How to Organize the Inside of Your Purse

Is your purse feeling a little heavy? Or are you tired of feeling like you’re on an archaeological dig every time you need to find something in your bag? If you carry a purse or bag on the daily, it’s likely you have just about anything you could possibly need in there — along with a few things that you forgot you even had. Organizing the inside of your purse can literally lighten the load on your shoulders and back, and it will make it much easier to go about your day efficiently and able to find the things you need. Read on for some tips on organizing the inside of your purse. 

Clean out your purse. The first thing to do is take everything out of your purse to see what all you’ve got in there! Empty your purse completely. Sort out and throw away any trash — dried out pens, wads of Kleenex, lint-covered breath mints. Take the time to clean out your wallet too, if you carry one in your purse. Round up the spare change and either put it in a coin purse or stash it in your piggy bank or other coin receptacle. Just this step will take your purse organization up a level.

Group items. Sort the remaining items into logical groupings. Place coins in a coin purse or coin compartment in your wallet. After you have your items grouped, take an honest inventory and remove the items that seem excessive. If you find items that you know you won’t use regularly, put them in their correct place in your home. (Do you really need to carry all 5 of your red lip sticks every day?) 

Use your purse’s built in organization. If your purse has multiple pockets, slots for cards, pen holders, or other built in organization, use it! One caveat: If you know you’re unlikely to actually put a pen back in the pen holder or to slip your cell phone in the side pocket when you’re done using it, skip this step. The point of organizing your purse is to make it easier to find and use what you need. If the built in organization isn’t intuitive for you, find something that is. It can help to choose specific pockets for your wallet, cosmetic bag (more on that in #4), and other major categories of supplies. 

Contain things. If simply sorting things into their own pockets or compartments isn’t enough organization, or if your bag only has one big compartment, you’ll need to contain things. Small zippered pouches are a great choice here. You can purchase them in the cosmetics section of most big box stores. Or you might have bags from a makeup subscription service that you aren’t using. Place like items in the same bag — one for writing implements, one for cosmetics, and so forth. If pouches aren’t your style, consider other options — an empty mint tin for small items, for example. In a pinch, ziptop storage bags can work, though they can be unwieldy when you need to take items out. If you don’t have a change purse or coin compartment, find or purchase one to keep your coins corralled. If you find that you’ve always got loose dollar bills floating around, invest in a wallet or moneyclip.

Pack for success. When you’re ready to repack your purse, pack the items you use most often first. This will give you a realistic sense of how much room you have for less important things, and how heavy your bag will be with the things you find most useful in it. You may discover that you have a ton of extra room — in which case, you might even consider switching to a smaller purse. Or you may discover that even sticking to just the essentials, your bag is too full and/or too heavy. At that point, it’s time to purge further or consider a bigger bag.