In The Bag

I am a big fan of the purse. Forget diamonds, it's a hobo bag that's a girl's best friend. There have been times I've been so happy to have a new purse, I switched the contents from the old to the new, in the car, before I left the mall parking lot. I like a purse with a wide mouth. I want to be able to see everything at a glance. I don't want to dig blindly for my Carmex or keys because the opening is constrained by an unforgiving zipper. I like a purse with pockets, but not too many pockets. No built in wallet (which I equate with Naugahyde and snap-in key chains). I love the idea of men carrying bags too. So much more potential than just a wallet. There's even a blog about handbags.

You can put anything in a purse, and there's a bit of intrigue, because unless you carry the clear plastic kind, no one can see what's in it. Think of the freedom of that! They can hold anything from a pet rock to a can of tuna, or some novelty store trinket that's a private joke.  I love the thought that purse carriers everywhere can whip out a band-aid, mini sewing kit, or Advil to aid others or themselves. It's a little like being a super hero, isn't it? Come on, work with me here!  They're almost magical! Mysterious leather caves from which you can retrieve magic pills: a bag of m&ms. Remember Mary Poppins, pulling out a hat rack, mirror, lamp and potted plant? Okay, it was a carpet bag, don't be such a stickler. 

I bought a bag at target yesterday. I couldn't resist the outside wallet-shaped pocket, or the straw weave, (maybe it would magically usher in warm weather a little early). As I was driving home I wished I could go to the mall and do a survey of the contents of people's purses.  There I'd stand with a clipboard, and crisply ironed shirt, asking women to reveal what was in their handbags. I'd have a table set up, and a camera at the ready.
    "Excuse me, ma'am? Would you mind dumping your purse on this table so I can see what's in it, and take a picture?"
    "Timmy, step away from the nice lady, I just remembered we have to go to the other end of the mall for...something..."
And I'd be forever labeled a minutiaefile, and shunned by the town.

But! Then I remembered I have a blog. A place where I can let my freak flag fly!  And you can help it wave free! So! Women, empty your purses. Men, you can empty your pockets or man-bag. I want to see what you carry around too. Don't bother removing those crumpled receipts or crushed crackers. (Of course since I just got a new bag I already cleaned out all the junk.)  Take a photo and email it to me. Label the contents if you like, or not. I'll display all photos on the side bar and replace the "Sam Says" photos, which were funny for about 10 minutes. If you have a blog, I'll link to your blog too.

Come on, I'll show you mine if you show me yours! Oh crap! I took a picture, and tried to upload it, and my USB cord is all jacked up. Well, I guess for now, you'll have to live without knowing what I carry in my purse.

Comments

[That Girl]

Ill try to send you a pic later (lord knows if it'll all fit without a special lens.
Your post put me in mind of that movie One Fine Day where Michelle Pfeiffer escorts two kids and a father of one of the kids around all day and every moment manages to whip something helpful out of her bag (a bandaid, snacks, tape and paper and crap enough to make a costume out of on the fly) and at one point the male lead looks at her and says "Where can I get one of those bags?"
I once lost my shoes in my pocketbook and didnt find them till the Great Monthly Dump.

[Ellen]

Mine's boring: checkbook, wallet, lock for gym locker, keys. I downsized after the kids grew up. I used to carry a big bag with emergency rations (raisins & granola bars), little army men and/or cars, spare socks, underwear, etc. Now I'm thinking I need a bigger bag for my fun stuff: book, knitting, drop spindle, cause you never know....

[Lynn]

A Band-Aid
A DAT recorder for writing ideas
A hair band (that is, a band for my hair, not a bad musical group from the ’80s)
A hairbrush for a baby (I only have it because it’s small and fits in my small purse)
A small pad of paper for writing ideas
A tissue
A wonderful wallet that has an accordion section for credit cards
Benadryl
Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer in Rhubarb
Fingernail clippers
Glide dental floss
My cell phone
Revlon LipGlide in Sparkling Sangria
Travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste
Two blue Pilot pens (in case one is out of ink, I’ll have a back-up)
Two booby pins (I actually meant to type bobby pins, but booby pins is funnier)

Hey, now that everything’s out of my purse, I can put it all back in a different purse. I know just the one!

