The start of a new season (or anytime I’m stressed or angry lol), always makes me want to clean out my closets and organize everything. Having a clean and organized home makes me feel more calm, in control, and on top of things. Even if the rest of my life is complete chaos at least my surroundings can be in order. Organizing is also my go-to stress reliever when I’m feeling anxious and out of control, which is like every day lately (why?? Is it just me or is anyone else stress cleaning a lot more than usual?). Funnily enough, I cleaned out almost every drawer, cabinet and closet in our house when we moved and did some major purging of everything — except my own closet. I’m not sure why but probably because we moved a bajillion times, and my closet is probably the most overwhelming space to organize. But I now finally have a big enough closet to fit everything in, so I want to get my entire closet organized, including my purses. While I’ve spent a lot of time creating organizational systems for my clothes and shoes over the years, I only recently began researching good purse organization system.
Most of my handbag collection is just sitting in baskets right now. In fact, I haven’t done any purse organization since we moved and I don’t know that I’ve unpacked all my bags. I didn’t invest in handbags to have them collect dust, so I’d love to find a way to organize my purses so I can see them when getting dressed. I don’t wear half my bags, mostly because I’ve never really found a great purse organization system. While I don’t want my bags to be part of our room decor per se, I also don’t want them so tucked away that I can’t see them. Because you know, out of sight, out of mind, and those babies deserve to see the light of day.
I spent a lot of time in the black hole of Pinterest looking for purse organization ideas and researching all the best organizing tips and organization experts’ recommendations to find the best tips for storing and organizing purses. My goal before spring arrives is to get all my handbags in order once and for all. Here are the best expert ideas and inspiration I found for organizing your purses.
1. Line up bags on overhead shelves. Place the ones you use the least on the highest shelves and keep your every day bags on lower shelves you can more easily reach. This approach to purse organization is great for closets with shelves.
2. Use shelves with cubbies to keep bags organized. It’s like giving each purse its own home, which I love. When it comes to purse organization, but really any type of organizing, if there’s space, I love systems where each item gets its own space because it makes it easier to see and therefore, use.
3. Sort purses when displaying them:
By type.
By color.
By size.
4. Hang handbags on a rack or rod. Use these hooks or clips.
5. Lay large totes flat on shelves.
6. Keep bags you use all the time front and center by using open shelves or cubbies.
7. Display bags on open shelves.
8. Another genius tip for how to organize your handbags: Fill purses with tissue paper, dust bags, and/or t-shirts to keep them upright on shelves.
9. Use shelf dividers to keep bags upright and organized.
10. Turn a bookshelf into a purse cubby by adding hooks for tote bags and lining up clutches on shelves.
11. Love this purse organization hack: Hang totes on shower curtain rings.
12. Arrange totes along shower curtain rods.
13. Store small purses in plastic stacking shelves.
14. Light on space? Hang totes on a floor mirror.
15. Corral clutches in magazine files.
16. For a luxurious approach to purse organization, keep your bag collection safe in a cabinet.
17. Or display bags in an armoire with glass doors so you can see them. They are works of art after all.
18. An easy, budget-friendly approach to purse organization: Hang bags on wall hooks.
19. My favorite purse organizing trick for small spaces: Line up bags on the back of your door. There are lots of purse organizers you can buy that’ll do just this.
20. Place clutches in open trays.
21. Use every bit of closet space when organizing your purses in a small space. Installing narrow baskets along closets walls is a great way to maximize unused space.
22. Line them up in drawers. Use draw dividers as purse organizers.
23. Such a sneaky purse organizing trick that makes a big impact: Install hooks below shelves to hang bags.
24. Arrange clutches on magazine files. Who knew office supplies could serve as purse organizers?
25. The best way to organize purses in an entrance that doesn’t have a closet: Hang bags on a coat rack.
And those are my top purse organization tips, tricks and ideas. Now onto the shoes…
Shop My Favorite Purse Organizers:
Suzanne says
I love the one with the glass doors, but most of all this is making me think I need to completely re-work my closet. Thanks for all the great tips!
krismkoch says
Thanks for reading!!
Delfina Opdahl-de Werk says
“ 4. Use clear dividers to organize purses on shelves or in cabinets.•
where does one get clear dividers like those?
krismkoch says
Hi! These are great; https://shopstyle.it/l/bhiZ9
Grady Elliott says
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Gina Acuna says
This is very timely for me as I’ve been researching on how best to store my purses so I can see what I have. I’m currently using a large lined wicker basket that I can’t see through for some bags and a wire shelf for small hand bags. I keep non-leather totes inside each other…(beach totes). The expensive ones I would like to be able to display upright so the idea of filling them with tissue paper is great.
krismkoch says
thanks so much for reading and glad these were helpful. Organizing purses is the hardest i’ve found, but if you can’t see them in some kind of order, you never end up using them, at least in my experience.
Kelsey says
Thanks for showing so many different ways to organize bags! This is exactly what I needed to inspire my closet! And also makes me feel like I don’t have too many purses compared to all of the pictures haha
krismkoch says
thanks so much for reading! I’m glad it helped
Misty says
So glad I found this article. It’s very helpful.
krismkoch says
thank you so much! so glad you found it helpful!
Jane Jiles says
The glass cabinet was what I chose for my overflow bags that didn’t fit in the closet. I also used makeup pallette dividers for my wallets, wristlets and other smalls which worked out perfectly 🙂
Annette Sheppard says
You should never hang a Lux bag, it will lose its shape. All the other options were great though.
Sharon Davidson says
I have a closet organizer but too many shoes and a serious collection of handbags. I spent the week redoing my handbags and clearing out old clothes and shoes. The problem with most closet storage solutions is that dust will get to the bags if they aren’t covered and you can’t see them when they ARE covered in fabric dust bags. I’m trying individual clear plastic with breathable backing individual bags. We’ll see how that goes! I’ve hung my bags and lined the clutches on the shelves for years, but dust is a problem, even when hanging under a shelf, at least on the top and handles of the bags. I’m coming back in my next life with a huge closet complete with island and enclosed plastic front cubbies to display bags. Geez, that sounds shallow, but I do love handbags!
~ Sarah Painter ~ says
~ First, many thanks for the great inspiration. I have a small reach-in that has been maximised to work for me. I am left-handed so, my clothes are arranged from right to left. I tried folding items like tees but it just looks tacky. Rolling rather than folding a la Marie Kondo, they’re stored in a dresser drawer for easy access. Second, my shoes, both high heels and flats are stored on a wooden shoe bench. Eight pairs of cowgirl boots from tall to mid-calf are stored on the floor–each pair with boot trees. My cowgirl ankle boots and a pair of Prada ankle boots have shoe trees inside and are stored on a lower shelf. Third, my 5 handbags which are rotated are: 2 Brahmins, 1 vintage Dooney & Bourke, a large suede Ralph Lauren and an STS cowhide bag are all stored in dust bags when not in use. Last, my jewelry box is also stored on a shelf for easy access. Cowgirl hats are on top of the shoe bench. Twice a year, I vacuum/dust everything and every 4 months or so, I go through items to see what I might donate. It’s an ever growing process that evolves and gets better over time. ~
Mrs. Sarah Painter says
~ I forgot to add that I hate plastic hangers. Instead, I invested in various Joy Mangano hangers in red, my favourite colour. Originally, I wanted red velvet with brass but they sold out. A few red hangers have a silver tone finish which I can live with. My leather pants are on wooden hangers to maintain the skins. I also use a multi-level red pants hanger for all the leggings I wear throughout the year. ~