I'll Take an Order of Organization
With a Shot of Structure

Cyndi Seidler
05/08/06

Every morning my friend Susan stands in line at Starbucks for her first round of coffee for the day.  "Give me a large latte with a shot of vanilla," she tells the clerk at the counter.  She then reaches in her purse for the money and spends at least 1-2 minutes searching for her misplaced cash.

I know because I've stood next to her in that line more than once.  And, each time she manages to misplace her cash.  And, each time the customers behind us grow impatient.

One glance in her purse would tell you why: it seemed she carried everything except her laptop in it and things were all jumbled up like stuff thrown in a waste basket.

After observing the growing anger from people in line behind us on the third occasion of her money search, I decided it was time to give her my "get organized" lecture.  I usually try to resist this impulse because some people don't take kindly to unasked advice. And, as a professional organizer, I usually get paid for my advice. But, if I were to ever go out to have coffee with Susan again, I knew this advice was a must.

We sat down with our drinks and I didn't wait another moment.  "Open up your purse, Susan," I ordered.  I knew I could be a bit bossy with her because we were very good friends.  And, I knew she knew where I was going with this.

"That's right, open it up and show me the insides," I demanded again after seeing her embarrassed apprehension. Susan put her purse on the table and obediently opened it up, as asked.

With as much diplomacy as I could muster, I informed her that it was a mess and that it was a wonder she could find anything in it at all.  Her look told me she knew this already.

I saved myself a full lecture and just got her permission to organize it right there on the spot. So, she proceeded to empty the contents of her large purse. Out came crumbled papers, a 5" thick wallet, a coin purse, her keys, two bank wallets, a phone book, an appointment book, her cell phone, some loose makeup, a hair brush, hair spray, a few nail polish bottles, some unopened mail, a notepad, various wads of cash, tickets to past concerts, numerous pens, a tape measure, and a CD. And, this didn't include the stuff placed in zipper compartments.

The table surface ran out of room after the hair brush was taken out, but we managed to grab other chairs as temporary places to put things for our sorting process. 

With a series of questions about the items, we both learned that she didn't need a majority of what she carried around with her.  I got a bag from the clerk and we put the items she didn't need to carry around into it.  This bag would go home with her to be put away.  Many papers were just tossed in the trash can.

All that was left to keep in her purse were her keys, wallet, coin purse, one check wallet, one lipstick and powder case, a couple pens, a business card case, notepad, phonebook, appointment book, and her cell phone.  We were almost done.

The fact remained that she still had lack of organization and needed to condense what she had.  So, I made a shopping list and it consisted of an organizer, a new wallet, and makeup bag. 

The organizer would contain her phonebook information, appointments, notes, and some credit cards.  This would get rid of her need to carry a separate notepad, phonebook, and appointment book.  The new wallet would be larger and also allow her to carry coins, thereby getting rid of the need for a separate coin purse.  And, a small makeup bag would contain her makeup.

When Susan realized that she would only be carrying a few items in her purse, she took the pen out of my hand and added to the shopping list: small purse.

"You had me at 'empty that purse,'" she said.

Did I? I wondered.  Well, my task was done.  I knew the next time we met at Starbucks, she would pull out her cash in a couple seconds and we'd be sipping coffee and talking about our day.

So, what's in your wallet?