5 Steps To Never Losing Anything In Your Bag Again!

Five steps to never losing anything in your bag again!
We’ve all been there. Someone is patiently waiting for you to retrieve something from your bag while you are rummaging with receipts, old tissues, sweet wrappers and pens flying. It's embarrassing, it weighs us down and it makes us feel disorganised. With your bag as a constant companion on your journey, it’s about time to make it as streamlined and efficient as possible.

Here are 5 simple steps to having a more organised bag...

1. Start with an empty bag. Take everything out, not forgetting the pockets. It’s also a great time to give the inside a clean. You can use a little dishwashing liquid with a sponge or a cotton bud to gently remove any stains (being careful to not saturate it or get water on it if it is leather). If the lining is stitched to the bag you can use the small nozzle on your vacuum cleaner to reach tricky spots. Regular cleaning and decluttering your bag is one of the most important steps to making it easier to find things quickly. You don't need to take everything out daily but just a couple of minutes at the end of each day is enough to do a dump of unnecessary clutter.
2. With all your items out of your bag group them into one of three categories - used frequently, used often and used occasionally. If something doesn’t fit into one of these categories, now is the time to question if it should go back in at all as it is probably just adding clutter and weight to your bag. The types of things that should be easy to ditch are multiples that you have of anything - example, multiple pens, multiple lipsticks or lip balms, multiple pairs of sunglasses, multiple packets of paracetamol, hand creams… you know!
3. Now it’s time to organise your items. We recommend, especially for a big bag, using zippered pouches. These can be made from anything you prefer - lightweight ones that can be wiped down or even washed are perfect. Arrange similar items together in these pouches - its handy to put all your tech in one pouch ie. headphones (those with wires should be wrapped neatly), phone charger, spare battery and cable. If need a pen this is a great spot for it so if it did leak it’s pretty self contained. Make up, tissues, tampons, medication, bandaids, mints etc in another bag and so on. Try to keep these bags small so you can easily find things but keep the number of bags to a minimum. 

The items that you use all the time, like your phone, your wallet or keys, should be placed in your bag's most convenient pocket(s). The places you can quickly reach in and instantly get what you need.
4. Get your phone to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you. If you are like most people, an accumulation of receipts is a big problem. If you need to keep a store receipt, take a photo on your phone and keep it in a receipt album in your photos. Or download a dedicated receipt or a business expenses app to be super organised. Another bag de-clutter strategy is instead of carrying loyalty and store cards with you, download an app (like Stocard) to carry digital versions of loyalty cards - they work on most scanners. And, these days, most stores have their own apps which include digital loyalty cards. Job done!
5. Finally, now that you have emptied, cleaned, culled and organised your items into groups and pouches, remember that everything needs a place. So if you can consistently arrange and place your items in the same place each time, you will be able to find things in no time. For example, put your keys, phone and hand sanitiser into an easy to reach pocket that you can get access to immediately and as needed. You could put your zip pouch of lesser used items in away from this section and prioritise the most easily accessed space for more frequently used items.
Remember that this is a system, not a one time solution and hopefully, it will become second nature once you set it up. Happy handbag organising!
BONUS TIPS

 

  • A lot of sunglasses these days come in ridiculously large cases that will literally take up 80% of your handbag’s space. You don’t need it! Instead, find yourself a cute drawstring sunglasses case. It will save lots of room and protect the lenses from scratches. It’s good to note that it won’t stop them from being crushed though, but they are in your bag so that shouldn’t be a problem.
  • Get yourself a bright coloured purse - they are so much easier to spot in your bag at first glance. And don’t forget, downsizing your purse is an instant minimisation trick! We carry a lot in them that we don’t need.
  • Try to avoid big bags with black or dark lining. They are like black holes and it's really difficult to see anything in them. Light coloured lining will make it easier to spot things.
  • If you don’t want to carry a second bag for a laptop, find a cute laptop sleeve to keep it clean and protect it from pens and other things getting stuck in the charging or USB ports. You can then use a single large handbag to carry all your daily belongings as well as your laptop.

Our favourite coloured wallet:
Some of our favourite laptop sleeves:
Some of our favourite zip pouches: