31 Days to a More Organized Life : Day Nine : De-junking Your Purse

Tell me if this situation sounds familiar... You're tackling a trip to the grocery store with both kids and your cell phone starts ringing. You reach with one hand into your purse for the phone while keeping the other hand on your toddler who has outsmarted the shopping cart seatbelt and managed to turn himself around still buckled. While you dig furiously through your purse with your free hand, your toddler continues to lean precariously over the edge of the seat, laughing hysterically as you hold onto the back of his pants. Normally you'd ignore the phone but you're waiting for the pediatrician's office to call back so you can tell them the the snot flowing freely from your preschooler's nose is now definitely looking green and not clear. Finally your fingers grasp the phone just as the pediatrician's office number lights up under the heading "missed call."

At any given time, the contents of your purse can mean the difference between sinking and swimming. It's not enough to carry your phone, but the ability to find the phone when you need it. It's not just a hold-all for papers and receipts, but having the receipt on hand when you need to pick up the dry-cleaning or return an item at the store. Often my purse feels more like a dumping ground than a well-ordered carryall. If you feel the same, then keep reading!

In honor of my plans to get my purse under control, I treated myself to a new bag and a new wallet. I would really love to have a beautiful designer bag, but I tend to beat the hell out of my purse so my day-to-day bag is usually not too spendy. Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Target all have cute options.

What I like about this new bag is that it can go over my shoulder or worn cross-body when I need to have free hands. I hate when the handles of your purse slip off your shoulder (always when you are carrying ten other things) and you have to do some weird balancing maneuvers to keep everything in your arms. I also like that it has a pocket on the front where you could slip your phone for easy access.

I put all my personal items - lip balm, tampons, etc. into a separate pouch that not only keeps everything in one place, but is easy to switch to a different bag if needed. Instead of digging around to find all the various things I want to take, I just grab the one little bag.

My plan for staying organized is pretty simple. Instead of letting things gradually get out of control until my purse is so full of junk that I can't find anything, it needs to be maintained regularly. At the end of each day, pull out whatever excess is floating around and either toss it or file it appropriately. It wouldn't be such a production if it was emptied on a normal basis. With a little regular maintenance, the dumping ground can be avoided.

Check out the other days in the series here!