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Couch Potato Organizing the Mosh Pit of Your Purse

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a collage of 6 images showing different ways to organize your purse

I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced that there are purse gremlins that throw stuff in my purse at night to clutter and weigh it down.  Then those gremlins have a mosh pit of a party in my purse, beating and crumpling everything up.  Anyone else visited by the purse gremlins?

To keep my purse from ending up weighing 40 pounds and being a total mess, I do a Couch Potato Organizing session on my purse about every month or so. 

I’ve found that sturdy organization tools work best in the mosh pit of my purse, keeping everything organized and protected from the moshing. Also, if you don’t know where to store all your purses, check out my Purse Storage Ideas.

Wanna join me in some couch potato organizing?  Grab your purse and turn on your favorite TV show.  Oh, and grab the trash can, too.
 
Sit down and get comfortable.  Take everything out of your purse.  You can do the upside down dump it all out or take each item out one at a time.  Up to you. 
 
Throw away any trash you find.
 
Sort through everything in your purse and pull out the items that belong somewhere else.  Receipts in the desk,  Matchbox cars or Littlest Pet Shop animals in the toy box.
 
Pull out duplicates of the same item (how many lip sticks do you need in your purse?)
 
Now we want to start putting things back in a way that will be easy to use. 
the inside of an organized purse
I got this Pouchee as a gift a couple of years ago and absolutely love it.  I can change purses quickly and easily by just moving this one Pouchee instead of digging around and moving each individual item.   I also like that everything is in the same location in every purse, no matter the size or design of the purse.  Before I used to rummage around to find my wallet, my ID wallet, my glasses, my bandages or whatever because every purse had different sized pockets to put things in.  I was organized, but I’d have to stop and remember where I put a  particular item in each different purse.
arrows showing where to put things in a purse pouchie with text reading cell phone siced pockets, change pocket, cash pocket, credit card pocket
The Pouchee is part wallet and part small purse.  I keep my change and paper money in the 2 pockets on the inside of the Pouchee.  I like that both money pockets are accessible from the top. I don’t like pulling out a wallet, unfolding it with one hand to then pull out the money I need with the other hand, while balancing the wallet so that nothing falls out while it is open.  It seems like wasted effort.  With this set up, I just reach into my purse and pull out the money I need with no juggling of a wallet. 
I don’t use the credit card pockets because I keep my credit cards in an ID card wallet (more on that in a minute).  But there is space in the middle of the Pouchee for me to keep my ID card wallet and a store rewards card holder. 
I find that everything is neatly contained and always in the same place in every purse I use, making a hectic life just a little easier.
a wallet with arrows pointing to where to put things with text reading zippered pocket, open pocket, window pocket
I’ve been using an ID card wallet since way back in my active duty military days.  There are times when you don’t want to carry a purse.  It’s so much easier to grab this and my cell,  put it them in a pocket and go.  I like the portability of this small ID card wallet.
receipts in a clear bag
I carry a clear plastic envelope for receipts.  I’ve repurposed plastic packaging, but I’ve seen cute zippered envelopes at the office supply stores and you can always use a paper envelope, even repurpose one from your junk mail.  When I make a purchase I immediately put the receipt into the envelope.  Every couple of days, I take the receipts from  the envelope and file them at home.  This keeps the receiepts from getting lost either in a plastic shopping bag or in my purse,  It also keeps the receiepts from being crumpled beyond recognition in the mosh pit of my purse.
pens in a striped pouch
I carry several  pens because no matter how many times I remind my family, every Sunday morning at church I have 3-4 people lean over and whisper, “Can I borrow a pen, please.”  I’ve given up reminding them to bring their own and just plan ahead. I have been using an eye glasses case to hold the pens so that I can quickly find them and don’t have to dig around the bottom of my purse. 
cards in a card organizer for your purse
Last Christmas my friend, Mika, gave me this card organizer.  I use it to hold the seemingly thousands of store rewards cards I have.  I keep them all (alphabetically, of course) in this organizer.  It’s easy to remove them from my purse and reduce the weight when I don’t need to carry the cards. 
 
a card in a decorative tin with title text reading Rewards Cards Organizer

I’ve just recently made one from an Altoids tins.

coupons in a clear plastic bag
I always carry store coupons in my purse just in case.  I use a cover from a last year’s pocket calendar.  Again, you could easily use a junk mail envelope.  But I like how sturdy this plastic cover is so that it holds up in the mosh pit of my purse.  And I like that this cover was saved from the landfill.
a nail file, pink notebook, Hello Kitty wallet and pouch, tape measure, flashlight
 
I always carry a small nail file in a pocket of my purse.  You never know when you’ll need one.
 
