I’m a no purse person. Keys and wallet into my pants pockets. Cellphone into pocket when I’m carrying it. That’s it. I tried for a while to carry a purse, but I kept leaving it places. I hate purses.
I have never carried a purse with any regularity. I hate having the…er, “extra baggage” and they never stay on my shoulder because I am convinced I have “stupid shoulders”. I am paranoid about possibly leaving my purse somewhere, and I hate having to rummage for my stuff.
I’ll carry a purse when I am wearing a dress or a skirt, which means I am at a formal event. Otherwise…
Keys and cell go in right pocket, wallet in back pocket, cigarettes and lighter in left pocket. If I don’t have enough pocket space, cell stays in the car.
In the fall and winter, keys and cell end up in the jacket pockets, along with tissues and chapstick.
This has worked for me for many years (I’m 27).
Yes, because I have too much stuff I like to carry. Hairbrush, lipgloss, meds, pda, cell, mp3 (no, I can’t combine all 3 into one device for reasons I won’t go into), wallet w/checkbook, work keys, spare keys to Himself’s truck, sunglasses, lotion, multi-tool, flashlight, sometimes a granola bar, bills, book, whatever. It changes with wherever I’m going. I frequently lock it in the truck, though, and carry whatever I really need for wherever I’m going in my pockets.
Wow! I’m so surprised at this. I can’t imagine not carrying a purse and I don’t have a lot of stuff in mine. I just really love them.
My problem is finding the perfect purse. If I get one with too many pockets it’s hard to find things, and if I get one with no pockets it’s like carrying a paper bag. It takes me forever to find one that has exactly the right strap size.
I love the whole ritual of getting a new one and putting all your stuff in it. I know, I’m weird.
I love purses almost as much as I love shoes and I won’t tell anyone how many pair of shoes I have.
My favorite purse find was a Coach purse that I got at a garage sale for $5.00 that was perfect. I almost cried when I saw it at that price and practically ran to the car so she wouldn’t change her mind. 
I can get by very easily without a purse.
I have a slim little wallet that just holds the essentials, I can stick a Chapstick in my pocket, and clip my cell phone to my waistband or put it in my pocket.
I have my keys on a little mini-carabiner, and when I go somewhere, I leave the house and work keys in my car and just take the car key.
I don’t need anything else.
Well, for now, I’ve put all of the stuff I listed in my briefcase. On my way home from work tonight I’ll probably stop at the grocery store at which time I’ll need to extract my Visa/Check card and Preferred Customer card from my wallet. That, my keys and my cell are all that will travel into the store with me (I may even leave the cell).
We’ll see how well this theory works this weekend when I actually have a gig.
ZipperJJ I have stupid shoulders too! I hate that. Always happens when I’ve got my hands full and can’t fix it.
No purse here. In the summer (when I can’t wear my jacket) I carry a bag; the rest of the year my jacket – inner pocket for phone and wallet, or I move those around so I can fit a paperback in the inner pocket, miscellaneous other pockets for the rest of my crap.
There’s no way I could deal with not having a purse. Currently, I am using this one (along with the matching wristlet for my cash). Just doing a quick inventory - one side has wallet, change purse, two sets of keys (office and personal) smokes, phoen book, work id, three pens, a highlighter, a mini notebook and two dryer sheets inside a plastic baggie. The other side has my marriage certificate, some bills, my son’s accident report, the gas bill debacle that involves many pieces of paper in an envelope), various receipts, lipstick, chapstick, nail file, cellphone, and a small black zippered bag that has some other important papers in it. (There’s a bunch o’paper in my bag at all times - it’s a long story, but trust me, thanks to the husband, it’s pretty necessary. :rolleyes: )
Hey Ms. Jones - if this “no purse” doesn’t work out you could head over to my White Elephant thread and sign up and I’ll send you one of my purses - I have over 100 so I’m not going to miss one.
You could just tell me what you like and I can find something and ship it off to you. In exchange you could either send a white elephant package to some poor, unsuspecting doper, or you could send me a local snow globe, which I collect and love quite deeply.
If you’re interested you can head over there and check it out.
Or I could just send you a purse if you like.
Alice, BitchQueen
Gosh, I can’t remember the last time I carried an actual purse. And I have a brand new Coach one hanging in the closet. Purses hinder me. I don’t want something I’ll forget to grab before I leave somewhere other than home. I don’t want my life shoved in a bag.
I still remember very vividly when I was in 7th grade and had gotten a new purse for my birthday. It was stocked very generously with Lip Smackers. I swear, I must’ve had every single flavor in that purse, at least a dozen. And a nice new wallet to match the purse, no cash though, of course. I left it under my seat in second period and by the time I remembered my purse!! it was long gone. I felt really bad because it was a nice leather purse and wallet, but for the most part was upset because I lost all my lip gloss!
Now I carry this and love it. I love it so much that I found myself in the Coach store telling the salespeople how much I loved it. I’m sure they prolly thought I was wacko.
I am turning into my mother . . . Till about ten years ago, I never cared about purses and just carried any old thing that matched my clothes and was in season. Now, I haunt Lord & Taylor’s and sample sales for Etienne Aigner bags, and Coach, and cute antique Kelly bags . . . In the purse goes wallet, makeup (just a compact and lipstick), my zip file, keys, train passes, cell phone.
