De-clutter Your Purse

A woman’s purse can either be a nice, organized bag where essentials are kept or a hoarding disaster, filled with stuff that never gets much usage. There’s a huge difference between everyday essentials and items that are only useful for certain occasions. Unless you’re meticulously neat, you’ve experienced having a lot of clutter in your purse. In fact, this realization may have occurred simply when you reached into your bag and came across something you haven’t set your eyes on in weeks, possibly months.

For those who are constantly plagued by the mess in their bags, here’s how you’ll finally erase all the clutter from your purse:

• Remove everything in your purse. You’d be surprised at how much stuff you’ve accumulated when you see the heaps of old receipts, wrappers and all other contents that now must be sorted. Not only will this help you clear up the clutter in your purse or multiple purses, but a good upside-down shake of your bag can eliminate tiny bits of paper, dust and lint that’s been hanging on for dear life.
• In your most recently used purse/purses, choose only the items that you need on a daily basis. This can include your wallet, your phone, your keys, your medicine, some makeup and your sunglasses. If you’ve still got a lot of stuff that would cause the clutter to return, use small accessory bags to hold things like pens, makeup, hair accessories, medicines, and so on.
• Ask yourself how often you use the stuff in your bag. If you haven’t used an item in the last week, get it out of your bag. But if you haven’t used an item in the past month, ask yourself why you carry it around in the first place. This includes keys to places you no longer go to, makeup that you hardly ever use or pens that might not even work anymore. Cards in large numbers can also add weight to your bag, so check which cards are useful and which ones are expired and need to be thrown away. You don’t always have to bring your gym membership card or have 50 business cards on you at all times. Be practical and sensible with the purse weight you carry around all day.

• You may have “optional items” that you don’t always carry, but that depends on the situation. For instance, you may not normally bring eye shadow or perfume with you, but you might if you’re headed out in the evening. For these items, put them in a small bag or a Ziploc bag near your purse so you can easily place them into your bag when the time comes.
• Coins are the number one culprit for making your bag heavy. Just imagine the fortune you’ve got in there when you take the time to count all your coins! You don’t always need to bring a large sum of coins with you wherever you go. Divide them up and only carry a certain amount in a coin purse.
• Get rid of the heavy items. You don’t need to tote a gallon of lotion or sanitizer with you at all times! Be practical and carry around their travel-sized versions and just refill them when needed. Your shoulders will thank you for it.

• Think bright! If you have a dark purse, opt for a bright colored wallet so it’s easy to find when needed. Many women get frustrated because they spend so much time digging around to find what they want, not realizing that too much of the same color makes it hard to locate items.
• Some people need to keep their receipts for accounting or tax purposes, which is completely normal. What is not normal yet happens on a frequent basis, are women finding mass amounts of papers from months ago in various sections and crevasses of their purse. It may help to have a separate little wallet or an envelope for all the receipts that need to be saved as soon as you receive them. Remember to store them in their proper place outside of your bag immediately so you don’t lose them!
• Bag organizers are all the rage nowadays, with compartments for all your things including keys, makeup, pens, and coins. The best part about them is that you can transfer your stuff from one bag to another by simply transferring the organiser.

Remember to de-clutter at least once a month! This allows organising and sorting to be more manageable as well as minimal. Purses are one thing, but de-cluttering your wardrobe is a whole other genre. Contact Wardrobe World for advice or help when it comes to approaching organisation!