Despite the convenience of my cell phone, I still like having a small notepad.  There are times when I’m talking on the phone when I need to write something down AND talk at the same time.  I’ve also found times when it’s easiest to write an address down on the notepad and THEN enter it into the GPS on my phone.
 
It probably won’t surprise you that I carry a small tape measure (blue) and flashlight (grey)  in my purse, just in case.
 
And just to make me smile, I carry Hello Kitty bandages.  I was surprised to find two bandage holders when I did this clean out.  I hope I don’t  need that many bandages at one time, so I put one packet away and am now only carrying one.
 
 
Now that we’ve sorted through everything, it’s time to put it all back in your purse.  I  purposefully put my keys, my pens and my cell phone on the side of the purse that opens first when you unzip it, (the left side below).  I hate when I have to juggle my purse, unzipping it and rummaging for a item.  To make life easier, I put the 3 items I reach for most often, the keys, the cell phone and the pens, in the part of the purse that’s easiest to access.  With 3 children,  I grab my keys so often that I’ve set my key chain up to make my life a little easier, too. 
the inside of an organzied purse
 
 
You should be able to finish organizing your purse by the end of your favorite show.  That’s a win win; lighter, better organized purse AND a little relaxation.

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14 Comments

  1. Another “just in case” item to have in your purse is emergency information! After 2 trips to the ER in the last year, I found that it’s much easier to hand the triage nurse an envelope of all the information you have to provide, no matter what’s happening. And when you’re scared or in pain, you can’t always remember your exact milligram dose of daily pills!

    So now, in my purse, in a bright red envelope marked EMERGENCY INFORMATION, I have a list of all medications, all doctors’ contact info, all allergies, family contact names/numbers, neighbor contact information, a copy of my driver’s license, a copy of my health insurance card, and a brief outline of my medical history & existing conditions.

    This system was tested last month when my husband had to dig thru my purse & find the envelope for the nurse, while I was whisked away to the closest EKG. By the time I was done there, all paperwork was finished & the only thing my (worried) husband had to do was hand over the envelope…no other thinking needed. WHEW!

    I also carry my a list of my husband’s medications in my purse, for the same reason.

  2. Thank you for sharing that important red envelope Emergency Info idea. This is the perfect prepared way to made sure you have critical medical information with you. And I hope that now that you’ve tested it, you won’t need that red envelope again. Best wishes to you.

  3. My girlfriend introduced me to the “Kangaroo Keeper” from Walgreens. I believe it’s in the isle that has the “As Seen On TV” products. I was always looking for a purse that had the 2 zippered ends and then a middle pocket, because that’s how I liked to separate my purse items and that also made my purse choices very limited. NOW, with the Kangaroo Keeper, I can get any ol’ purse I like!! It comes with a large keeper and a medium keeper. (Disclamer: do not send your husbands to me when they become angry because you have so many purses due to the Kangaroo Keeper! LOL!!) The other nice thing about the Kangaroo Keeper is that it lifts out to make it easy to switch to another purse. Just make sure you DONATE any and all purses you are no longer using. That way you can tell your husband/significant other that you have acquired the “1 in, 1 out” rule…don’t bring something in, unless you are ready to get rid of something sitting in your closet or other places!! Thanks for the post.

    1. Mary, I’m so glad you told me about another Pouchee option. I was noticing in the pictures that I need to get a new one soon. And chuckling after reading your disclaimer. 🙂

  4. cool idea – i have nver heard of a pouchee but i want one now! Stopping by from Shine on Fridays

  5. Fantastic ideas! You’ve inspired me to get my purse organized!Thanks so much for sharing at Artsy Corner! Hope to see you again this week 🙂

  6. Great ideas! Would love it if you linked up on my blog hop . Also let me know if you’d like to follow each other!

  7. Those are some great tips! Thank you for sharing this at my Make it Pretty Monday party at The Dedicated House. Hope to see your prettiness again on Monday. Toodles, Kathryn @TheDedicatedHouse

  8. Hello, this is a wonderful article about staying organized. I consider myself the biggest neat freak and i love to update myself on newer organization ideas. Great article, very informative.

  9. What a nice little project to work on while watching a night of Olympic entertainment. It definitely would be very rewarding. So nice to know exactly where to reach to put your hands on what you need!

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