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Find Your Keys; Lose the Stress


For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
1 Corinthians 14:33

Where are my keys? I was sure I'd placed them in their home base of my purse but in my hurry I couldn't feel them in there. A trip into the house and a bit of stress later, I realized they'd been in my purse all along.


In that moment, I blurted out to God to expand my time. "Maybe it's not more time but more order," was the gentle return in my heart. I was reminded of a book I just read, The Get Yourself Organized Project by Kathi Lipp. Before you run screaming for the door, let me confess I don't typically care for organizational books. I need no extra guilt in my life and those type of publications usually leave me feeling less than in every possible way.


If you're like me and your heart longs for organization not to win the Martha Stewart Homemaker of the Year award but because you desire more time to invest in your family, Kathi wrote this book for you. It's written for mere mortals who need quick, easy ways to declutter and destress.


To celebrate her new book, she's hosting a challenge today called the National Clean Out Your Purse Day.




Interestingly, my purse is one of the places for me that pretty much stays cleaned up, so I provided my personal purse contents for you here:



1. My Coupon Organizer - No I'm not an extreme couponer but I do keep some restaurant, grocery and other coupons handy that I know I'll use.
2. My Slimline New Testament - I'm a bit old fashioned. Even though I know I can read the Bible on my phone sometimes I like to hold the actual thing. Of course reading required use of #5.
3. My Keys
4. My Hand Lotion (Clara gave me a new bottle for Mother's Day)
5. My Reading Glasses
6. My Pen Pouch - I keep pens and pencils handy for check writing, homework, taking notes in church or anything else that comes up.
7. My Sunglasses
8. My Brush
9. My Lipgloss - A girl can never have too many!


That is everything in my purse except a couple items in the inner pockets - my business card holder, my pics of my kids, items for "that" time, gum, mints and my phone, my ear buds and of course my wallet. It makes finding what I need super easy! None of these are hard and fast rules, just a suggestion of what works for me.


I'm also posting a picture of my new purse (it's so cute I couldn't resist.) I only carry one so it matches my hair color. A great tip I got from Shari Braendel






Want to join in the fun? Kathi has tons of great prizes for participants on her webpage. With her easy organizational tips you'll find your keys and lose the stress!

22 comments:

  1. I'm always losing my keys inside of my purse, chasing them all over. I reach and reach and can never find them or my cell phone for that matter. Your purse contents are very impressive, by the way;)

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    1. lol, Courtney, if you ever have a lipgloss emergency, I have you covered!

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  2. Love your devotionals and blogs :)

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  3. Hi Shannon - I am a person who thrives on organization and routine and so God linked me up with a husband who is the total opposite. So therein lies my challenge, to cope in disorganization. Lol I can understand where the saying organized chaos comes from. Great post
    God bless
    Tracy

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    1. Tracy, "organized chaos" funny! Organized chaos is what it's like raising four kids who currently go to four different schools. :)

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  4. Can you come organize my purse??? Right now I'm using a huge diaper bag, but I have 3 boys under 4 (2 in cloth diapers full time and one nearly potty trained... but in need of spare clothes a times). I rarely get to carry a purse these days. It seems that my coupons end up in the wrong thing (purse or diaper bag) whenever I go shopping!

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    1. Audra, I have four girls in total and two who were sixteen months apart so I can remember carrying a diaper bag as a purse. I used to slip a bag down inside my diaper bag so I could take my wallet out when I needed to leave the bag at the nursery or whatever so you could try something like that. :)

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  5. This post reminds me of a Bible Study I attended where every table had to find things from A to Z in their purses as an ice breaker. The woman to my left, a law enforcement officer, said she had the letter G, but did not want to take it out of her purse. I was glad she left her gun in the bag. :)

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    1. lol, Lyli, that's hilarious! I tend to stick with G is for Gum! :)

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  6. Thank you for the reminder of what I must do. I purchased a nice purse with a pocket for phone and keys, and it is a nice purse for dress. However for every day I went to Ross and purchased a larger purse to fit everything in. Now I must do some cleaning and transfer. Loved your story

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    1. See this is why I only carry one purse. I can barely keep the one clean! :)

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  7. You know I am pretty organized but my purse is the thing that gets out of control. I just changed to a new one May 1st so I'm still in good shape. Oh and side note, I bought a ring for my keys that can slip over my hand like a bracelet when I'm out and at home hang on a door knob. I'm getting better about not misplacing them.

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    1. That's a REALLY good idea. I've seen those purse hooks but that just looked like a hassle to me but a ring is genius!

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  8. I am not too organized but I do clean out the junk in my purse, occasionally...You had a lot in yours:)

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    1. Well I do still have four kids at home... In my defense some of the lipgloss is their colors! lol!

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  9. I misplace things all the time. I locked myself out of the house last week. I lost the spare key (a while ago). Its annoying.

    I hope your purse organizer helps. I don't carry a purse currently, but I'm sure I wouldn't loose things as much if I did.

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    1. Regina, we installed one of those exterior garage door opener keypads mostly for the kids but I find it super useful when I'm running and of course so I won't get locked out...which would totally happen to me!

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  10. Oh man! Cleaning out my purse is a never ending task! As soon as I get organized, it doubles as a diaper bag and it's full of crazy things again!

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    1. I used to absolutely crack up at the toys, crayons, etc. that I used to find crammed in my purse!

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  11. I have a friend who carries EVERYTHING in her huge bag (purse)...even a hammer and screwdriver. She is what I would call my girl scout - prepared for whatever comes along. LOL

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    1. That reminds me I used to keep a measuring tape in my purse. You just never know when you might want to measure something! :)

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