Last Saturday my husband took my three kids to the park for the morning. I stayed home with a cup of coffee and a quiet kitchen. I turned my purse upside down on the kitchen table and let everything fall out. My shoulder had been sore for weeks, and I finally wanted to know why.

The pile covered most of the table. I sorted it into a keep pile and a toss pile. The toss pile was bigger. Then I put the keep pile back in the bag and carried that lighter purse through an ordinary week of school pickups, errands, appointments, and a practice on a cold field.

Here is what I learned about the things I had been carrying for no reason, and the things that actually helped me during the week.

Get rid of: Loose receipts can go straight into the recycling bin

The first thing I pulled from the pile on my kitchen table was a thick stack of receipts. Gas station receipts, grocery receipts, pharmacy receipts. Some of the ink had faded so much I could not read the store name. I had kept them in case I needed to return something. I went through the stack slowly. There was nothing I would ever return. Everything had been eaten, worn, or used up months ago. During the week that followed, I asked for email receipts at the register or said no thank you to the paper. Nothing bad happened.

Plain takeaway. Receipts are useful for a few days at most, so let them go before they reach the bottom of the bag.

Get rid of: Expired coupons are only paper

Mixed in with the receipts on the kitchen table were coupons. I remember feeling proud when I clipped them. A coupon for a coffee shop I drive past but rarely stop at. A coupon for a store across town. I checked the dates. Most had expired the season before. I had been carrying them around for months, which means I had been carrying the idea of saving money instead of the actual money. On Tuesday at the grocery store, the cashier scanned the digital coupons on my phone, and that was all I needed.

Plain takeaway. If a coupon has expired or is for a store you do not visit, it is just paper, and paper adds up.

Get rid of: A handful of dead pens is not the same as a pen

At the bottom of the purse pile I found a cluster of pens. Pens from a bank, a pen from the dentist, a pen with a chewed cap that I think belonged to our youngest. I tested each one on the back of an envelope. Most left only a scratch. A couple leaked. I had carried the whole handful because I assumed that so many pens meant I would always have a pen. The truth was that I had been digging through broken pens at the pharmacy counter for weeks. I threw out every pen that did not write.

Plain takeaway. Several pens that do not work are worse than no pens, because they hide the real problem.

Get rid of: Old lip balms

I counted several tubes of lip balm on the kitchen table. I will not say how many, because it embarrassed me. A couple had lint stuck to the cap. A couple were nearly empty. A couple were flavors I did not even like, which is why they were still full. I had been buying a new tube every time I could not find the old one, and the old ones kept sinking to the bottom. I kept a single tube that was clean and almost new. The rest went in the trash.

Plain takeaway. If you cannot find something in your purse, buying another is not the fix, cleaning out the purse is.

Get rid of: Punch cards for places I rarely visit only take up space

My wallet was so thick it would not close. When I emptied it onto the kitchen table, I found a stack of loyalty punch cards. A sandwich shop card with a couple of punches. A smoothie card from a place that has since changed names. A car wash card. I tried to remember the last time I had used any of them. I could not. The free sandwich I was supposedly working toward was never going to happen. I kept the single card for the coffee place I actually stop at after school pickup. The rest went in the recycling.

Plain takeaway. A reward you will never collect is just a card that makes your wallet harder to close.

Get rid of: A paperback I never open stays home now

Near the top of the pile on my kitchen table was a paperback. I had put it in my purse at the start of the school year with good intentions. I pictured myself reading in the car line. In reality I spent the car line answering texts and watching for our oldest to come out the side door. The book had a bent cover and a receipt for a bookmark. I had read maybe a chapter. During the week I left the book on my nightstand and read a few pages before bed instead. I got further in those few nights than I had in months of carrying it.

Plain takeaway. Carrying a book is not the same as reading a book, so keep it where you actually read.

