Purse downsizing -- is it life changing?

Tuesday morning I got inspired to clean out and declutter my purse after reading “10 Life Changing Minimalist Practices” by one of my favorite YouTube vloggers, minimalist Shannon Torrens. In it she wrote, among other things, how much it helped her to downsize her purse and that she didn’t even miss the things she removed.

I already wear my purse across my body like she recommends because that is better for my back and shoulders. But mine has gotten too heavy even so and gives me pain where the strap rests on my shoulder at the base of my neck. I could get a back pack style that would distribute the weight more evenly. Though I am concerned that would not be secure enough. Experts recommend carrying them in front which seems awkward.

I dumped all the stuff out of it onto my bed and started sorting. I was surprised how much junk there was. I didn’t think to weigh it until after I discarded the junk and removed a few extra hankies that were in there but they were light so it wouldn’t have made much difference. The total weight of the purse plus contents, was 4.2 pounds (1.91 kilograms). My empty purse weighs 1.2 pounds. That means there were 3 pounds of stuff in it (that is almost one and a half kilograms.)

I looked it up and the average woman’s handbag, including contents, weighs 5.5 pounds according to one article, and 6.27 pounds according to another. But the "ideal" weight, according to the USDA, is no more than 2.2 pounds. (I wonder why the US Department of Agriculture is studying the weight of women's handbags?)

Anyway, I separated out several things that I don’t need very often but I keep in my purse “just in case” and put them in a Ziploc bag to keep in the glove compartment in my car for when I need them.  I was amazed to discover that my little coin purse weighs 0.482 pounds (7.712 ounces). That is almost a half-pound of coins that I almost never need. I put it in the “just in case” bag as well. The total of all that stuff is 0.6 pounds (9.6 ounces).

That reduced my purse to 3.6 pounds. But I wanted to do better.

I weighed my wallet and keys since they seemed a little heavier than necessary and I thought I could reduce them a little.

The wallet was 0.820 pounds (13.12 ounces). After removing unnecessary business and "reward" cards and filing receipts I got the wallet down to 0.694 pounds (11.15 ounces). It’s probably heavier than average because it’s leather. (I got fed up with how quickly cheaply made wallets fell apart so I splurged.)

The keys were 0.422 (6.752 ounces). (That included a separate set for our RV.) That is too many keys! I decided to only keep keys in my purse that I will need when I am out and about. Other keys such as RV keys and ones I only need while at home--such as mail box and filing cabinet keys--I won’t keep in my purse. Hopefully that won’t lead to too many frantic searches or confusion. I also removed all but one key tag/rewards card—a couple I put in my wallet in place of the full-sized rewards cards that I was also carrying. I may not even need those since just giving my phone number seems to be enough at most stores. All those changes brought the keys in my purse down to 0.178 pounds (2.85 ounces). That reduced it by 4 ounces.

That got my total down to 3.4 pounds (1.54 kilograms). So now my purse is almost one-pound lighter than when I started. I might look for a smaller purse to get it even lighter.

So will it change my life? I don't know but it was nice to have less weight to carry around yesterday afternoon when I was out for a few hours. I had less pain in my shoulder and it was easier to find things too. I showed my husband later. He joked, “but where will you put the kitchen sink?” I think he was impressed :-)