This is a long post, but certainly worth your time to read. Lots of GREATprizes and EVERYONE will receive something just by following some simple instructions.
Today we have a special Guest Blogger who is here to share some tips and tricks for getting your life organized and more specifically, cleaning out that purse!
Kathi Lipp is the author of some excellent “project” books. One of my personal favorites is The Marriage Project, which I reviewed here.
Recently, I started reading her new book, The Get Yourself Organized Project. Wow!!! I blogged about some of the advice Kathi lays out in her book over at the Petit Fours and Hot Tamales blog. I like that Kathy has a down-to-earth type voice that makes you feel like the two of you are sitting down for tea and a nice chat. LOVE THAT! She breaks things down into bite size manageable chunks that are designed notto overwhelm you.
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Here is a short description of The Get Yourself Organized Project
Finally, an organizational book for women who have given up trying to be Martha Stewart but still desire some semblance of order in their lives.
Most organizational books are written by and for people who are naturally structured and orderly. For the woman who is more ADD than type A, the advice sounds terrific but seldom works. These women are looking for help that takes into account their free-spirited outlook while providing tips and tricks they can easily follow to live a more organized life.
Kathi Lipp, author of The Husband Project and other “project” books, is just the author to address this need. In her inimitable style, she offers
· easy and effective ways women can restore peace to their everyday lives
· simple and manageable long-term solutions for organizing any room in one’s home (and keeping it that way)
· a realistic way to de-stress a busy schedule
· strategies for efficient shopping, meal preparation, cleaning, and more
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Full of helpful tips and abundant good humor, The Get Yourself Organized Project is for those who want to spend their time living and enjoying life rather than organizing their sock drawer.
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As you can see, this book is for the every-day average Joe with wwaaayyyyyy too much stuff on their plate (see why I like it so much?).
To give you a small sample of what you can expect, Kathi is sharing one section of her book on a worldwide blog tour in honor of National Clean Purse Day. Take a moment to read her post, then scroll down to see the before and after pictures of my purse.
As an added bonus, Kathi is giving away some great prizes (with EVERY READER getting something. Keep reading to find out what that is.
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How to Clean Your Purse Instructions
Here’s my super-speedy way of cleaning out my bag. I simply take my purse and dump it out into a plastic grocery bag. I sort the dump into Put Away, Put Back, and (in this case) Throw Away.
Put Away
Anything I want to keep that doesn’t belong in my purse gets put away. This is also when I go through receipts I’ve carefully placed in my wallet (or, more likely, the ones I’ve quickly thrown into my purse…) and random notes or other pieces of paper. If you’re away from home while you’re sorting, just put these items into another bag to put away when you get home. And when you get home, put them away in the right spot.
Put Back
If it belongs in your purse, go ahead and put it back into your purse.
Throw Away
Anything that’s left over in your plastic grocery bag (food wrappers, cash receipts you don’t care about, and so on,) is now garbage that gets recycled or thrown away.
The beauty of the grocery-bag organizing system is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. Just grab a grocery bag and start sorting while you’re waiting for your kids to get out of band practice or while you’re on the phone with your mom.
Clean it Up
Give your purse a good shake and get out any stray bits, crumbs etc. I’ve even used a hand held vacuum to really get the bag clean.
Label It and Put It Away
Assign a spot for everything that belongs in your purse, bag, or backpack. I use three zippered pouches. Everything goes into one of those three pouches or into your wallet (or in rare cases, onto your key chain). The fewer items you place in your purse, the easier it is to know what’s in there.
Wallet. I recommend you keep in your wallet only cash, receipts, checkbook, and credit, debit, and gift cards.
Pouch 1: Makeup bag
- Lipstick and gloss
- Eyeliner
- Powder
- Sunscreen stick
- Blush and brush
- Eyeglass cleaner wipes
- Hand sanitizer
Pouch 2: Emergency kit
- Fashion tape
- $20
- Needle and thread
- Nail glue
- Advil
- Couple of adhesive bandages
Pouch 3: Change
Other Things to Keep in Your Bag
- Sunglasses case
- Cell phone
- Keys
Keep It Up
If I sort through the items in my purse once a week, it really is easy to stay on top of it. It takes only a couple of minutes to keep it up.
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Do you have to do it exactly like this? No. Kathi just want you to have a clean purse that is functional and doesn’t give you a hernia. As an added BONUS for participating this week, hop on over to Kathi’s personal blog, in the comments tell her that you cleaned out your purse. For all those that comment by May 18th (and she’d love to hear what the strangest thing you found in there was!), here is what you could win:
One winner will receive this beautiful Vera Bradley tote filled with Kathi’s entire collection of books
And FIVE winners will receive Kathi’s FAVORITE tote ever: The “My Husband is a Hottie” bag filled with all of her books!