Get rid of: Full size hand lotion is too heavy for a purse

A large bottle of hand lotion sat in the middle of the pile on my kitchen table. It was the kind that sits next to a bathroom sink. I had dropped it in my bag during a dry stretch in winter and never taken it out. When I weighed it in my hand I understood a lot about my sore shoulder. I moved the big bottle to the kitchen counter by the sink, where I actually wash my hands all day. I put a tiny travel tube in the purse instead. By Wednesday I had already used the small one after a cold walk into the library.

Plain takeaway. The size of a product should match the place you use it, and a purse calls for the small size.

Get rid of: Loose change at the bottom of the bag goes in a jar at home

When I shook my empty purse over the kitchen table, coins rained out. Pennies, a few quarters, a button that was not a coin at all. The coins had been sliding around the bottom for so long that the lining had a gray dust in the corners. I scooped the change into a jar on the counter. During the week I noticed I almost never need coins. The parking meter near the dentist takes a card. The school fundraiser took cash in bills. The jar on the counter is now where my husband and my kids drop their coins too.

Plain takeaway. Coins are heavy and rarely useful on the go, so give them a home that is not your purse.

Get rid of: An old charging cable that fits nothing can be let go

Tangled around a lip balm on the kitchen table was a charging cable. I untangled it and looked at the end. It did not fit my phone. It did not fit my husband’s phone either. It fit a tablet our middle one had outgrown long ago. I had been carrying it because a cable feels like a responsible thing to have. It was not a responsible thing to have. It was a knot. I put it in the drawer where we keep the cables we might someday need, and I made a note to check what my current phone actually requires.

Plain takeaway. A cable that fits nothing you own is a tangle, not a backup.

Get rid of: Keys that open nothing do not belong on the ring

My key ring was the last thing I dealt with at the kitchen table. I spread the keys out and tried to name each one. My car key, the house key, the key to my mom’s house. Then a small brass key I could not place. Then a key with a round head from a lock I think we replaced when our youngest was a baby. I slid the mystery keys off the ring and put them in an envelope in the junk drawer. During the week, finding the right key in a dark parking lot was faster because there were fewer to feel through.

Plain takeaway. A key you cannot name is one more thing to sort through when you are in a hurry.

Keep: A small pack of tissues earns its spot

On Monday I carried my lighter purse to school pickup. Our youngest climbed into the car with a runny nose and a cold hand. I reached into the front pocket and found the travel pack of tissues I had decided to keep during the Saturday sort. I handed one back without taking my eyes off the car line. By Friday, standing on the cold field for practice, I had used tissues for a nose, for a spilled drink, and for a muddy knee. The pack weighs almost nothing and I used it every single day.

Plain takeaway. Tissues are the item I reach for most often, and a small pack is worth keeping in the easiest pocket to reach.

Keep: A few bandages save a trip home

On Wednesday I took my kids to the library after school. Our middle one caught a finger on the edge of a metal shelf and started to cry quietly. It was a tiny scrape, but there was a dot of blood, and a dot of blood is a big deal when you are small. I unzipped the pouch in my purse and pulled out a bandage with a cartoon on it. The crying stopped before I finished peeling the paper off. We stayed, picked out books, and went home on schedule. Without that bandage, I would have had a whole evening set off course.

Plain takeaway. A few bandages take up almost no room and can turn a short cry into a short pause.

Keep: A pen that writes is worth carrying

On Tuesday I stood at the pharmacy counter and the pharmacist slid a form across for me to sign. For months this moment has meant digging through my bag and testing dead pens while the line grew behind me. This time I reached into the side pocket and pulled out the single pen I had tested at my kitchen table on Saturday. It wrote on the first try. I signed and moved on. Later that day I used the same pen to write a note for our oldest’s teacher. A working pen is a small thing until you do not have it.

Plain takeaway. Test your pen at home and carry only the pen that passes.

Keep: A small snack keeps the afternoon calm

On Thursday our middle one had a dentist appointment right after school. The waiting room was full and the appointment ran late. Our youngest came along and got hungry and loud. I pulled a small bag of crackers from my purse. I had packed them on Saturday after the sort, in the space where the big lotion bottle used to live. The crackers bought me enough quiet to fill out the paperwork and get everyone home for dinner without a meltdown in the parking lot. My husband came home to a normal evening instead of a hard one.

