Organize Your Purse in 5 Minutes

Empty the contents of your purse onto a table or floor:

• Sort in 4 piles: garbage, reallocation, keep in purse, to be filed
• Start with obvious trash items like candy wrappers, tissues, old business cards and papers.. Take it straight to the trash when you are done cleaning out the purse. Once the purse is free of garbage move onto to what you know you will keep in your purse.
• Items to Keep: These should include keys, wallet, sunglasses in case, cell phone, PDA device, working pen, gum(or mints) , floss if you like and a toothbrush. You might also require a small tissue packet and a lip balm/gloss or lipstick and one hairclip or tie. If you plan to keep makeup place it in a small Ziploc bag. You may also want either a brush or comb. In a smaller side pocket you might keep a small pack of medication or feminine hygiene products.
• Items to reallocate would be things like kids toys, lint rollers, extra pens, pads of paper, cassette tapes, extra hairclips, combs, brushes, hairspray
• File any receipts, documents, appointment cards etc. right away as to avoid losing them altogether.

**Store groups of items in small snack size Ziploc bags. This makes hunting for lipgloss easy when you aren't going through everything, but one bag. Open up the wallet and do the same as you did with the purse.

• Remove any old coupons, receipts, papers, and throw them away.
• Find any appointment cards business cards that need to be filed and do so now. Find a home for foreign coins and bills.
• Keep all relevant cards, stamps, credit cards and your own country's currency in a small amount. Make photocopies of all important credit cards and documentation in case you lose something.

Keep your purse and wallet organized by weekly going through it and removing receipts, trash, papers and cards that don't belong. Remove all the pens you collect and see if you can't make your purse lighter by dumping out the change and trading for bills at the bank or local coin changer. Store all baby and kids items in a separate diaper bag or knapsack as to not turn your handbag into a dumping ground.