Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Task Tuesday- How to Organize Purse Junk

I thought that this first Task-Tuesday post would be a good place to talk about new years resolutions before diving in to my first "Task"

In 2013, lets see how I did:
1. Get my E-life organized (photos/files etc.) Mike and I have been having computer/hard drive issues and this needs to happen so I don't lose everything!- We did back it up, but I think it is something we need to work on a bit more. I need to organize my photos again!
2. Get my finances organized..actually go to a bank and talk to someone so I am getting the best account/TFSA etc. Actually be a grown up. DONE AND DONE!
3. Go to the Gym and stay focused on the diet. Run a 10 km in the fall. Do the Mud Run in 50 mins.
I did awful at this from Jan-June, but from June until now I have been to the gym on average 4x a week, and instead of a 10 km run I did a triathlon. This year for mud hero I finished in the top 30% vs the bottom 30%! Huge improvements. And I'm about 8lbs lighter this year that I was this time last year! Yay!
4. Pick up my clothes off the floor/be more organized- more on that below.
5. Have more free time on the weekend!!!-I can't really remember what I meant by this, but I think I meant doing more errands on week nights to have free time on the weekend. Anyway, I would say this stayed neutral this year.

This year my New Years resolutions are not as formal as last year. One thing I was thinking is focusing each month on something, and January will be Organzing/Simplyfying my life. I sometimes put organization of my apartment at the bottom of my list, and each weekend it seems like it explodes, so this January I want to get it under control!

I have already started with organizing my closet and drawers, as well as a giant pile of papers and magazines. This past weekend I focused on my purses. I have accumulated a ton of junk in my purses over the years (yes years).

So how do I organize purse junk?? 

Step 1: First I dump all my purses at once. Normally I have about 5 bags on the go, so that equals a big pile of GROSS:
Garbage EVERYWHERE!
Some highlights of what I found include:
100 pens (slight exaggeration)
2 pedometers
$9.10 in change (from various countries)
A wifi stick from Morocco (I went to Morocco in 2012)
11 Socks. Yes 11 (not 10 or 12...)

Step 2. I sort through everything, and separate it into like objects. Garbage gets tossed on the floor, and things get sorted (example, a pile of office supplies, a pile of bathroom things, a pile of socks). If it doesn't belong in the purse, it gets moved back to where it belongs.

Step 3. After sorting through lots of garbage (yuck), and putting things away where they actually belong. I got it down to this, which all fits in my new bag.
Much better!
These are the basic essentials that bring me from the gym, to work, to tutoring etc. My bag essentials include:

  • Pencil case with a few pens/pencils
  • Tutoring Notebook
  • Wallet
  • Purse "stuff" in the small mesh bag which gets transferred to other purses if needed (mirror, bandaids, deodorant, lint brush, lipgloss, small notebook)
  • Cellphone
  • Keys
  • Headphones
  • Shampoo/conditioner (for gym trips)
  • Yoga Clothes/Towel
  • Lunch!


No more digging for keys!
Bonus Points: The key for bag organization (for me) is having smaller organizing bags (like my black mesh thing, but makeup bags would work) to transfer between multiple bags, as well as cleaning it out on a weekly basis. I will try to work on this every Sunday night so I don't have to do a big clean, as well as cleaning out my purses after going on a trip, so I don't find stuff 2 years later!! Also having a bag that has a lot of compartments is great. This bag is actually a laptop bag and was a xmas gift from Mike's parents (THANKS!) and it is the perfect size for my busy day!
Purse Selfie!
Anyone else have tips on purse and bag organization?? What is the strangest thing you have found in your purse?

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