HOW TO ORGANIZE PURSES

… including backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags

Purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, so figuring out how to organize and store them can be a pain. Here are the best ways to organize and store your purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags to help them maintain their shape and make each piece super easily accessible. Also, here are the best ways to organize the insides of all these bags! And, did you know, you can also organize your spaces according to your organizing style? You can find out what your organizing style is here.

Before organizing your bags, you must purge the bags that you do not like and no longer use. Be ruthless and purge the excess so you can more easily store what you do need and use.

In my freebie library here, I include guides which help walk you through the organizing process and help you decide what to purge and keep. I also include my declutter and organizing challenge calendars and guides to help direct you through each area of your home. These guides ensure you get through every nook and cranny and finally get to the other side of clutter … an organized and functional space!

In this post, we focus on how to organize your purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags. Below, I share ideas on how to organize your purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags with different types of organizing solutions that will work for your organizing styles and spaces.

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Bag Organization

Before you start organizing your purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags, I highly suggest editing your collection. You don’t want to purchase a bunch of organizing solutions to contain bags you’re not going to use. Here is how to properly organize what you do use depending on your organizing style.

How to Organize the Insides of Your Bags

Bag organization begins with organizing the insides of our bags. Organized systems within our bags make it much easier to switch between bags. I share how I organize four different types of purses here. Purse organization can be as simple as utilizing pouches like these to fit different categories of items like makeup, chargers, and stationary supplies (found here):

The pouches above make it super easy to switch between purses different sizes of purses. There are also different sizes and styles of purse organizer inserts that make it super quick and easy to switch between purses. Bonus: inserts also help maintain the shape of your purse. They can also be great to insert into briefcases. I suggest utilizing a purse insert set with different sizes of inserts to use between different sizes of purses (found here):

I so wish these backpack organizer inserts were available when I was in school. I LOVED organizing my school supplies. This backpack organizer below would have brought things over the top for me! I’m sure I could find an excuse to use this now though (found here):

To organize your gym bags, duffel bags, and luggage, packing cubes are super helpful. They can separate out outfits, toiletries, and other accessories (found here):

Closet Organizing Solutions

There are a plethora of closet purse organizer hanging solutions available. I find that the best hanging solutions have rounded hooks, like this hanger, to help keep purse handles from warping (found here) (this same style hanger comes in an over-the-door hanger here):

To organize your wallets, setting them up vertically with a wallter organizer like this helps to make wallets easy to find whether you utilize this in a drawer or on a shelf (found here) (here is one that can be used for clutches, and this one here can be hung underneath a wire closet shelf):

For larger purses and bags, closet shelf dividers can be attached to closet shelves allowing you to designate a spot for each bag and to also stand narrow purses upright (found here):

To create shelves from your closet rod, utilizing something like this organizer is perfect for setting larger totes with longer handles into while you hang smaller hand bags from the rod below (found here):

To conserve space while hanging handbags from the closet rod, a hanger like this allows you to store purses sideways from the purse handles (found here):

Protective Purse Storage Solutions

To take extra special care of your higher end bags when not in use, here are some protective organizing solutions to help keep purses in tip top shape. Important tip: for ALL the protective organizing solutions below, to help maintain the shapes of your purses and prevent kinks and creasing, you must stuff your purses. There are luxury purse pillows available like this one here. Simply utilizing crumpled up paper can be all that you need. You can also utilize base shapers like this to set into the bottom of your purse (found here):

The classic dust cover is a super simple protective organizing solution for your purses (found here):

Another style dust cover is this clear version below if you would like your bags to be visible while protected. They have flat bottoms to easily set and store on shelves, or you can hang them by the handles on the hanger solutions above (found here):

To maximize space, you can utilize storage boxes which can be stacked on top of each other. This style storage box below helps reduce visual clutter while still making the contents easily visible through the windows. There are several sizes of this particular organizer below available. This size box can be used for wallets and clutches (found here):

This size here can also be used for wallets and clutches, while this size here can be used for larger purses, and this size here can be used for larger purses or collections.

Organizing Solutions for Display

Some purses, wallets, and clutches are just too pretty to be stored away when not in use. Here are some organizing solutions to display your favorite pieces.

Your favorite wallets and clutches can be stored on a stand like this (found here):

Your favorite handbags can be hung on the wall from these beautiful knob hooks (found here):

Your favorite purses and totes can be hung from an adjustable purse stand like this (found here):

Backpack & Entryway Storage

If you have backpacks and gym bags scattered about your home which you’ve lost count tripping over, here are some organizing solutions for you which also work for entryway organization in general.

Individual hooks are execellent for storing in your mudroom or entryway. But, also, designating a backpack hook in each bedroom might work better for you (found here):

Hook racks either in the entryway or in each bedroom can be the perfect all-in-one organizing solutio for backpacks, jackets, umbrellas, etc. (found here):

The same concept of an all-in-one organizing solution for backpacks and jackets which works well in your entryway is a coat rack (found here):

For all of the backpack/entryway organizing solutions above, you can label each hook for each kid to ensure accountability.

I hope you found some ideas for how to organize your purses, backpacks, briefcases, and gym bags for your organizing style and/or the space that you have! In my next post, I share how to organize your books. Don’t forget to grab my free resources from my freebie library here. Let’s get to the other side of clutter … an organized and functional space!

Happy Organizing!