Are you one of those people that is using Lockdown to turn your home into a show house? I have been amazed by all the social media posts from friends who seem to be doing just that. Personally, I am still juggling with the realities of running 2 businesses and my home whilst having my twins off school and my husband under my feet. As much as I would love to come out of this experience with beautifully painted walls and an RHS standard garden it's just not going to happen. I am fixing my sights on smaller triumphs like cleaning out my handbag and regaining control of my wardrobe; my jogging bottom collection has grown thanks to my jeans practicing social distancing and refusing to come together around my stomach!
On the plus side I have had at my disposal 2 things that have made my personal decluttering tasks a lot easy. My trusty collection of Handbag Organisers and my handbag shaped scarf hangers.
I have always been a lover of scarves; they are so useful for hiding under when you are not feeling entirely confident in your appearance. My boobs are too big, my boobs are too small, I don't like my shoulders, I wish my neck was less wrinkly, my stomach sticks out, all of these everyday worries that us ladies have to contend with can be solved so easily with a well-placed scarf. As a result, I have quite a large collection. For years I kept them in a divan drawer under my bed, but they were never organised and opening the drawer often felt like that moment Indiana Jones looks into the snake pit. It was always difficult to find what I was looking for and consequently I would end up wearing the same few scarves that happened to be on the top of the pile.
"Control your clutter or it will control you." - Anon
Now things are completely different. I have 3 Scarf Holders, all hanging at one end of my wardrobe. I can easily get 30 scarves (2 in each hole) hung on each hanger.
Thanks to Lockdown I have a bit of colour segregation going on as 2 of my hangers have been re-organised to hold my winter scarves whilst the 3rd houses my summary pastels and white based scarves.
It took me a whole afternoon to come up with this complicated filing system but the results are ace and not only do they look tidy hanging in my wardrobe but I felt a small feeling of satisfaction over my achievement. Get me, winning at life!
I know that getting organised is essential and in fact the benefits of being organised are compelling. If we took a moment to really assess them, we would make being organised a priority. It is a known fact that chaos and clutter elevate our stress levels, so by virtue clean and tidy environments that are organised can lead us to a sense of calm and wellbeing. I am sure this is something we are all feeling right now as the realities of being in Lockdown and looking at our living space all day brings home to us how much tidier, cleaner and more organised we all could be.
As women we have a natural tendency to carry clutter around with us all day. The average UK woman can be carrying around 5.4lbs* of weight in her handbag it’s not hard to imagine that an awful lot of that might be needless clutter. So, when was the last time you decluttered your handbag?
"Clutter causes stress and stress is one of the main barriers of productivity." - Charisse Ward
In the past at Sassy Spirit parties one of the games I play with guests is "What's in the bag?" It's a funny trip into guests’ handbags as we discover the bizarre and odd things we women like to carry around with us. It never ceases to amaze me what ladies reveal; seashells, pebbles, broken pieces of make-up, old hair clips, out of date sticky throat sweets, cutlery, teabags and pens that don’t even work are all common sites. On the more unusual front I once met a lady that had a can of dog food in her bag. It was pretty unusual when the lady revealed it was a permanent feature of her bag. Why? She said it was for emergencies! In the event that she came across a distressed hedgehog she could feed and care for it immediately. That was not your everyday answer at all. By far the funniest thing I came across during What’s in the Bag, was at one of my earliest Sassy Spirit parties. A lady waited until the end of the game to claim a prize for the most unusual item and she won hands down. Earlier in the day she had been at the Doctors and picked up an NHS leaflet on................. How to Clean your Penis!
As a single parent she thought it might be useful for her teenage son and save them both some embarrassment if he could read up on the subject. I am sure you can image what a room full of ladies with glasses of wine thought about that.
This type of hoarding behaviour does mean a Handbag Organiser can be a very useful thing and as I have taken the opportunity to switch over from my winter handbag to one of my summer baskets I have had a clear out of my organiser.
My love of using handbag organisers around my house is no secret, why limit their use to just tidying up your handbag when they can be put to good use in different ways. Check out these ideas for alternative uses:
It's easy to see that our organisers can be useful in a multitude of ways. So I am now going to do my bit to help you get more organised during Lockdown and get on top of your own clutter. If you have reached this point in the blog, thank you for reading. The code LOCKDOWN2020 can be used against any of our Periea Handbag Organisers and will reduce the cost by 25%. That’s a great incentive and our brightly coloured collection of varying designs will seriously help you with not just decluttering but also overall organisation in your bag. No more fumbling in the bottom for your mobile and keys.
If whilst you are clearing out you discover something funny in your bag drop us a note below and tell us what you find, the crazier the better.
Thanks for reading and #staysafe
*The Daily Mail 24th October 2014.