Does your purse lend new meaning to the question: “What’s in your bag?” Does your satchel’s contents call for caution tape and a hazmat mask? Are there five months worth of Starbucks receipts floating around in your clutch?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, it’s time to get your handbag organized.

Oftentimes, handbags end up being a dumping ground for anything and everything you pick up while you’re out and about. And, if you’re like most people, you let these things accumulate until you either can’t handle it anymore, or you switch to a new handbag. This is bad for a number of reasons: A heavy purse can lead to back problems, illness-causing germs can grow in a handbag, and it’s hard to find what you’re looking for among the clutter.

As an organization-obsessed fashion blogger, I’ve picked up some great tips on how to organize a handbag. Here are my top six:

1. Cleanse — When your bag becomes too messy or heavy to  handle, it’s time to go through it and get back to carrying just the basics. Dump everything out of your bag. Throw away all trash, or shred documents that have your personal information: receipts, expired coupons, candy wrappers, ticket stubs, etc. For those random things that end up in your purse, but don’t belong there, put them where they belong. Personally, I always end up with a rogue fork or spoon in my bag. Collect loose change and put it in your wallet. Speaking of your wallet, go through it as well, throwing away any trash in it.
2. Sanitize — Now that you’ve narrowed your purse down to what you need, wipe your things off with antibacterial cloths. This may be TMI, but the bacteria on bathroom floors often end up in your bag; these can cause diarrhea or the common cold — just being real here, ladies!
3. Organize — It’s time for my favorite part: putting things back where they belong! Personally, I like a handbag that has several pockets and sections (this satchel is one of my go-to bags because of its many pockets.) to organize all my necessities. But no matter where you store things, make sure they’re in a convenient spot for easy access.
4. Bags within bags — One tip that really keeps me organized is having smaller bags within my big bag. American Apparel has a line of different sized pouches that are perfect for this. Or, if you’re on a budget, you could use a set of cosmetic bags for the same purpose. Things that I put in their own perfectly sized pouch are: makeup, lip products, business cards, and coupons. My husband thinks I’m crazy, but I’m telling you, bags within bags works!
5. Maintain — Now that everything is organized, all you have to do is maintain your newly organized purse. Personally, I like to go through my bag when I get home each day. I throw away trash and make sure everything is ready for the next time I run out the door. I’ve found that taking advantage of the new trend in emailing receipts helps to cut back on bag clutter.
6. The Switch — So you bought a new bag — exciting day! I used to have a terrible habit of transferring the necessities to a newly purchased purse, leaving the old bag full of stuff. I recently cleaned out all of my purses in storage, and you wouldn’t believe the things I found: dollars worth of change, a year’s supply of chap stick and toiletries, enough pens and sticky notes to open an office supply store, and gift cards (score!). Rather than doing this, go ahead and clean everything out of your old bag when switching to a new one. Trust me, this will cut your chap stick purchasing by at least half.

Achieving an organized bag is as easy as that! Do you have any tips for bag organization?

Image source: The Bag Lady