What’s In My Bag?

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:

1. 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).
2. 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!)
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Necessities pouch – I’ll go through this pouch in greater detail below!
7. 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:

1. 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
2. An Invisibobble hair tie because what’s worse than needing to pull your hair up and not having any way to do so?!
3. A microfiber cloth to quickly clean sunglasses or eyeglasses
4. Gum because priorities
5. 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:

1. Cleansing cloths for the times when I just need to refresh my face
2. Eyeglass wipes for the times when my glasses are looking grimy
3. Hand sanitizer, because duh
4. Advil, because there’s nothing worse than having a terrible headache when I’m far from home
5. Tampons, just in case my period hits at an unfortunate time
6. Rewetting drops for contacts because dry contacts are miserable to deal with
7. 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.