Purse Clutter : the minimalist musings

So I thought y'all should know I did two big things today.

The first was I finally got to that box in the bathroom.  I knew once I started doing that box that suddenly I would start taking a harder look at what is actually in my bathroom.  It did indeed result in my rummaging through the cabinets...under the sink...through the drawers.

I narrowed my seven lotions down to one.  My body sprays from five to one and my perfumes (had to keep at least one for special occasions) from five to one.  I kept about half of the 12 mineral eye shadows and one nail polish and one top coat (out of the 24).  Everything else is going.  I had various things that were just misplaced. Like, my camera was in there along with other random knick knacks.

One thing I haven't gone through completely from that box is the smaller jewelry box I had in there.  I'll probably be going through and purging that next.  I've purged through my jewelry a million times so I am about down to the last of what I really like.

Nice and tidy!

It looks like a dumpster for clutter!

The next big thing I did was go through my purse. I dumped everything out onto the table to see exactly what I had in there. A huge notebook. Meeting Notes. Check book. A clearance book I bought to take pictures of.  Random receipts. Tea. Hair scissors. Some money. My schedule. Headphones. Lotion. Calendar. Pens.Wallet. Lipsticks. Medicines. Candy.
Actually this was pretty tame from what it usually is.  Normally I have an even larger amount of crap.  I'm a very "Just in Case/What If" kind of person. What if I have chapped lips? What if I cut myself? What if I need to reapply makeup?  What if I want to listen to this cd? What if I have a cold? Or cramps? Or I'm hungry? Or I need tape? Or I need to screw something together? What if someone needs 
batteries? 

Yeah...it's a bit crazy. I narrowed down the stuff to what I actually use the most. Redistributed the items that were in the wrong place in the first place (scissors, book, schedule) and threw out what I didn't even need (receipts, candy, trash).  I narrowed it down to these few items. (EDIT: I added my calendar back into the bag because I have no calendar at the moment. hahaha)  It's amazing how much lighter my bag is. 

The lone survivors.

My stash of purses and wallet.

 I began to question why I am even carrying a larger bag anyways.  I'm currently trying to decide if I just want to switch over to one of my smaller bags before I purge my purses.  I really do like the purse I am using now but I am also overly attached to four other ones I have.  Two are black seat belt purses..one small one medium sized and the other two are smaller ones that are nice for if I am going out with friends or out to a dinner and are the ones I paid the most money for ($20-$40).  I might end up just keeping those four and getting rid of the other thirteen purses I still own.  Yeah .. I think I've just now decided that's what I'm doing.  I'm sure over time I can convince myself to get rid of all but one of my purses in the end.  I think just keeping these four is a good compromise. :)

Current Purse.

It's nice seeing how much easier it is getting to let go of things that I continued to haul around with me and refused to let go of.  I think letting go of my books has shown me that deep, deep, deep, deep down I am really alright with letting some of this stuff go.  Speaking of selling books. I am getting ready to take the last of what I have to Camelback today.  This time I have to be there. At least it's the last few stragglers and the harder, more cherished ones have already been dealt with. Perhaps I can hold on squirting tears as I accept whatever offer they are going to give to me today.  We are also heading to the pawn shop to get rid of the box of electronics.  I still have a large amount of stuff to get through...but getting through that damn one box and my purses felt like a pretty big step in the right direction. :) I'm excited to start noticing all the money I'm going to save from not HAVING to buy another purse. ....Actually...a lot of the money my husband will save too ....he tends to treat me when I see one that I *have* to have. :)

More later I'm sure...