[Bethany]

Ohh, I so have to do this! Give me a day. I'll get a pic, get the description and post it all on my blog (with linkage of course).

From one handbag whore to another.... Ha!

[Beth]

Coming right up!

[maryrwise]

All right, you asked for it. The pictures will come later, but here's a brief rundown:

Cosmetic bag containing: passport, sentimental letter from a deceased friend, three packets of Bacitracin ointment, two Tucks wipes, a rubber-tipped tooth thingy, Splenda, emery board, Band-Aid dispenser, lanyard. Cell phone, card case, wallet, sunglasses, pen, notebook, iPod, memory stick, and (this will not appear in the picture for obvious reasons) camera.

[Em]

Ready for this? I DON'T CARRY ONE! Crazy, I know. Sometimes, I need stuff I don't have but its all dur to a purse fear. Purses are a slippery slope. One minute you have what you need, than what you might need, then what someone else might need. Next thing you know, you are sufferring from scoliosis from carrying your medical records around (hi mom!). So, I call myself a minimalist and I bum stuff off of other people.

[Mary Jo]

I will so send a picture in the near future. I think my camera is in the car. What a fun project.

[Erin]

I only carry my diaper bag, so here goes:

Wallet
Digital Camera
12 diapers
1 birthday card
2 crushed breakfast bars
1 jar unopened baby food
1 hat
1 mitten
broken vaccuum cleaner belt
1 unknown phone number
insurance card
pacifier
car keys
checkbook
hair brush
sun block
1 tube orajel
1 matchbox car
mascara
pediatric appt. card
allergist skin test instruction card
target and walmart receipts
and that's where all the baby's socks went!

Thanks for motivating me to clean that sucker.

[juliloquy]

Sorry . . . that's one line I'm not gonna cross. But I did a similar inventory one day last week--the various articles of clothing I was wearing and the stories associated with them. Come see! And do it yourself!

[Celina]

Great Idea! I SO want to do this...I'll be back later this evening with pics (or a link)!!

[Meg]

My camera fell out a window. So you get the list in text form. And it's my "valise," not my purse, since I'm at work (it's black crocodile with brushed silver details):

*MAC Lip Gelee in 'Moistly'
*Smith's Strawberry Lip Salve
*MAC Sheer Pressed Powder in NW 20
*MAC Lipglass in Morning Glory
*Burt's Bees Shea Butter Hand Creme
*Goody tortoiseshell hair clip
*Red Filofax Wallet
*Coach change purse in Red
*Keys with annoying keychain that resembles a giant engagement ring, given to me by viciously laughing friends
*Silver Motorola cell
*Silver iPod Mini
*Assorted work drafts
*Work security pass
*Two pink highlighter pens
*Black Sharpie (Fine)
*Trident Whitening Gum in Peppermint
*Granny Smith apple
*Ty Nant bottled water (1L)

And that's all she wrote. My normal purse is a Coach saddlebag in black.

[Mr. Fabulous]

I feel like a slacker. I never even carry my wallet in my pocket, I keep it in my car.

No unsightly bulges for me!

[Amanda]

I'm SO with you and would love nothing more than to catalog what women carry around. I'm fascinated!

And thanks, once again, for giving me excuses not to come up with my own blog content:
http://mandajuice.typepad.com/mandajuice/2006/03/the_purse.html#trackback

[Sky]

OMG, what fun!

wallet - large 3 compartment one, checkbook, reading glasses, sunglasses, lotion, several bottles of prescription pills, neosporin, aspirin, listerine mouth freshners, lip gloss, lipstick pencils wrapped in a small plastic bag for protection, a small tape measure, emery board (for flights), travel manicure set (removed for flights), passport, marriage certificate, key to safety deposit box, bandaid, eyedrops, travel size wet ones, small tape measure, address book, chapstick.

