Okay ladies, it is time to gather up your handbag, purse, pocketbook, briefcase, carry all… and spend 10 minutes organizing what many consider quintessential to functioning out there in the world.
If you are new to 10 Minute Tuesday, each Tuesdaywe try to conquer organizing a small space in only 10 minutes. Each week I will pose a new activity to accomplish in only 10 minutes. Please do it along with me and we’ll check things off our to-do lists together! I’ll go first.
It might not look too bad, but just wait. I poured it all out on a towel and here is the junk pile that appeared!
Are you ready for my excuse of why my purse is in such disarray? (There is always an excuse, isn’t there.) A full water bottle spilled not once, but twice in my purse! You’d think I would learn!
So after the second round of laying my belongings out in the sun to dry, I had to grab everything in a rush. I was running late so I just threw everything back into my purse; receipts, wallet, a fully closed water bottle…. But no excuses! I knew my cluttered purse was the perfect thing to tackle today.
The same organizing principles apply to small spaces as they do to larger messes. Whether you were cleaning out a large clutter-filled closet or a small drawer you start with a sort. And since I’m trying to get this mess wrangled in only 10 minutes I started my timer and dove right in.
After 5 minutes, items were sorted into categories. Paper fell into one of three piles: receipts to file in auto repairs (I’d just had some car maintenance done, so I had quite a few large auto receipts stuffed in my bag), receipts to file for the monthly budget, and notes to add to my planner.
As I sorted, I also purged items into a trash pile and a pile of items that belong elsewhere and not in my handbag (funny how items seem to multiply in our purses).
I containerize my makeup in the pink pouch. I hold other purse supplies, like pens and medicine, in the flower pencil pouch.
After containing items, I put the 2 pouches back in the purse with my wallet. The sunglasses, hand sanitizer, and ipod fit perfectly in one of the many side pockets in my purse.
Using containers in your purse has the same effect as containerizing in a drawer, everything is in it’s nice neat home instead of rattling around.
If you’re looking for even more structure, this purse organizer from The Container Store keeps your purse organized by containing each item and also makes it easy to transfer everything from one purse to another.
I like to keep organizing solutions free around here so I just used pouches I already had (and one that came with the purse). But there are loads of options you could use.
Organizing guru Peter Walsh suggests using plastic sandwich bags to containerize your purse items. Find something that works for your style and your budget that you will actually utilize and maintain.
After 10 minutes I had: thrown away the trash, moved unwanted items to their new home, filed receipts in my action files, and left everything cleaned up and tidy. Not too bad!
As always, I am left wondering why I avoid such simple tasks that never take that long after all!
How is your purse looking? Anyone have a special gadget or trick they use to help keep their purse organized?
I need to do this my purse looks like a garbage bag. Thanks for the inspiration.
I soooo need to do this! Cute blog, too!
Thanks Natalia Lynn. It took me spilling a water bottle before I saw all the "stuff" packed in there!
It is from Franklin Covey of all places!
nice! what kind of purse is that???