I’ve seen these “What’s In My Bag?” posts floating around since the dawn of blogging, but I’ve never done one myself because I used to carry really small purses that only held a wallet, my phone, and my keys. But I recently upgraded my bag to something bigger because I wanted it to carry more of my life and ensure I’m ready for (almost) any emergency. And I think it might be semi-interesting to go through it with you guys! So let’s do that.
This is the purse I’m using now. I got it at T.J. Maxx for, like, $25. It’s Jessica Simpson and I like it because it’s big enough to fit my life and has some great little compartments to stuff my keys and phone in. Mainly, I use one of the side pockets for my keys and throw my phone in the bigger section. The purse came with two straps, too: a long one to wear the purse as a crossbody and a short one to wear it slung over your shoulder. At first, I wore it as a crossbody but lately, I’ve just been using the shorter strap and I really like it.
Let’s go through what’s in my bag:
- Tiny umbrella – I love this little umbrella; it’s definitely come in handy more than a few times! It’s small, so it doesn’t take up a ton of space in my purse, but it opens up to a nice-sized umbrella (but wouldn’t fit more than one person).
- Face mask – While I have been going maskless indoors, I still keep a face mask in my purse at all times just in case I come across a business requiring it. (Although I may start wearing face masks indoors again, as this Delta variant is no joke!)
- Warby Parker prescription sunglasses – I always have my trusty prescription sunglasses with me! My eyes are so sensitive to light that I even wear sunglasses when it’s cloudy outside.
- Wallet – Another TJ Maxx find! Actually, I think my mom found this first and was going to get it, but she found one she liked better. Yay for me! I love this little wallet. It’s small and compact, but opens up to a nice-sized card organizer and I can fit all I need in there.
- Keys – Nothing too exciting here. I loved having a wrist-sized lanyard for my keys since it makes hanging them up (and finding them in my purse!) so much easier. I just bought this one, replacing the other one I had for, like, 3 years?! I was well overdue.
- Necessities pouch – I’ll go through this pouch in greater detail below!
- Responsibility pouch – Ditto.
I wasn’t sure what to label my brown pouch; it’s just a zippered pouch where I put necessities that I don’t want to get lost in the depths of my purse. So, “necessities pouch” it is. In this pouch, I have:
- An extra mask, which used to be my “emergency mask” for those times when I walked into a store and forgot my mask in the car
- An Invisibobble hair tie because what’s worse than needing to pull your hair up and not having any way to do so?!
- A microfiber cloth to quickly clean sunglasses or eyeglasses
- Gum because priorities
- Sunglasses (non-prescription) that I wear when I have my contacts in
My “responsibility pouch” has a silly name, but it’s something I read about years ago in a book: that you should keep a waterproof, zippered pouch in your purse at all times with all kinds of supplies you need when you’re out and about. Here’s what this pouch consists of now:
- Cleansing cloths for the times when I just need to refresh my face
- Eyeglass wipes for the times when my glasses are looking grimy
- Hand sanitizer, because duh
- Advil, because there’s nothing worse than having a terrible headache when I’m far from home
- Tampons, just in case my period hits at an unfortunate time
- Rewetting drops for contacts because dry contacts are miserable to deal with
- Eyedrops for those times when my eyes start watering for no good reason
And that’s what’s in my bag! My bag is also big enough that I can throw in my Kindle or a large hardcover book if I don’t want to be without reading material while out and about. One needs a purse big enough to fit both, I think.