[MetroDad]

Just emptied my pockets and found...

2 tic tacs
$40.00
a laundered movie stub from two years ago
a paper clip
an old piece of Trident gum (in a wrapper)

And for the record? No man should EVER carry a handbag. I don't care if they call it a "murse" or a "manbag." It's just not right!

[scott]

Six months worth of utility bills and phone bills, An ID document, two expired learner drivers permits, two packs nicotine gum (yup- nicotine gum- the saddest most uncool addiction known to man) some regular gum (trying to wean myself off the other stuff) keys, cellphone, always a book- today: a book by Henry Rollins and a New Testament, a hat and some old recruitment ads I responded to but never got call-backs from.
I also had some other doodles on bits of paper, and story ideas written on scraps of paper. And a stuffed armadillo.
Ok, I lied about the armadillo- but the list seemed sad and boring. And it is a shoulder bag that Neen got at the conference in the States last year- I like it because it has some intelligent-looking words on the side. How pathetic is that.

[Celina]

Okay, Thanks for the Terrific Idea! I put my pic & list on today's post...check it out!

[Renee Dodd]

Wow, some of you have got some purty frickin' high class purse contents! I'm a little more of a crumpled reciepts and loose advil kinda gal.

I'd send a picture of the whole mess, but I need to buy batteries for the digital camera. I think that's written on one of these five to-do lists crammed in the side pocket of my purse.

Here are some other charming items: wrist braces for excessive mouse clicking, a homestar runner coaster, a multi-colored compartmental tower containing every pill I might conceivably need to take sometime, three packs of gum, each with between one and three sticks left, the novel I haven't had nearly enough time to read lately, the pop quizzes I gave my World Lit class yesterday, a CPR kit to accompany the CPR skills I've completely forgotten, and a minature "poky little puppy" lunchbox filled with change.

[Laylabean]

Hehehe, so much fun! My picture is on the way!

[Kirsten]

I keep a bit of cash, receipts, one cash card, one credit card, my license, and my cell phone.

That's it.

I carry a beensy purse :-)

[Marilyn]

The contents of my bag are completely lame and BORING...but what a great project! (Maybe I'll send you a photo anyway...but it's...ahem...4 am right now...) :) But shopping for bags is the BEST (and Target's one of my fave spots to do just that.) Notice I said "shopping." Yes, that's right...I'm such a purse nerd that I don't even buy that many bags...but oh man, I can spend what feels like hours just walking the aisles deciding which ones I like. (Jeez, I guess my fear of commitment extends even that far...) :)

[steph]

i usually carry a messenger bag to work because i have class afterwards, so the following is the contents of my messenger bag today:

- very large textbook on problem solving algorithms in Java
- messy notebook with which to take notes on problem solving with Java
-pen, pencil, highlighter
-checkbook
-wallet
-cellphone
-bottle of water
-pack of gum
-container of mints
-USB flash drive
-leatherman multitool
-eye drops for contacts
-pill container with vitamin C in it
-registration paper for line-dancing class at local community college
-mini hairbrush
-travel container of dental floss
-a couple of WholeFoods receipts
-37 cents in change
-a stray vitamin C tablet

wow...im pretty damn boring.

[Owlhaven]

Things In My Purse

1. Checkbook and credits card
2. Cell phone
3. 3 pens
4. One diaper
5. Ziplock of baby wipes
6. Bib
7. Little person and truck
8. 3 chapsticks
9. 3 lotions
10. Ziplock with a few Cheerios in it
11. Assorted hair doodads
12. Kleenex
13. 2 cinnamon candies

[Owlhaven]

oops-- forgot the sunglasses