This is one of those posts that gives me perspective about my life. I remember seventeen-ish years ago, I was fresh out of college and had my first job in the real world. I worked at an R&D facility with mostly men, and mostly men that were old enough to be my father. (My now husband, Jay, being one of the very few exceptions.)

One fateful morning I was hurrying into work when I did the unthinkable—I dropped my purse. It wasn’t a clean drop, but a rather messy one. Somehow the purse inconveniently stayed strapped to my shoulders, so instead of just dropping the whole purse on the floor, the contents spilled onto the floor. All of them.

Luckily, or not so luckily, one of the many men that I worked with was at the ready to help. Very sweet, but OMG—I thought I would die as we collected off of the floor all of the former contents of my purse—coins, lipstick, gum, tampons and all other sorts of fun things that really, should just be kept in your purse and not strewn on the floor of your place of employment.

Flash forward seventeen-ish years and, gee, gone are the opportunities to spill my purse in public so why not just willingly share photos of the contents so everyone can see the inside of my purse? It makes perfect sense, right? OK…not really, but I’m going to do it any way and just be amused by the complete contrast of these two events—spilling my purse and thinking I would die, to now willingly spilling the beans about my purse in the public forum known as my blog. Have I evolved as a person, or is this random chatter just an attempt at avoiding the unveiling of my purse? These are the things I ponder…

OK…stalling over. Here’s the inside…

Butler bag inside

Wow…that holds a lot of stuff, doesn’t it? From left to right we have, two Eco friendly bags, a magazine and my mini binder, which holds a print-out of my calendar and my to-do lists. Now, going counter clockwise around the inside compartments I have saline solution, lip balm and pens in one compartment. In the next compartment is my pouchee—which fits perfectly, I must add! (This was very thrilling for me.) The next compartment has photos of my kids and Kleenex. (Which clearly don’t go together, but fit well in the space.) The next compartment up has my MP3 player and a tiny tape measure (underneath.) The last compartment has two tins filled with First Aid items and a little notebook. Hidden inside (and kept in place with a zipper!) are those personal items that you don’t want spilling on the floor at your place of employment, or anywhere else for that matter. 🙂

Here’s a close up of the little tins. I used gift card tins from Michael’s which work great for storing bandages and such, and they use the vertical space in the bag quite nicely.

Purse organizer

So…what’s the verdict on the Butler Bag? I really, really like it. I love the idea of the compartments and I love that there is a place for everything—and I mean everything. I have never in my life owned such a big purse. Had I purchased this bag in person, as opposed to on-line, I probably would have opted for a smaller bag. But, I do I love that I can carry my mini binder right in my purse, because I’m still not an electronic calendar girl. And you know I love magazines, so being able to take a long a book or magazine, is truly a bonus. All in all, I love the concept of the Butler Bag. The compartments totally rock because, just like organizing a larger space, they give you a specific place for everything. I also love that you can see every single thing in your bag just by peering inside (except for the things you tuck into the zipper pocket.) So, all in all, I think it’s a brilliant organizing solution for one of those areas of life that is really important to get under control—your purse. I think my next Butler Bag, however, will be the next size smaller. But, I guess that’s testament enough:  I will get another Butler Bag. 🙂

If you’re interested in the Butler Bag, you can get leather bags on the Butler Bag website. Non-leather versions are available at K-Mart.

OK…happy weekend to you! I’d love to hear about your purse organizing or spilling adventures…if you’re up for sharing. 🙂