How Often Do you Clean Out Your Big Handbag?

"Oh my goodness, what do you have in there?"

"It's so HEAVY!"

Those are the comments I usually hear from either my boyfriend, friend, or mom when I ask them to pick up my big, black Kathy Van Zeeland handbag if my hands are full. Most of the time though - those thoughts are my own. What DOES the Good Girl Gone Shopping really need to store in her purse, day in and day out? My Kenneth Cole wallet, black organizer, Betsey Johnson makeup bag, business card holder envelope contraption, keys, phone, a bottled water and a snack usually...

So today, being a Saturday and a day to change old habits, I am cleaning out my handbag. As I discussed in my recent BlogTalkRadio interview with Barbara Howard; I stick to one big black bag that will go with all of my outfits because rotating purses with my outfits always sorta screwed me in the end: I would continously leave this or that in the handbag from the day before. Sooooo, I now stick to one awesome bag and then have my evening clutches for fancy dinners, night clubs, bars, etc. Of course, I will always be on the lookout for a great big bag on sale, and then THAT bag may be my day-to-day purse. (I do have this amazing brown and beige Louis Vuitton canvas bag and a deep red leather Coach bag. Although I rarely use them, it's nice to know that should my outfit work well with either of those -- I have 'em to use! And of course, Betsey Johnson is next on my list.)

Of course the only problem in using the same purse is that I begin to use it as luggage and seriously jampack all that I can in it. As a personal shopper and wardrobe consultant, I would encourage a client to evaluate what they really need, and alleviate the burden of a heavy purse by leaving the unnecessary at home. Why can't I take my own advice? Simply put: I believe that each of those things are a necessity. So, I basically have two options. Either I clean out my handbag once a week and get rid of the bonus contents (such as bills I need to mail or certain pieces of jewelry I decided to take off mid-day), or just leave some things at home.

So I am going to start weeding out and condensing what I deem as necessities. Wish me luck!

How often do you clean out your handbag? (Leeann and Sarah -- this is especially geared to you!)

Photo Credits: Jessica Simpson (http://www.bagsshoesandeverythinginbetween.blogspot.com/), Beyonce (http://www.beauty.glam.com/), Anne Hathaway (http://www.pursepage.com/)