What's in a purse?

Hey, I'll start. I won't reveal everything. But a bit.

I have to have a large purse. Have to. There's a lot of stuff I have to have with me--all the time. Hated going to some fancy event with those teeny weeny evening purses. What do I take with me? What is absolutely essential? Terrible decisions.

Gotta have a wallet. Check book. Makeup kit (comb and mirror the minimum). Pocket for keys. The inside has to have at least one pocket. Calendar. Reading glasses. Pen (in the pocket). Tissues. Transportable medications--eyedrops, stomach pills, bandaid, paper thermometer (don't use this much anymore). And stuff.

Is my purse neat? NO. But the things I need to be accessible are at or toward the top.

Ima mostly be still on this one, but I want to ask as an addition to Thomas's brave question:

is there a line where purse ends, and suitcase begins? and where is it drawn...

IMO, no. If a woman calls it her purse, then that's what it is. Size is irrelevant, unless it won't fit through a door. I also think it needs to be carriable.

Currently, mine is a large black canvas bag that I use mostly to carry whatever I am purchasing if it is small enough to fit. Thrown in at the bottom of it is my wallet (with ID, a few items of cash, and 1 credit card), my cell phone, a comb, a lip gloss, an envelope with grocery coupons, car keys and an envelope with copies of the most often requested info for BBB's medical history, doctor names, and current prescriptions.

Nothing fancy, but it works for what I need it for.

Ask Diane! (teasing, she has been complaining how heavy her purse is lately..)

Back on my own purse history later.

So, it should probably not have wheels and a folding handle?

Wallet w/ID, credit cards, AAA card, couple of photos
Keys
Cell phone
Hair brush
Scrunchy
Lip gloss
Hand sanitizer
Nail file
Breath mints
Pen
Travel size Kleenex
Sunglasses
Miniature spray perfume
A joint lol (J/K!!!)

That's it...I'm good to go

I can't see what's in there...it's too full.

I know my wallet is in there, though, because I have to dig it out on a regular basis.

Leather shoulder bag with three compartments containing a wallet, keys, small hairbrush, calendar/notepad/pen, reading glasses, kleenex, gum, lip balm, two small fold up shopping bags and an out-of-date shopping list.

i don't carry a purse, i'm a man, i carry a knapsack, it contains a varying rotation of things depending on where i'm going

the standard stuff i always carry, a book of some sort, a pen, a notepad, some medications (tylenol, zantac, etc), gum

how is that not a man purse, Joey...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUs1U8iwiBM

because it isn't


and how did you know my name was joe

Are all women, and Joey, really this needy? What do you do when you go to the nudist colony?

I would only go to a nudist colony if I could take my purse lol.

No one has said cell phone yet?

I prefer small bags, so I don't get in the habit carrying around too much stuff. However, I decided to start carrying an over the shoulder messenger type bag. Better for posture and your back. It's bigger, because, well, it would look goofy if it was small.

Wally bought me this bag off the Nat'l Geo website for xmas. It's got spaces for everything, so I no longer need to carry a wallet. That felt weird at first, but it's actually pretty cool.

Lesse, I cleaned it out this morning. That consisted of throwing out some grocery receipts, and some random notes I'd written to myself.

What's in it now?
Ok, first the things that are in their proper compartments...

front of bag
cell phone in cell phone pouch.
in pouch on front of outside of bag, the receipt of an item I returned at Walgreens on the way home from work; a citi gift card that had been for $100, but I've spent it all. Don't know why I'm carrying the card around; a target gift card that's either got a zero balance, or maybe 17 cents left on it.

large pouch on back of bag
I keep that empty. When I first got the bag, I put my keys in there, and the shape of the keys pressing from the inside made a mark on the outside of the bag. Actually, I've got a tube of artificial tears in there.

The front on the bag has a flap, which opens up to contain all the wallet functions. In there I've got drivers license, work credit card, personal credit card, insurance cards for car and health, library card, some miscellaneous business cards.

On the inside of the bag proper, there's a tiny little zip pouch on the inside, where I keep my keys. There's 32 cents in there also.
In the main compartment, I have a 5x4 notebook (no pen though, here, I attached one right now) a coupon I didn't use at the grocery store on Saturday, my compartment thingie with 7 days that I use to put in my prescription med, plus the baby aspirin, black cohosh, evening primrose oil. Sometimes I take them while I'm still home, sometimes later at work. A random piece of paper I can't throw out because it's got a friends phone number on it (god forbid I record the number somewere), an unopened envelope with a statement in it from a mutal fund I closed a few months ago, with important notes written on the back of it, like the prices of some stocks I'm watching (again, god forbid I write that in my notebook). Finally, a silver daisy chain necklace I took off yesterday while changing my clothes at work, to go to the pool.

hm...in all, I think this represents my personality very well.

I try to have order, but I'm not a slave to it.

I refuse to conform to the idea that notes should be written in a notebook, or that there should be a pen available to do so.

Mostly practical, why have cash on me when I can charge anything I want and get the points...but you never know when I might need 32 cents, or need to use the last 17 cents at a Target.

I take what I need to have with me, my medication and supplements, but I'm not going to commit to taking them at a specific time.

At the bottom of it all, something pretty.

My purse is a black leather shoulder strapped bag... same one I had been carrying for over a year when you saw me 13 months ago, Thomas. When I get a purse, I keep it until my sister, daughter, or a friend starts commenting (read laughing) about how I really need to get a new purse. Yeah, we could analyse that....

It has 5 sections. The furthest back section has my brush although I rarely brush my hair again past leaving the house for work. It has a lipstick,although I rarely, if ever, refresh my lispstick during the day or evening. I'd rather stay at the table and talk to you than leave after dinner to put color on my lips and primp my hair. We could probably analyse that, too...

The next section has my credit card / ID holder. I hate it. The purse didn't have its own slots for these items so I had to buy one. I hate having to make so many movements to get to what I need. That too could be analysed.

The zippered section has my money... if I have any, but I prefer not to have any cash on hand. No need, really.

The open back pocket has the only stuff I really need, which is my personal keys, work related keys for the Clubhouse, my cell phone, cigs and lighter.

My purse is a necessity. I have to have a shulder strap. I have to have both hands free. I really don't understand how women carry the little hand held ones. I'd lose that in a second.

Your sig line always makes me laugh

I'm a minimalist. It's a backpack and is about the same size and thickness as a legal pad of paper. I can usually fit everything in my pockets when I don't want to carry it.

It holds:

My wallet (drivers license, debit card, insurance card (Mo's too), cash)
Keys (two keys: house, car)
Cell phone
Tampons
Paperback book or magazine

Me, too, Irish. She pretty much summed it up with minimal words, one of which I don't use freely. I loved it!