Spring Clean What?

Spring cleaning? Don’t forget your purse. How did it get so messy so quickly?

Candid moment- and don’t laugh at me. Years ago, a friend of mine asked for a piece of candy at church. She knew I always had something in my purse. I reached in, pulled out a piece of candy, and passed it to her. I thought I saw a look, but I shrugged it off. Later that day, I reached in for a piece of candy for myself and was horrified to discover it had these little pieces of purse grit in it. Ew! All of sudden it clicked. I knew what the look was about- purse grit. After that incident, I started keeping my candy in a baggy and eventually upgraded to a purse tote. It was years before she ever asked me for another piece of candy even though I made sure she saw me using my new tote system. LOL. Even I have to laugh at that.

Now, you may not have had that problem but you can probably identify with an overcrowded and cluttered purse. In there we have tissues, a mirror, small comb or 

brush, nail file, pens, lipstick and/or lip gloss, extra face mask (at least while we’re in the pandemic), cough drops or candy, a snack in case we or the kids get hungry, pain med or allergy meds, checkbook, loose change, head covering if you wear one at church, and a wallet. In your wallet: more coins, paper money, eight debit/ credit cards, receipts, business cards, medical cards, coupons, a post-it with a shopping list on it or reminder.

We keep planning to get to it, but are running a hundred miles a minute, between devotions and bible study in the morning, and then work, home-life, side hustles, kids, school, dinner, and more. But our cluttered purse could be costing us money. There could be coupons expiring, gas points expiring, coins treated like an inconvenience, or money rolled up in receipts. You could have business cards for services you could be leveraging to free you up for other things. Carrying around eight debit/credit cards is likely fueling your overspending habit. Tip: carry only the card that is linked to your miscellaneous spending account, if you carry one at all. Put all the others away at home- or shred them and make a clean break. Either way, while you are spring cleaning, don’t forget your purse!