Purse & Handbag Storage Ideas & Solutions

If you enjoy using different purse with various outfits, or for different occasions, you can quickly acquire quite a few of them. But since you can only use one handbag at a time you need a place in your home to store the rest of them while they're not in use.

Below I've provided quite a few purse and handbag storage ideas and solutions you can use for this purpose.

You can use them in conjunction with the organizing ideas provided in the Organizing Purses & Handbags Challenge, here on the site, and which is one of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenges.

Most of these storage ideas are for the bedroom closet, since this is an ideal location for purse storage. The reason is that it is near your clothes and other accessories, so if they're stored there it is easier to see what all matches or coordinates, and choose the purse you'd like to use on various occasions.

From that perspective it is ideal to keep your purses in an organizer or storage solution that lets you see them all. It helps you remember what you have and make sure you're using them frequently enough to justify the space they're taking up in your closet.

On the other hand, infrequently used purses stored in this manner can get dusty.

If your purse collection is getting quite dusty you really need to be honest with yourself about whether you need to declutter some of them that you just don't like very much, or don't fit your lifestyle or style anymore. They may have cost quite a bit of money, but if they're just collecting dust with no hope of getting used they're still clutter.

However, if do choose to keep them, and plan to use them enough to justify their storage, you may also want to consider holding these types of infrequently used purses in closed containers, like clear plastic bins that you can keep on shelves in your closet, or in a clear plastic zippered bag in an under the bed organizer, or somewhere else somewhat out of the way.

Finally, when considering what type of handbag or pocketbook storage to choose from, think about the size and shape of your bags. If you've got quite a few clutches, for example, the organizer products shown below that hang the bags by their strap won't work for you.

Similarly, some bags are much bigger than others, and small hanging pocket organizers may work for small to even medium sized bags, but would not even begin to fit these larger bags.

Scroll down below to see the ideas for storage below.

Use A Hanging Closet Purse Organizer With Pockets

Canvas Hanging Handbag Organizer
{Click here to buy on Amazon

As mentioned above there are several types of organizing and storage products designed to hold your purses or other bags in your closet. The first several I'm going to show you are designed to hang the bags from the closet rod.

Obviously for any of these solutions you'll need adequate hanging space in your closet.

The first variety, as illustrated above, shows how you can hold purses in the individual pockets of one of these organizers. When purchasing one of these types, make sure that your purses are not too big to fit into the pocket size.

These can be nice though since they do some to protect the handbags from dust between uses. In addition, if your purses don't have straps these work well, since the organizer does not need the straps to hang the purse.

Here are several varieties of these hanging organizer which have pockets, that you can choose from.

Please note that if you want something not made specifically for purses, in case you'd like to use it for something else later, a hanging closet shelving system, such as the one shown to the far right, which is often used for sweaters, may also work. This is also a good choice if you like this idea, but your purses are a bit bigger since these shelves are bigger than the pockets made specifically for purses.

Hanging Closet Organizers For Purses {Referral Links}

Another Variation Of Hanging Purse Storage In Your Closet

Hanging Closet Purse Organizer
{Click here to buy on Amazon

Another variation of the storage product which uses your closet rod are these hanging organizers which, instead of pockets, hang the purses up by hooks on the product.

Obviously this only works if you've got straps on your purses, but if you do they can be more convenient since you don't have to worry about larger bags not fitting.

Remember, the bags these products always show as examples have short handles, like you'd carry as a handbag. If you've got longer strapped bags this type of product can still be used, but your purses will hang down closer to the floor because of the longer straps.

Here are some of this type of hanging closet organizers for purses:

Hook Organizers For Purses {Referral Links}

DIY Handbag Closet Organizer - Sturdy Hangers

Although they make hanging closet organizers that you can purchase specifically for purses, as shown above, there is also the DIY method, which can just utilize something you probably already have in your closet -- hangers.

That's exactly what a couple of readers did, and they've shared their pictures of their handbag collections with me to show how they've done it.

The photo above is from a reader, Sherry, who says: "I prefer to see everything at-a-glance, so I use my hubby's suit hangers and store each handbag separately. Then, I have another suit hanger w/clips that I use for my seven interchangeable Grace Adele clutches. I keep my large Dooney in its dust bag. And I store the Grace Adele clip-ons at the end of two shoe boxes. I will be selling or gifting 1-2 of these shown because I don't carry them."

Sherry makes a good point about using this method. You've got to use sturdy hangers if you're going to do this. This is especially true the heavier your bags are, especially if you continue to hold things in them even while in storage.

Here's another example of using hangers for hanging your purses, this time from a reader, Frances.

Frances said, "This is my collection. I had a lot more but I decluttered my closet a month ago and got rid of the ones that I haven't used in about a year or more. These are the ones that I use most. I love handbags and purses."

Another possibility, is to get very study S-hooks, that can hold your purses, which can work in a similar way to the hangers, but with less bulk.

You can get sturdy hangers or purse S-Hooks for this or other purposes for your closet here:

Hangers & Hooks For Purses {Referral Links}

One disadvantage of using hangers, or advantage, depending on how you look at it, is that if you store just one bag on each hanger you will take up a lot of horizontal space in your closet on the clothing rod. Depending on the amount of clothes you've got this may not be ideal. That's why the purse organizers shown above use vertical space.

On the other hand, if you have two closet rods or other storage on your closet floor going vertical may not work for you, and then using horizontal space may make more sense for you.

Use A Closet Shelf Organizer For Storage For Purses

Similar Closet Shelf Organizer For Purses
{Click here to buy on Amazon

All of the ideas above, so far, required that you have enough space on your closet rod to add an organizer of some variety to store your purses. But I know that is not realistic for everyone, depending how many hanging clothes also need to fit into that space.

Therefore, a closet shelf organizer is another option for handbag storage inside your closet, but that doesn't use your closet rod at all. Instead, it uses the shelf space at the top of your closet.

This storage method also at least partially protects your handbags from dust accumulation, although not completely, and may utilize space that otherwise wouldn't be used.

While it is pictured on top of your closet shelves I could also envision this product used on the floor of your closet if you had more room for it there, although you'd of course have to stoop down to store and retrieve the purses.

There's also varieties that aren't cubbies, but instead dividers to help you keep the purses on the shelf, but without falling over.

Here are several to choose from:

Shelf Organizers For Purses {Referral Links}

Use An Over The Door Or Wall Purse Rack

Over The Door Purse Organizer
{Click here to buy similar on Amazon

The final idea for storing purses and handbags in your bedroom or closet is to utilize either wall space, or the often not utilized door storage space of your closet.

This can be handy if you don't have either space on your closet shelves or closet rods.

As with a lot of types of wall storage the idea is to use hooks to hang your purses. There are organizer products, such as the over the door purse organizer above, that are designed to do this for you, or you can do it yourself like a reader, Mel, did.

She sent in the photo to the right, and explained: "My husband and I just made a place to store all my bags and purses vertically. We had this small corner that was pretty much useless and decided to hang a 'hook board' to hang all my purses and bags in one place and make use of the space. (I actually have a ton more bags to hang but then you wouldn't be able to see the board or hooks we hung. Lol We will paint it eventually but for now it is very functional and already helping to make it more organized!)"

So how do you keep your purses and handbags organized while they're not in use? I'd love to see, so you can submit your photos here and I'll add the best ones to the site.

More Home Storage Solutions

I hope you enjoyed these ideas for purse storage, and organizing your handbag collections.

There are even more ideas for storage and organizing on the site in the {A-Z} Storage Solutions & Ideas round up page. Go check it out if you'd like to see even more ideas.

In addition, if these ideas have inspired you to organize even more things in your closet make sure to read the Organize Master Bedroom Closet Challenge, which is part of the 52 Week Organized Home Challenge I run on the site!

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Join The 52 Week Organized Home Challenge

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