Sometimes men going out for the evening will pare down to just carrying a credit card and their drivers license or use this sort of minimalist wallet / money clip.
What’s the least you (or your female friends) are willing to go out with? Will you ever leave your purse at home?
Sure. If I’m just going to the shops, I stick cash in one jeans pocket, keys in another, phone in the third and list in the fourth.
Yes and no.
If I’m going to, say, Disneyland for the day, I pare down to the absolute minimum - ID, money/debit card, phone, and pass, put 'em in my pockets, and head out.
HOWEVER - there are two reasons I generally don’t do so.
Most women’s clothing doesn’t have pockets. Having to make sure that I have pockets cuts the pants-I-can-wear list in half and rules out skirts and dresses entirely.
I am a recovering habitual leave-my-purse-places-er. I’ve found that if I am in the habit of taking my purse everywhere, then if I forget it at the table at lunch (for example), the little alarm goes off in my head and sends me back to get it before I step too far away. However, if I’m often in the habit of not having my purse with me, that alarm doesn’t go off, and I’m more likely to not realize I don’t have the damn thing until an hour later.
I’m more inclined to leave my purse than phone behind. Keys, credit card/ID and phone are the usual minimum.
I have a credit-card pocket in my phone case, so for short hops I’m happy to go out with that and my keys. I’m more likely to go purse-less in the winter, though, because I can keep my stuff in my coat pocket. In summer there usually isn’t a place to stash much of anything.
I hate carrying a purse, and for years I didn’t, but now I seem to have too much stuff and not enough pockets. Back in my twenties, when I went out partying, I needed only my house key, some cash and ID. We didn’t have cell phones back then. Easy enough to stuff in the pockets of whatever jacket I was wearing.
Now I have a purse to carry my big girl wallet stuffed full of bank cards, credit cards, points cards, drivers license, ownership and insurance, plus all the other flotsam and jetsam that accumulates in there - pens, asthma meds, bits of paper, cheque book, plus a cell phone, a set of keys that includes my house keys and car key with fob, hairbrush, reusable shopping bag…
Usually if I’m going out, I grab my purse, because anything I might need is in there, but if I’m doing something where it is a nuisance to carry, like walking the dogs or going for a bike ride, I leave it behind and just carry the essentials - keys, phone and ID in my pockets.
I never use a purse and will leave the house with nothing but the clothes on my back. If I need essential survival gear, I’ll ask someone with a purse for it.
Never, never, never. If pressed, I will leave my tote bag (which I carry in addition to my purse) in the car, but my purse goes everywhere I go. There are just too many things I need and can’t be without.
Even the minimalist wallet is too much for my evening clothes. No pockets and not a lot of anything else. It’s a problem with women’s clothing. Now I have seen evening gowns/party dresses that do have pockets but they are necessarily very small pockets, which only work as pockets as long as the wearer is upright (I don’t mean the wearer can’t pass out I mean the wearer can’t even sit down without things falling out).
In general everyday clothing, yeah, I’ve made sure I have pockets. I do have a small, efficient wallet. My purses are pretty small and have cross-body straps so I don’t ever have to take them off and put them someplace.
If I’m just walking the dog or taking a recreational bike ride I have no problem not having any ID on me, or even my phone. But if I have a destination I need something to carry the necessary ID, money, credit cards, hand lotion, emergency contact lens case, phone, place for keys…
Ladies, isn’t there an acronym for the basics known as MILK? I thought it was something like Money, ID, License, and Keys, but it must be something different because ID and License seem to be the same thing.
I never carry a purse. Wallet, keys, phone.
If in a situation where I don’t have real pockets, I’ll put some cash and ID in whatever is on my person (teeny pockets or bra), leave my wallet and phone in the car, and have someone else hold my keys.
Depends on what you mean by purse. If you mean a wallet type thing that has room for notes, coins, credit cards etc, then no, I don’t even own one. My bare minimum is my phone in its slim case that holds a couple of cards and some notes, with car keys in my pocket.
People around here call a handbag a purse, and I will carry one of those for a night out or some such where I’ll need to bring lipstick and other necessities.
Sometimes it’s easier to just take the whole damn purse rather than dig out the 3 things I need, but I often like to just take my phone (and in its case I keep my license anyway) and keys and a wallet if I need it. When I go to the beach, the purse stays home, for example.
I don’t have a purse. So . . . yes.
Ah, it reminds me of when I was a teenager. I put my driver’s license in my back pocket with a couple of singles and was ready to cruise around. I didn’t even wear shoes half the time.
50 years later, I will do almost the same except it will be a $20, I take my phone, and I wear shoes. I keep an insurance card in he car, so I’m set there. I can run to the grocery store, or McDonald’s for a Coke, or out to lunch.
Maybe Money, Insurance card, License, and Keys?
Like even sven, I’m apt to go without a purse in the winter - plenty of pockets in my coat for all of the necessaries. Summertime or dress-up time, I usually need something small, at least, to carry those MILK items, plus some lip balm, sunglasses, and such. Littlest Miss is still in diapers, so I usually have a larger purse, with a few spare diapers and wipes for her, maybe a granola bar and juice box in case we get somewhere an need emergency supplies, and so forth.
I use a smallish three section fanny pack. One section is for cards; one for cash; one for phone, keys, tissues, chapstick. I also can put my phone in one pocket, a mini-card/cash case in another pocket, and hang my keys around my neck. The latter works well for bike rides.
I rarely use a purse, so yeah. Then again, most of my outings involve people in jeans and T-shirts - you’re more likely to see backpacks than purses. The biggest problem I have with the dual-SIM cellphone is that it’s too big for my jeans’ pockets, but now that it’s winter I can just carry it in my coat’s. Keys go into a jeans’ pocket, wallet into another.
I only carry a purse when I need to carry something too big for my pockets, not big enough to justify the backpack.
I carry one of these:
(in fact, currently in the same pattern as the one in front)
which holds keys, license, advance directive card, health insurance card, AAA card, and credit and/or debit card.
That’s it. My phone stays in the car because I only have it for emergencies involving the car or someone else’s car.
Me and Mr Boods just took a trip up to a matinee in London for xmas eve. Me: jacket with my Oyster card, driving licence, whatever the hell else was in the pockets.
Him: enormous manbag in case we got lost between Charing Cross station and Trafalgar Square* and needed to hunt down some living statues for food and establish a base camp at the foot of Nelson’s Column, plus some beads to trade with the natives at the Waterstone’s.
*Hint: they’re just about in sight of one another.