How to Downsize and Organise Your Handbag
If you find yourself spending more time looking for items in your handbag than actually using what you’ve found, it’s time to make a change. Carrying around a heavy, cumbersome handbag on the off chance that you might use something in it is now far more inconvenient than it is convenient. However, downsizing and organising your handbag isn’t straightforward when you’ve grown attached to its contents. You’ll need to take these steps:
Downsize Your Wallet
Before downsizing your handbag, think about the largest item that fits in it. It’s most likely your wallet! Instead of carrying around a bulky zip wallet, switch to a slim, streamlined wallet that will fit your essential cards, like PaperSlim.
Choose the most crucial cards you need to carry, and digitise the rest. Most established businesses that offer loyalty cards and similar allow you to add them to an app, so you can scan a barcode in-store, rather than needing to present your card.
Empty Your Entire Bag
One of the most important steps toward downsizing your handbag is ruthlessly dumping everything out of it onto a clean, flat surface. You may be surprised by what you’ve been carrying around, especially large items you don’t even need. Next, turn the bag upside down and shake out crumbs and debris. Take the opportunity to wipe down or lint-roll the interior and exterior, especially if you plan to store, sell, or donate the handbag.
Ruthlessly Eliminate the Contents
As difficult as it can be to part with what you’ve always considered “essential”, it’s time to pare down your bag’s contents to its bare basics for convenience moving forward. That means identifying what you need, such as your phone, wallet, keys, medication, and lip balm, and removing everything else.
Throw away old receipts you don’t need and anything considered rubbish. If you have duplicate items, such as multiple pens or lip balms, choose your favourite and leave the rest at home.
Choose a New Bag
While not always essential, you may decide that reorganising and downsizing your handbag means buying a new, smaller, more suitable one for your needs. When your goal is optimal organisation, take note of these tips for choosing a new handbag:
- Audit your non-negotiable items, such as a phone, wallet, and sunglasses, to help you narrow down your options and buy a handbag of a minimum size.
- Opt for a light-coloured or patterned interior to make items easier to see. Avoid dark linings that turn your handbag into a black hole.
- Prioritise interior zipped pockets for valuables or small, loose items, as well as slip pockets for fast access to essentials.
- Test the structure of the bag. Rigid bags hold their shape, making it easier to find items when you set them down, but slouchy bags can cause your belongings to pool at the bottom.
- Consider handbag organisers if the bag you want to buy has limited pockets or storage space.
Categorise and Organise
Having small items floating around in a handbag can make it much harder to find what you’re looking for. Therefore, there can be great value in categorising and organising your handbag’s contents.
For example, you might keep a small notebook and a pen in one pouch of the bag and beauty items like lip balm, lotion, and a compact mirror in another. Don’t be afraid to use small bags in your larger handbag if it means you can find your everyday essentials much more easily.
Pack Items Strategically
You’re far less likely to need to turn your handbag upside down to find something if everything within it has been packed strategically. For example, store the items you use often, such as your keys and phone, in easily accessible slip or zip pockets. Place heavy, bulkier items, such as a water bottle, in the middle of the bag for balance, and place everything else around them.
Perform a Weekly Reset
You don’t need to wait until your handbag is in chaos before you take action. Keep it clean, tidy, and organised for your convenience by performing a weekly reset. On a Sunday before the new week begins, spend five minutes clearing out rubbish and receipts and restocking anything that has run out, such as hand sanitiser and lotion.
It’s time to stop carrying around a large, cumbersome handbag that’s weighing you down. Streamline its contents, invest in a new, smaller bag and wallet, and you’ll spend far less time rifling around in it, looking for your everyday essentials.
