with a few of these zip pouches. Why is there always so much stuff? Thanks for sharing how you found a solution. Now to try it out and see if it works for me!
Great ideas I definitely will try. Thanks
Hi, Megan: Great topic–I also use pouches, bought a bunch of zippered pencil cases w./clear front (cheap during Back-to-School (BTS) Sale, also ordered a lot [10 (?)] (walmart.com) some same shape, but solid fabric, reminded me of an linen drop cloth.)
Did I detect some Yen in your coin purse?–I was on Okinawa in 1976/Bicentennial, reversed traffic to drive on right side of the road :), World Trade Fair (WTF)–Shorin Ryu (orig. Okinawan Karate) on Kadena AFB–I had the time of my life!