Plain takeaway. A small snack in your bag can carry you through the gap between an appointment and dinner.

Keep: Hair ties are used more than I expected

On Friday I stood on the sidelines at practice while the wind picked up. My hair blew into my face and I could not see the field. I found a hair tie around the strap of my purse and pulled my hair back. A few minutes later another mom on the sidelines asked if I had a spare. I did. I had looped several around the inside zipper pull on Saturday because I kept finding them loose on the kitchen table. They cost almost nothing and weigh almost nothing. By the end of the week I had used them for my hair, for a bag of chips, and for a bundle of papers from school.

Plain takeaway. A few hair ties on a zipper pull solve more small problems than you would guess.

Keep: A travel pack of wet wipes handles most messes

On Thursday after the dentist, our youngest ate a cookie from the front desk and ended up with chocolate on both hands and on the car door. I reached into my purse for the small travel pack of wipes I had kept during Saturday’s sort. A single wipe cleaned the hands. Another cleaned the door before it dried. On Tuesday at the grocery store I had used one on a sticky cart handle. These are the same wipes I used when my kids were in diapers, and I had not realized how much I still needed them.

Plain takeaway. Wipes are not just for babies, and a small pack can handle most of the messes a day brings.

Keep: A folded reusable bag comes in handy at the store

On Tuesday I stopped at the grocery store for milk and bread and ended up with more than I planned, which is how grocery trips go for me. At the register I remembered the thin reusable bag I had folded flat into my purse on Saturday. It takes up less room than a wallet. I filled it and carried everything to the car in a single trip. On Wednesday at the library the same bag held the stack of books my kids picked out. I had carried bulky items for years and never thought to carry the one thing that holds bulky items.

Plain takeaway. A thin bag that folds flat is worth the small space it takes.

Keep: A small zip pouch keeps kid treasures contained

Every outing with my kids ends with someone handing me something to hold. On Monday it was a rock from the school playground. On Wednesday it was a sticker from the library. On Friday it was a lost tooth wrapped in a tissue from our oldest, which is not something you want loose in a purse. During Saturday’s sort I had put a small zip pouch in my bag for exactly this. The rock, the sticker, and the tooth all went into the pouch. When we got home I emptied the pouch on the counter and each child claimed what was theirs.

Plain takeaway. A small pouch gives all the little things your kids hand you a place to go until you get home.

Keep: A little cash in small bills still matters

On Monday a note came home in our oldest’s folder about a school fundraiser that only took cash. On Friday the snack stand at practice only took cash too. I had kept a few small bills in my wallet during Saturday’s sort, folded flat in a side slot where I could see them. I did not have to drive to a cash machine or borrow from another parent. My husband rarely carries cash, so this has become my job in our house, and that is fine. It is a small amount, but it was the exact amount I needed twice in a week.

Plain takeaway. Cards do most of the work now, but a few small bills still get you through the moments that cards cannot.

Keep: A small bottle of pain reliever is worth the space

On Thursday afternoon, in that crowded dentist waiting room, a headache started behind my eyes. In the past I would have pushed through it and been short with my kids by dinner. This time I had a tiny bottle of pain reliever in my purse. I had moved it there on Saturday from the big bottle in the bathroom cabinet. I took it with water from the fountain in the hallway. By the time we got home I felt like myself, and dinner with my husband and my kids was calm. Taking care of a headache early is a small way of taking care of the whole evening.

Plain takeaway. Carry the small version of the medicine you reach for most, because you will not be home when you need it.

By the end of the week my shoulder felt better and I had not once dug through my purse for more than a few seconds. The bag on the kitchen table that Saturday morning had been full of things I meant to deal with later. The bag I carried all week was full of things I actually used.

I am not going to pretend my purse will stay this way forever. I know receipts will creep back in. But I now know what belongs and what does not, and that makes the next Saturday sort a lot faster. What is the one thing in your purse right now that you could take out and never miss?