Use freebie makeup cases to organize kid stuff in your purse

I love purses. And I remember a time, before I was a mom, when I could carry teeny tiny purses that were able to hold all of my essentials – lipstick, keys, credit card and cell phone.

But now that I’m a mom, I find myself carrying around huge purses and tote bags because when you have kids your list of essentials grows astronomically. Now my essentials include things like wipes, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, my daughter’s sunglasses, crayons and stickers, water bottle, travel-size first aid kit, enough snacks to feed an army and extra clothes for my daughter. I’m lucky if I can find room to cram in my wallet, keys and cell phone. Forget about the lipstick.

So for awhile, by purse has pretty much been a mess of all of these items jumbled up together. But then I realized that I could put those freebie makeup cases I get at the mall cosmetics counter to work organizing my bag and grouping like items together.

Now I have one case that holds hand sanitizer and my first aid items. Another holds sunscreen and my daughter’s sunglasses. Another holds crayons and stickers for long waits at restaurants or doctor’s appointments. And my daughter’s snacks are packaged together in a 1 quart Ziploc bag with a little extra air for padding.

Now I can reach in my purse and quickly find what I need. And having items like sunscreen and hand sanitizer in their own zippered cases means I don’t have to worry about leaks and spills ruining everything in my purse.

Until I can go back to carrying a tiny purse again, I’ll have to settle for having an organized one.