What's in your bag? : Look, I do actually NEED all this stuff, OK? (What's In Your Bag?)

Member Name: Teteenlair

Product:	What's In Your Bag?
Date:	18/12/08 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: I am prepared for whatever life throws at me

Disadvantages: Its a bit cumbersome!

I'm not one of those girls who go nutty for handbags, I do not understand the universal appeal of the 'Fendi Spy', and as for the waiting lists - if I were spending £800 on a handbag I'd expect to have it now, right this minute, with bells on! And a fanfare!

No, I like to find a bag I love and that works for me size, colour and compartment-wise, and then keep it forever and ever, using it every day and gradually filling it up with more and more junk until... SNAP! There goes another strap.

I had such a bag until recently (when the strap went). I was then forced to go out and buy a new one as A Matter Of Urgency. I ended up with a very nice and quite-sophisticated-for-me plum coloured little leather number from Oasis (reduced from £60 to £40, love a bargain me). It was smaller than I would have liked, but I thought that might stop me from overloading it, thus prolonging its life. I was wrong. Now I just sort of pile stuff on the top of it when I can't zip it up and hope that it all stays together by way of surface tension of something. It also only has one main compartment with just a small zipped one and a mobile phone one inside - I don't like this at all as it makes everything hard to find if it's all just floating in the one area. The straps on it are also quite short and I like to hoist my bags onto my shoulder out of the way (I'm not one to dangle them from my arm like Posh), and although it does fit on my shoulder, I fill it up so much that it makes my arm jut out at a 90-degree angle. I hate my new bag, but I'm putting up with it for now. Here's what's inside:

* Purse, brown leather, reminds me a bit of Sad Sack from the Raggy Dolls but I love it. It bulges dangerously, but not with money- just receipts, money-off vouchers and copper.
* Diary. I don't like to think of myself as a dizzy blonde (I'm Far Too Intelligent) but really I am a bit. I need to write things in my diary otherwise I would definitely forget.
* Notebook. I'm a compulsive list-maker (see point above). Current most consulted lists are the Christmas Shopping Lists and my '30 things to do before I'm 30' list- I'm up to about 12. Turn 27 in February so don't have much time! Suggestions gratefully received.
* Bunch of keys: home, car, office, Grandma's house and the obligatory Mystery Key that everyone has at least one of on their keyring.
* Mobile phone. I got this around the same time as I got the bag and I don't like this either. The keys are too small for my fingers so I'm constantly sending half-composed texts.
* Old mobile phone. I've just moved onto an O2 contract but this is Orange PAYG. It's Orange Wednesday today you see.
* Christmas cards for colleagues, plus a few spares for any I've forgotten.
* Woolly mitts and leather driving gloves.
* Brolly.
* Mid-morning Mullerice and spoon.
* 2 memory sticks: one words, one pictures.
* Work car-park pass.
* Perfume (Givenchy Very Irrésistible) - meeting my boyfriend straight from work, need to not stink.
* Two half empty (or half-full, depending on how you look at it) packets of Kleenex.
* Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream.
* Several pens, including a glittery one for the Christmas cards.
* And the Pièce du Résistance... my little Bag Within A Bag! This is a little zippy thing not quite the size of a make-up bag, where I keep all the little things that would get lost at the bottom of the main bag, for easy retrieval! In here there is a plethora of bits and bobs: several lip balms, some cold sore cream because you never know when one might strike, hair bobbles, emery boards, bits of make-up, hair grips and clips, chewing gum, some Fox's mints from the office Christmas dinner yesterday, plasters, another pen and a safety pin.

Summary: It's no wonder my straps keep breaking really.