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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

What's in your bag?

I recently read an article about how women's purses have grown exponentially in recent years. The article said that a lot of these purses weigh up to 20 lbs and contain everything from medicines, hand wipes, and band aids to spare underwear and even toothbrushes. The article called these purses "an emotional crutch," which seemed a little harsh to me, but which I'll admit could have some truth to it.

It made me think about all the things I have in my purse, so I decided to empty it, take a picture of everything that was in it, and document it for your judging pleasure. For the record, I almost always have gum in my purse, but was out (lest you think I'm unprepared):




Could be worse, don't you think? There may or may not have been a few wadded up receipts and gum wrappers at the bottom too, but I figured no one needs to see that.

Time to fess up: what's in your purse?

15 comments:

Ashley Arnold said...

This is so great... hilarious, and kind of embarassing. I have WAY too much stuff in my purse. I should totally do the same thing. I think my favorite thing from yours is the sewing kit and spare keys... never can be too prepared!! :)

Amy said...

My sister carries a pair of socks in her purse on the off chance that she's out and about and spontaneously decides to go bowling and is only wearing flip-flops. I used to tease her about this until one day I found myself in a bowling alley with flip-flops and had to buy socks at the grocery store across the street.

My own purse, though, is just a glorified wallet-carrier with a few fold-up reusable grocery bags. I never even used a purse until a coworker gave me one on my 23rd birthday and I decided that maybe I should start carrying one. I feel a bit like a disgrace to my gender when I admit this.

Mark said...

My backpack contains:

Main Compartment
-Sunday school manual
-Priesthood manual
-Church basketball paperwork
-ACLU & Sierra club newsletters
-Honey-lemon cough drops
-Check book & Savings book
-Whiteboard markers*
-2 Ballpoint pens

Front Compartment:
-Decongestant pills
-First aid kit
-Referee whistle with missing ball
-8 foot tape measure
-Asprin
-Heavy duty paper clips
-Rubber band
-First aid cream (won't fit in bandaid box)
-Six USB thumb drives abandoned by students (2G-8G)
-One personal USB thumb drive (1G)
-Chalk

*I'm not teaching this semester, so I just carry them around for occasional sniffing.

Katherine said...

Ha! Good stuff, Mark. I like seeing that picture of all of your stuff, E, especially the 3-D glasses! Mine has a lot of similar stuff as yours, but also includes pens, stamps, check book, a Smencil, a mini tripod, a compact, and the hook of a candy cane. I need to clean it out...

Unknown said...

I liked the 3D glasses too. I have a pair in my gymbag. My purse is pretty scary, since it is a mega mom bag. My team did win the contest at church to see if we could find something that started with each letter of the alphabet at a RS meeting last year, and I must say I had a decent part in it. Extra socks are also key for when your kids go to bouncer places in the summer and they only have on croc/flips, as well as in the winter when I would wear my Uggs over to someone's house and need to take them off inside. I haven't had them in my bag for a while now, but I think they will ne a new add.

E McL said...

Yeah for a mother heart... and purse!

Sticky notes, hand sanitizer, gum, wallet, garage door opener (to a garage door that doesn't open), Temple cards, raccoon mask for play this Friday.

What a fun game. Thanks for the smile:D

elliespen said...

My purse contains:

-My wallet
-My phone
-My iPod
-earbuds
-chapstick
-one Band-aid
-two postage stamps
-one very miniature sewing kit (size of four postage stamps)

When my son was born I got a very small clutch that I could keep the essentials in to make it easier to switch between the diaper bag or a larger purse (when I use this, my Kindle or whatever book I'm reading goes in it along with the clutch).

So the contents of my purse are pretty streamlined, but don't ask me about the contents of the diaper bag. It's not a pretty situation.

Ashley said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sometimes carries around 2 pairs of gloves. Totally going to make this list on my blog. Your purse is really cute, by the way. Where is it from?

Sofi said...

Elizabeth, I think you are missing a pen! I forgot to give you your pen back after church. Sorry :D

I love big purses, they are so useful and so fashionable at the same time!

Sarah said...

Turns out I didn't know I even *had* a bunch of the things in my purse that I lug around all day, so this was a good exercise! :)

I found: Handi-wipes, a phone card, a pen, a map of the DIA, my sunglasses, my regular glasses case, my winter hat, a pair of gloves and a pair of mittens (you never know which will be more useful!), my wallet, my work keys, a pack of kleenex, and my Baggu bag (fave reusable shopping bag in its own tiny pouch!).

TheSinglesWard said...

Why the 3D glasses? If you go to a 3D movie, they give you a pair?

Paint samples?

violet50 said...

All I want to know is: did you use your 3-d glasses to see "Croctopus"?

Elizabeth Downie said...

The 3D glasses were from the Justin Bieber movie (see a couple posts ago) - I'm not proud. I wish they'd been from Croctopus! And yes, they give you a pair when you go to a 3D movie! For keeps! They're much nicer than those old paper ones with the blue and red lenses.

The paint samples are from my bedroom.

sterlingandbrandi said...

Mine is always a mess of crap, usually receipts and random stuff, plus wipes and diapers, but yesterday I found an OLD bag of carrots. That was rotten... I'm embarrassed for myself. It was so gross

Anonymous said...

what is in my bag,
couple of hundy's (hundred dollar bills
couple of plastics,
Discover (my bikes credit card, i gotta watch the limit on that one, she has expensive taste.
My general credit card, another credit card from another bank with a big limit for emergencys,
my Toyota corporate Card,
my Construction Credit card,
and a back-up visa in the event that the crap REALLY hits the fan. (credit cards, not to be confused with rubbers)
CFP (Concealed Firearm Permit AKA as close to a license to kill that I can get ;)
Drivers license
insurance card,
Medical Insurance Card
Toyota badge

and all that is in a little wallet less than a half an inch thick