Briefcase is for books, newspapers and magazines, mostly: never leave home without reading material!
When I worked outside in The Real World, I bought a purse that was big enough to hold a quality paperback. It took many stores to find the right one. But I did it!
Bra as storage space?
looks down at chest looks into sling-bag
I don’t think I could fit my keys in there. (two bulky rings’ worth of keys on a carabiner clip. Not gonna hunt that god.)
And I’ve used a wallet that goes in my left back pocket for years. Those wallets that double as clutches are just… no.
The water bottle thinger on the outside of the sling bag works really nicely as a holder for my PDA, and I keep various papers, medicine, and assorted bits’n’bobs in the main body.
The only time I use a purse is at the annual Dress Up Event where I dress to the teeth and drag along a little black purse that holds my car keys, spare lipstick, and event ticket.
I had a purse custom made. I like to wear my purse slung across my body, but I could never find one with a long enough strap for comfort (I want it to hang just below my waist and out of the way, not up under my armpit, and I’m on the tall side). I also had trouble finding one with just one outer pocket and one small inner pocket for my keys, and not butt-ugly. I found a woman who makes lovely custom purses (what the hell: helensdaughters.com) and had her make me one in plain black, to go with everything. One of these I’ll have her make me one in fun colors.
Sorry gals, I need my purse! I hate having crap stuffed in my pockets, and I like to be prepared for anything.
Add me to the “you keep your keys in your BRA?!” camp. How the hell does that work? Maybe I’m just… under-endowed (which I am) but if I stuck my keychain with all of the following in my bra:
- my car keys, boyfriend’s car keys, roommate’s car keys (we have to move each other’s cars very often so we all have a set of each other’s keys)
- key to front door of house
- key to apartment itself
- key to back door of apartemnt,
- key to parent’s house
- key fob/alarm turner-offer thingy for car
I’d look pretty freakin’ ridiculous! Plus, I’d think that and the license would hurt like a mofo.
I usually carry more of a bag than a purse, but I’m the type that will pick up a cool rock and stick it in my pocket and always have to have a book or something to occupy me if I get stuck somewhere. And I have bus tickets and receipts from like 10 years ago for sentimental value.
Twinkie, you may want to check out Road ID - they’re happy little laser-engraved ID things that go on your wrist/ankle/neck/shoe for when you’re out engaged in athletic pursuits. My boyfriend and I bought some a while ago, and they seem kinda neat.
I seldom use a bag/purse. For one, we’re not allowed to have them in our departments at work; if you have one, you have to use your locker upstairs. Forget that. I’m not going to waste precious time running up and down stairs at the other end of the building.
Instead, I have one of those “clutch” wallets that has more than enough room for my money, assorted cards, license, etc. I never carry more than $20 with me. I carry keys, smokes, and gum in my pants pockets. At work I sock the wallet, smokes, and gum in the furthest reaches of my boss’s unusued desk. They’ve never been disturbed in the 5 years I’ve been there.
Outside of work, I’ll transfer everything to a season-appropriate bag, depending on where I’m going and what I’ll be doing. I have a fair amount of bags, btw. I just never use 'em shrug
Well, it’s been over 24 hours now and I have to say that I don’t really miss it. Of course all my stuff is in my briefcase and what is that but an overgrown purse (though not nearly as pretty).
The true test will be on Saturday when my band has a gig. Can I actually make it through a gig with no purse? Part of the problem is my husband (who’s in the band) he likes to put his cell phone and keys in my purse. Ha! He’ll have to get his own purse.
Thanks for the offer Alice I may take you up on that.
Eve when we were in NY this summer my daughter got a couple of very nice looking knock off hand bags (Louis Vitton, Coach and Prada) from some very interesting slightly scary characters on Canal street. The acquisition of these hand bags involved following several young asian women to back alley shops or in one case the back room of a convenience store in the subway. My daughter saw it as an adventure (and she was travelling with several companions) I thought it sounded dangerous. But apparently the secret knock off handbags are ever so much better looking than the stuff you can get from the street vendors and ever so much cheaper than actual Louis Vitton, Coach and Prada.
But what do I know, I don’t even want to carry a purse.
Yeah, I don’t quite get that, either. I keep my boobs in my bra and my keys in my pocket. Works just fine.
I have a purse, and most days I tote it around in the backpack that I carry to/from work and school. I got it at Target, and it has two perfectly-sized pockets on the front for my PDA and cell phone: the inside is mostly empty, but I have some pens, my wallet, my checkbook, and a small hairbrush in there. I’ll sometimes carry the purse with me if I go out to lunch, and almost always have it with me if I’m shopping (either at the grocery store or the mall).
I can’t stand taking a purse with me when I go out, though. In that case, I transfer my license, insurance card, and whatever credit card(s) I think I’ll need for the night into a small leather business card holder, and that goes in my right front pocket. Cash gets folded in half and put in the same pocket. My car key is on a thingie that separates from the rest of the ring, so just that one key also goes in the same pocket (the rest of the ring stays in my glove box). Cell phone goes in the other pocket, and I’m good to go. 
I have one of those, too! I don’t like it, though.