How to Keep Your Purse Organized Consistently

Purses are incredibly useful for helping you keep all your essential items in one place and stay adequately equipped while you’re working, shopping, or going out for entertainment.

Unfortunately, because purses are so useful and so accessible, they often become disorganized quickly. Even after a thorough cleaning or getting a brand new purse, it may only be a matter of days before your helpful accessory it’s full of crumpled receipts, loose change, and other unnecessary bits.

So what steps can you take to keep your bag organized consistently?

1. Choose the Right Combination of Products

You have to start with the right products. If you don’t have the tools you need to keep a purse reasonably organized, it’s never going to happen on its own.

• The right purse. You obviously need the right one. If you’re the type of person who likes to carry a little bit of everything, including tools for every conceivable emergency, you’re going to need a bag that’s big enough to carry all those things at once. If you choose a purse that’s too small, or one that doesn’t have enough compartments and sections to support your needs, you’ll set yourself up for failure. Shop carefully for the right bag to add to your collection.
• The right wallet. According to PortlandLeatherGoods, it’s also helpful to invest in the right wallet. A compact wallet can help you keep track of all your bills, coins, credit cards, rewards cards, and other financially relevant items. It’s the perfect companion piece to your purse and can keep these items from otherwise cluttering it up.
• Organizers and accessories. Make sure you’re investing in some other organizers and accessories as well. A handful of additional bags and storage options can make it easier to group your loose items together and make the most of your limited purse space.

2. Make Use of Containers

Take advantage of the containers and bags in your purse. For example, you can keep all your money and cards in a wallet while keeping all your makeup items in a small, zippered bag. You can also keep a first aid kit in a small container off to the side. This way, your purse won’t be full of piles of loose objects, and instead will be filled with only a handful of different smaller containers.

3. Declare the Essentials

One of the biggest problems women face in the art of purse organization is accumulating too many items. It’s tempting to cram as much as possible into your purse space, so you have these items available if you ever need them in the future, but if your goal is to keep a purse organized, you need to focus on the absolute essentials. Make a short list of the most important items to carry with you at all times – the things you would not want to be caught without. These should be in your bag at all times, and if you’re ever in a spot where you can’t find them because they’re buried under other items you don’t need, take it as a sign that you need to scale back.

4. Devise a Clear System

Next, devise a clear system for how your purse is going to be organized and be ready to stick to it indefinitely. For example, are you going to use the front pocket only for tissues and cotton swabs, or is that going to be for your wallet and loose change? The exact system doesn’t matter so much as the fact that you have one in place. Once each section is properly defined, it will be much easier to keep everything organized.

5. Have a Junk/Temporary Area

Some purses get disorganized over time because their owners continuously store junk and temporary items in them. For example, you might store old receipts in the body of your bag as well as business cards and small items you mean to get rid of at some point. To prevent these items from slowly accumulating and taking over your purse, define a junk or temporary area of your bag that you can clean out at the end of each day.

6. Stop Expansion

Purse owners often struggle with constant expansion. They have additional room in their purse, so they tried to take advantage of it by adding more and more daily “essentials.” You have to curtail this habit if you want your purse to stay as organized as possible. Refer to your list of actual essentials from the beginning and critically analyze each addition you want to make to it.

7. Store Things Immediately (Whenever Possible)

Whenever possible, store things in your bag immediately and properly rather than throwing them in casually and hoping to organize them later. For example, when you receive change back from a cashier, don’t just dump the loose coins into the main area of your purse. Instead, sort out the coins and put them where they’re supposed to go at that moment. It will save you significant time in the future.

8. Have Secondary Stashes

It’s also helpful to have secondary stashes of items in other areas, so you’re not constantly reliant on having everything in your bag. For example, you could keep a first aid kit and some emergency rations in your car, or you might keep an extra makeup bag in your desk at the office.

9. Set Requirements for Other Purses

If you own multiple purses and you like to rotate between them, make sure you define an organizational system for each of them. Different purses are going to have different storage capacities and different layouts. Also, make sure you transfer the contents of each purse fully so you don’t lose track of which items are stored where.

10. Clean Out Your Purse Weekly

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, commit to fully cleaning out your bag on a weekly basis. If you can take some time each week to sort out unnecessary items and refresh the organization of your bag, it will serve you much better in the long run.

Having a clean and organized purse consistently can improve your quality of life and make you feel less anxious – while also making sure you never go without your essential items. A bit of focus and commitment is all it takes to improve.