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What did you think? Pretty cool and extremely simple to do.
And now, for my purse. As you can see from this first picture, my purse can hold quite a bit of stuff. Even though I had things separated into compartments, I had the dickens of a time finding things.
This photo shows just how much stuff I actually had stashed in there. Yikes! I was looking for that RedBox movie. I’d better get that taken back ASAP before I have to buy it.
After a bit of reorganizing and lots of throwing away, this is the final product.
What do you think? Will I actually be able to find my keys the next time it’s raining and I’m caught digging through the mess? I certainly hope so.
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Now for the good stuff. Not only do you get a chance to win the very cool prizes Kathi laid out for you above. BUT, just for leaving a comment here on THIS post, one lucky winner will get a chance to win a copy of Kathi’s book, The Get Yourself Organized Project.
Oh, that is NOT all.
As an added goodie, if you “like”Kathi’s author page over on https://www.facebook.com/kathilipp.author, you will receive Kathi’s free download of “30 Ways to Save 30 Minutes in the Next 30 Days” to kick start your way to a more organized you!
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To summarize all you have to do to win great prizes:
1. Hop over to Kathi’s blog and leave a comment saying that you cleaned out your purse. It would be really cool if you also mentioned the weirdest thing you found. You will be entered for a chance to win either the beautiful Vera Bradley tote filled with Kathi’s entire collection of books or The “My Husband is a Hottie” bag filled with all of my books.
2. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win The Get Yourself Organized Project book
And with that, I wish you a Happy National Clean Purse Day!
Author Bio
Kathi Lipp is a busy conference and retreat speaker and the of
The Husband Project: 21 Days to Loving Your Man—on Purpose and with a Plan, The Marriage Project: 21 Days to More Love and Laughter, and
The Me Project: 21 Days to Living the Life You’ve Always Wanted and
The “What’s for Dinner?” Solution. She is a frequent guest on Focus on the Family and dozens of other radio programs.
Church leaders and women’s ministry directors rely on Kathi to help women move from living out of obligation to enjoying godly passion. She speaks to thousands of women across the US and Canada every year.
Kathi and her husband, Roger, are the parents of four young adults and live in San Jose, California. Find out more about Kathi at
www.kathilipp.com
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKathiLipp
12 Comments
Tami – you rocked this. Thanks so much for making the world a more organized place!!!
What an inspiring post, Tami and Kathi! I am feeling really motivated to get organized myself! 🙂
Tami, you just won’t let me forget about getting organized. I keep trying and you keep pulling me back. Good job. Kathi, thanks for the tips. I need to clean out my purse about every two days. Got some pouches a few months ago. They definitely help. Good blog, ladies. Thanks!
I do pretty much as Kathi suggest but I do like the idea of the bags. I have the hardest time finding pens. If I had them in a bag…
Susan Carlisle
Heart Surgeon, Hero…Husband?1/2012
The Nurse He Shouldn’t Notice 8/2012
Kathi,
My usual solution to cleaning out my purse is to buy a new one. I have thrown the entire contents of my purse into a plastic bag and left it in the closet, never to be touched again. I definitely need your book. My purse is a black hole. I need help. I’m signing as anonymous but I’m
Marilyn Baron
Kathi, what a great post! Actually, I’ve been looking forward to it ever since Tami mentioned it on PF&HT.
I carry books and papers to write on in my purse (with lots of pens, as well). Do they make a pouch that those would fit in? That would really help. LOVE the pouch idea.
Oh! So THAT’s how to do it!
I’m always trying to keep that durn thing clean & organized, but it keeps getting out of hand. And going from a big purse to a smaller one?
Fuggetaboutit….
Thank you Tami & Kathi!
Kelli,
Just cleaned out my purse. Strangest thing I found?
the tip of a fingernail-ugh. I am definitely going to get pouches.
Can’t wait to read your books.
Tami highly recommends them!
Maxine
Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out the post. I wish you all luck on getting those purses cleaned out. I put it off until the very last minute. Now that I’ve done it, I have no idea why I didn’t do it sooner. Please check out Kathi’s blog and leave a comment in order to win some great prizes.
Again, thank you ALL for stopping by.
Tami
VERY cool idea to have a “clean your purse” day! Funny because earlier today I was looking at smaller purses although I didn’t purchase anything! My mom carries a HUGE purse and is constantly cleaning it out. I want something smaller so I DON’T get to that point.
books4me67 at ymail dot com
You all are so inspiring! Thanks for the purse love!!!
Hi Everyone! Thanks a ton for participating in the Clean Purse challenge! I hope everyone was able to find some useful nuggets of wisdom.
Hugs!
Tami