The Purse Purge

 

For almost two years, I carried the same purse every single day. It was a handmade leather purse (from a local maker) Ryan gifted me for my birthday, and I still dearly love the purse and will carry it again. But at this moment in our lives, I need a larger purse, because I am the resident luggage carrier for both of us. Water bottles, hats and gloves, snacks, glasses…I haul all of these things for both of us, and the adorable handmade purse wasn’t big enough for it all.

                But you know the peril of a big, Mary Poppins purse, right? It becomes a junk drawer for everything.

                So this week, I pulled every single item out of the purse and worked to determine what should go back in, what should be trashed, and what should be replaced. Mostly I needed it to live about half empty to make room for the aforementioned water bottles, hats, gloves, and snacks that we add in before running out the door.

                Have you done a purse purge lately? If not, maybe today would be a great day for it! Here’s what I did…

First, I took everything out of my bag.

                Everything. Nothing went back in without permission. I didn’t need to do this, but it might even be a good idea to wipe out (or vacuum??) the inside of the bag to get it nice and clean if you have unidentified shrapnel running around the bottom.

Next, I started throwing things away and replacing empty items.

                I started with my wallet. No, I didn’t throw away my wallet, but I went through it to throw out all the uninvited guests. I had two paperclips in there…where did they come from? I have no idea, but I put them in the paperclip drawer on my desk. Old receipts went in Ryan’s receipt pile for future sorting/shredding. Old grocery lists and notes-to-self went in the trash. I checked to make sure all the cards in there (store rewards, credit cards, medical cards, etc.) were up to date.

                Now, I knew I was okay on this, but I’ll say that a wallet purge is also a great time to make sure your driver’s license hasn’t expired, you have whatever cash you need, and your checkbook has checks! Perhaps you don’t carry cash or a checkbook, but if you do, this is a great time to double check those things.

                I checked the pens to make sure they had ink. (They did, but if yours don’t, replace them!)

                Then I moved on to the rest of the purse. I found some other old receipts, grocery lists, and ads for things floating around in there, so I tossed them. The same went for old hotel key cards from vacation and some coffee sleeves. I made sure my reading glasses were safely in a case and my sunglasses were also protected. (I try to keep them in my purse, because even if it’s dark/gloomy when I leave home, I might need them later. If your travel glasses or sunglasses are broken, this is a great time to replace them.)

                I usually don’t carry tissues or cough drops in my purse (unless I’m sick) but since it’s winter and things can spring up without warning, I do have some in there right now. I made sure the tissues were new and the cough drops didn’t look…well…you know how they can start to look…and I put them all in a bag so I can easily access them if needed.

                I carry some essential oils in my purse, so I made sure my bottles still had oil in them and made note of the ones I needed to replace. (I also have a special bag for my oils to keep them safe.)

                I checked my hand sanitizer bottle to make sure it had enough to carry me through the near future, too.

                I cleaned out the little bags that hold my masks (I like to have them on hand if I go in a medical building that requires them) and phone charger. I made sure my lipsticks and Ibuprofen were good to go and put them back in their bags.

Finally, find a place for everything and keep everything in its place.

                I put everything back in the bag in a most organized way so I can easily access whatever I need.

                I made sure I left over half the bag empty to hold all the last-minute extras, and I reminded myself again to visit that purse every single time I come home to remove anything and everything that does not live in there on the regular.

                My heart is happy with my freshly organized bag. If you do a purse purge, may your heart also find great happiness with clean luggage!