Reviewed: Pouchee

I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I tend to use things as long as humanly possible, and I don't have a lot of the same kind of thing in different styles. I have just one purse (a Butler Bag) and one wallet. My wallet, a red leather number that cost me fifteen dollars at the Ventura County Fair, was about seven years old and on its last legs when I went to San Diego for the NAPO conference in April. While there, I checked out so many neat products and got to see in person for the first time a product called the Pouchee. I'd heard about it from other professional organizers, and when I saw it I knew it would be my wallet replacement.

The Pouchee is basically a well-designed wallet with the feature of handles meant to make it easy to transfer from one bag to another. It also expands so you can put all your other pertinent stuff in it to make transitioning from bag to bag super easy. I don't use that feature often, but I do love the pockets, which are the perfect size to hold my cell phone and my iPod Nano. The zippered inner pocket holds my cash and coins securely and out of sight.

They come in lots of colors and in leather and cloth. I debated a good while over the red leather or the red cloth, but the cloth one was washable and seemed more what I needed. I've been using it ever since conference and couldn't be happier with it.

I recommend Pouchee wholeheartedly!

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com. Sign up for Lelah's News, a once-monthly newsletter.

A year ago: Preparedness, professional organizing and the Butler Bag

Here are selection of posts from late summer 2009. September has sort of snuck up on my this year, as I've been out of town, but I'm looking forward to fall as the weather changes (slightly--I am in Southern California), and as a culture we experience a renewal with back-to-school time and start peeking our heads around the corner to that most anticipated and dreaded time of year, the "holidays."

Are you an overbuyer? If so, you may need a professional organizer's help to tame your possessions and streamline your life.

September is National Preparedness Month. Are you prepared for the little and big things that might come your way today, this week, this year?

The 7 things that should be in every glove compartment.

A year later, I'm still in love with my Butler Bag. It keeps me organized and its bright red color energizes me. Only complaint - it can get very heavy - so I tend not to use it if I'm going to be spending a lot of time walking around.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Reviewed: Butler Bag

After having long coveted one, I received a Hybrid Butler Bag in Red Licorice for my birthday last month. I immediately switched the contents of my old purse, also a bright red color, which had always garnered lots of compliments, but was wearing out after three years of continuous use. It took about a week to get used to the bag’s layout of compartments and figure out how to best use them, but once I got the hang of it, I fell in love.

The beauty of the Butler Bag is that there is only so much room to hold stuff, and no more. The compartments are dedicated spaces for you to put your belongings, so you can keep your makeup in one, your cell phone in another, etc. But there is not unlimited space. At first I couldn’t figure out where to put my iPod Touch, notebook or reading book, but then I realized there is wonderful space on either side of the built-in compartments perfect for storing something hard and flat, like a book or journal. There are also two slim pckets on the outside of either end. I haven’t decided what to use those for yet. They aren’t quite roomy enough to put car keys in, but maybe after I continue breaking in this bag I’ll find a use for them.

Here are some pictures of my bag, empty and full:

And if you like what you see, click here to get the Butler Bag! I'm a Butler Bag affiliate, so if you click on the link and buy something, I'll get a small commission.

I recently found out that they are disctonintuing both the original Butler Bag and the Hybrid, the one I have, for good, and will instead come out with new designs every quarter. I’m sure the new bags will have compartments and be just as functional as the old bags, but I suppose fashion-conscious consumers might want to have the choice of an updated look more frequently.

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

Organizer’s blog digest

If you are like me, and spend a good amount of time online during the day, either for work or play, you know that there are a lot of really amazing blogs and resources on the web for almost any topic you can think of. A lot of us use feed readers to organize our RSS subscriptions so that we don’t have to visit each individual blog we’re interested in all the time to see new posts. If that last sentence read like Greek to you, or if you haven’t figured out how to use a feed reader, take a moment and set one up, now. I recommend Google Reader, since pretty much everyone already has a Gmail or Google account and it is very easy to use. Here’s a nifty How To on the subject to help you get started: How to Use Google Reader

Anyway, I made a folder to hold all of the organizing blogs I’ve come across, and I catch up on these posts every day. There is always something new to be learned in the world of organizing, as well as new ways to get inspired. Here’s my own version of a mini feed reader, the best in organizing blogs over the last week or so:

Unclutter is a great blog, full of good advice and an amazing network of readers whose comments are often inspiring and insightful. This week they mention the Butler Bag, a nifty line of ultra-organized handbags that I am a big fan of. Check out their post and the Butler Bag website.

Monica Ricci is a favorite of mine, and this week on her blog she asks readers to tune in to her new Vicki and Jen podcast edition of The Big O, which airs this week. Read her post, and then my post about the same awesome podcast series!

Lorie Marrero at the Clutter Diet Blog always has the best advice and a really clear way of explaining things. This week she wrote about what we can learn about organization from bees among other interesting topics.