Get Out the Door Faster in the Morning With a ‘Bag Zone’

There are levels to purse and bag organization. You have to organize where you store your bags, organize within your bags, and even use the bags you've already organized to organize other stuff in your home. But you should also be organizing the things that regularly go into your bag. By doing that, you'll speed up leaving the house and will stay on track with your overall organization.

Create a "bag zone"

I got this idea from social media (because of course I did). I saw a reel from home organizer and stylist Anna Page. In it, she explained that she designated a "purse station" to contain all the items she normally puts in her purse when she leaves the house. Now, she uses a beautiful, antique-looking piece of storage furniture for this, but even a drawer or tray by your front door can do the job.

The reel got me thinking about how annoying it is for me when I switch bags—which, unfortunately, I do every single day. I have to pull everything I carry on the go out of the bag I was using and put it in the new one. That usually includes my wallet, my passport, my keys, my small on-the-go makeup case, a phone charger, a pen, my computer, a computer charger, an Apple Watch charger, extra contact lenses, eye drops, spare glasses, lip balm, clear lip gloss, headphones, gum, hand sanitizer, hand lotion, a mini perfume, facial sunblock... and that's to say nothing of the day-specific items I pack, like whatever lipstick I'm wearing, foldable flats, the sunglasses I'm wearing, any documents or little things I need for the day, and truly, God knows what else. Since most of those items—the contact lenses, the hand sanitizer—stay the same day to day, that means I'm constantly moving them from bag to bag.

Typically, I leave them in whatever bag they're in when I get home, then move them right before I head out the door. I can't tell you how many times this haphazard approach has resulted in me being blinded for lack of spare contacts, refused entry somewhere for lack of the right identification, or simply annoyed when I don't have my hand lotion. Page's method of putting all these daily essentials in one organized place every day solves the issue. Upon arrival home, you take everything from the bag and put it into the bag zone you created, pulling out anything that was a one-time pack, like a particular lipstick or document, and putting it away elsewhere. This keeps everything together, plus it immediately frees up the bag you were using, meaning you can put that back where it goes, too, without risking accidentally packing away your stuff with it.

"Bag zone" tips

As with any decluttering and organizing approach, make sure the interior of the drawer or tray you choose is well organized all the time. Do this by knolling, or creating small boundaried sections within the area and sorting similar items together within those sections. Consider using small containers to keep things in order within your bag zone, ideally ones you could grab and drop into your tote on the way out if you had to.

Obviously, you may have different everyday items than I do, but when it comes to a bag zone, think about what you might need on any given day. You should have an umbrella in there, for instance, even though you don't bring it out every morning. If you have a variety of bags you use at different times, like a diaper bag, a school bag, a purse, create separate zones for them.

Commit to unpacking your bag the second you get home every single time so it becomes second nature and you always know exactly where your essentials are. Put the bag away as soon as it's unpacked. Doing it like this will also eliminate any confusion around the whereabouts of a certain item, like your house keys, because it means they won't be in some random bag, but right where they need to be.