Organizing Your Handbag the Marie Kondo Way

The entire world is obsessed with Marie Kondo, and there’s a reason why! While she has been around for quite some time, Marie’s fame increased with the release of her Netflix Original Series, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” In the series, she helps families get their disorganized and messy houses in order. While the description might sound boring, it is anything but! With the same amount of satisfaction one might get from binge-watching an HGTV series, Marie Kondo is able to add a level of charm and personality to the screen that most seasoned hosts can’t.

Marie Kondo created something she calls the “Konmari” method. This two-pronged step that originally revolves around the house is meant for one, discarding and two, organizing. While Marie often applies Konmari to organizing a house, it can be applied to other aspects of life, like how to organize your bags, for example. What Marie Kondo typically applies to the kitchen, living room, and bedroom, you can easily apply to your purses - each and every one of them. And here’s how!

You might have an abundance of handbags that range from tote bags to crossbody bags to clutches. All of these bags have a different amount of items they can hold and you might find that your handbags are overflowing with an abundance of unnecessary items all the time. Marie Kondo has a slew of organizing ideas, but the most important one is how often you should be using the Konmari method on your handbags. According to the “Tidying Up” queen, it’s every day. Some women carry the same purse around every day and others change their purse as often as they change their shoes. Regardless of which woman you are, in order to keep your bag organized, you should sit down with your bag and get to work!

It might seem a bit ludicrous to organize your bag every night, but you might only think that if you have tons of loose items hanging around the bottom of it. As you sit down to organize your bag, what you should do first is throw out all the things you don’t need. If you’ve seen an episode of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” you’ll remember that she has the families she helps pile all their clothes on to their bed. Take the items in your purse and dump them on your bed. From your day to day activities, you might find a ton of items that shouldn’t be taking residence in your purse unless they’re paying rent! You might have a receipt from your coffee stop in the morning. You might have a few napkins sitting in there in case you spilled. You might even find old, finished packs of gum that you forgot were sitting at the bottom of your bag. Once you’ve discarded everything that is trash, you can move onto organizing your bag.

Step two of the Konmari method is organizing and if you do it right, you won’t really have to worry about it ever again. The one thing you won’t be able to survive without are purse organizers. While you can call them that, they’re really small pouches that you can fit into your purse and help you keep all your things together. When you think about all the things you keep in your purse, they could probably fall into categories. It’s always good to have feminine hygiene products on hand in case of emergency so you might want a purse organizer specifically for pads and tampons. If you’re someone who loves to wear makeup, you might keep a pouch dedicated to your daily products like powder, chapstick, or even makeup wipes. In the digital age, most of us can’t survive without our smartphones and would probably shutdown if our phone batteries died. Because of this, you might carry a portable charger and cord in your purse. All the items in your purse should have a dedicated place and here’s how you make the pouches work for you.

While it’s okay if the pouches are all the same size, make sure they’re the same color. This will give you the ability to easily remember what is in each bag. Every night when you reorganize your bag, all you need to do is remove the pouches and check to see that you have everything you need. You might need to charge your portable charger for your phone. Maybe you need to add a few more feminine hygiene products into one of your pouches. By keeping your items separated and in different pouches, you can ensure that your handbag never gets messy again.

Another thing you’ll need to learn is that not all bags are able to fit the same amount of items. Marie Kondo’s pouch system is also set up to make sure you’re only taking the things you need. While you might be tempted to throw all of your pouches into a large tote, if you’re carrying a crossbody, you’ll be forced into only focusing on the things you’ll need that day.

Who knew organizing could be so much fun? We certainly didn’t before Marie Kondo’s bright face appeared on our Netflix stream. While it can take a lot of work to get organized, it’s definitely worth it for the satisfied feeling you get afterwards. If you’re going to invest in a bag that looks beautiful on the outside, shouldn’t you make sure the inside looks just as great? Now with Marie Kondo’s Konmari method, we can all keep our bags organized, functional, and beautiful.