Peace of Mind Organizing

Time to downsize my purse

8 April 2013

On Friday morning, I had a meeting with a bunch of professional organizers. The last time I met with this particular group, I was 15 minutes late. This time, I was bound and determined to be on time.

I was on my way out the door when I realized my car key wasn’t where it should be. Nor in the back up place. Nor anywhere else I could see. I stomped around the house looking for it, searched my voluminous purse, created chaos in the basket where we keep keys and finally threw in the towel and asked my husband if I could take his car.

I was 15 minutes late for my meeting. Not a great way to start the day.

An hour or so after the meeting, I glanced in my purse as I was zipping it and I saw the key glinting at the bottom. It was there all the time. (I really had searched my purse.)

That’s when I realized my purse is too big for my own good. It can be an organized purse. I use a Purse Perfector in it and everything has a place. (The car key never belongs in the main compartment of the purse…it has a special place in the outside pocket.) But because it’s so big, it’s easy for me to toss stuff in there and zip it up.

I’m not kidding when I tell you that about two weeks ago, I pulled a doorknob out of my purse. (That should have been a clue that it was time to downsize.)

So Saturday I pulled out my old, petite Butler Bag. (I blogged about my Butler Bag back in 2009.) I loved that bag, which has rigid compartments to hold things upright, but when I got an iPad, it was too small to accommodate it. So I upsized. Now, thanks to my fabulous iPhone and the fact that the iPad (the first generation) processes everything at a glacial pace, I don’t use the iPad. So I just needed my purse to accommodate my Kindle Paperwhite, which it does, if a little awkwardly.

Moving into a smaller bag meant that I had to make some tough decisions about what I’m going to carry around. But all the essentials fit nicely. And it’s virtually impossible to lose anything in there. (That said, I did manage to stash my watch in it, since I need to take it to be repaired.)

The new bag weighs a fraction of what the big bag weighed. I can easily find what I want. And I can’t introduce a bunch of new stuff (no more doorknobs). It’s a win-win.

Tagged with: butler bag, order, punctuality, purse, purse perfector

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