Keeping Your Purse Organized

Basic purse organization may sound like a lesson-plan for five-year olds, but it's actually a fantastic way to make your everyday life much easier. By keeping everything in its own special place, you're saving time whenever you open your handbag.

Organizing your purses and bags also helps protect and preserve the items you carry. Use pockets, sacks, bags or whatever you need to keep everything exactly where it should be. Any silk sachets, plastic baggies, extra make-up bags or empty breath-mint tins can turn into handy purse compartments.

The most important element of purse organization is a wallet. Love them or hate them, you really need one to help store credit cards, personal identification, money and a pen. This creates a simple and easy storage unit to keep those vital items safe.

Nothing can cause clutter like a bunch of pennies and nickels. If your wallet doesn't have a change purse, buy a separate one. If it does have a change purse, make sure to always use it. Keys are another noisy, clutter-causing item. Keep them stored in any small pockets near the top of the purse for easy access.

Any sunglasses, eyeglasses, asthma inhalers or other medical/safety items should also be carried in their own case or sack. These all need to be easy to find and relatively protected, especially in case of a medical emergency.

The next items you need are some small bags. Every woman should keep at least one small, velvet bag in her purse for storing jewelry in case of a fashion emergency. Throwing a pair of earrings directly into a purse is only asking for lost and/or broken accessories. Small plastic bags can help with carrying odd trinkets, tools, first-aid kits and snacks.

When it comes to makeup, keep a small, separate makeup bag. Makeup should never be loose in the purse; it should always have its own sealable bag to prevent any spilling disasters. There-s no shade of lipstick that looks good once it's melted onto your checkbook.