I have a small black purse, with pretty stripey lining. A pen, a slim boar’s hair brush, my inhaler, a snack size ziplock baggie with a lipstick, liplliner and Q-tips. Chapstick. A travel sized bottle of Extra Strength Tyelnol, that also has some Sudafed blisters in it, various reciepts, scrap paper for taking down notes, old shopping lists, some spearmint Tic Tacs, some Wint-O-Green Lifesavers, and my wallet.
Tis a big bag with one small zipper pocket.
The zipper pocket:
$5 bill
A single package of Smarties (the tart candy not the chocolate one)
4 pens
bluetooth
6 checks that I wrote that are given back when they do the electronic withdrawal (b/c I couldn’t find my check card at the time)
4 receipts (Toys R Us, Best Buy, Barnes & Nobles, Wal-Mart)
The main part:
Wallet with: checkbook, Visa, Mastercard, gas card, Sears card, 2 atm cards, 1 debit/check card, 4 health insurance cards (mine & kids), college id card, gift card to Victoria’s Secret, gift card to JC Penney, 2 gift cards to Wal-Mart, driver’s licence, old driver’s license with hole punched in it, business cards in a holder, a free iTunes download picked up at Starbucks, $8 in bills, and a mass of change
2 packs of Dentyne Ice gum (one almost empty, the other new)
Coin purse with no coins in it, but instead my paycheck
Sunglass case with sunglasses in it
A second pair of sunglasses
Reading glasses case without the reading glasses (who knows where they are)
Sony Reader
Sony Cybershot Camera (pink and in pink case)
Palm (yeah, a Blackberry would be very nice)
Make up bag with compact, 4 lipsticks, 3 lip tints, 3 all day lasting lip colors/gloss thingies, 2 juicytube/gloss, one lip liner (the desert is tough on the lips. Evidently.)
Calendar for Michael’s classes on various topics such as cake decorating and flower arrangement
A key hook for my keys, which are in my coat pocket
Gloves
Missing: (both charging)
iPod
Cell
It’s ironic that just before I came online and saw this thread, I decided to clean out some the purses I don’t want anymore so I can donate them to a local thrift store. Inside a couple of them were bus schedules and receipts from the year 2000 and one of the purses I didn’t even recognize. So, yup, I guess I can let go of those.
I likes my pocketsesss better than purses. They don’t get so cluttered.
Adding, my purse is too small for many books, so I end up carrying them seperately most of the time. Also, if I do put a book in my purse, I take it right out when I get home, to continue reading. 
Wallet
Keys
Cell phone
Small 3-ring notepad with pen and address book in the back
A “business card” wallet with fabric samples of my family tartans
A change-purse-cum-cosmetics-bag with compact, go-with-everyting lip liner and go-with-everything lipstick, lipstick and liner of today, lip balm, sample size hand lotion, contact lens drops
A bigger cosmetics bag with mini manicure kit, nail files, nail glue, kleenex, cough drops, sample size of sunscreen, Dramamine, aspirin, allergy and sinus meds, tampons, contact case
Glasses case for sunglasses and/or prescriptions
Day planner, if the purse is big enough (I switch a lot depending on what I’m wearing)
I don’t carry a purse; I carry one of these. Lessee…
4 keys: car, office, home, childhood house
Inspirational verse in outside window
License, car insurance card, registration
Emergency contact info
Grocery store card
Dunkin Donuts cars
JiffyLube card
Health Ins card
Garage card
Work ID
AAA card
Phone card
I don’t wear makeup or retouch my hair. Cell phone goes in a coat pocket. Gum sits on desk and in car. Ditto tissues. When needed, tampons go in pocket.
Wallet
Cell Phone
3 sets of keys
6 payroll direct deposit stubs
Hairbrush
Assorted Change
Outline of 2008 Job Goals (how did that end up in here?)
Pen
Hollywood Video receipt (“Hairspray” and “The House on Haunted Hill”)
Feminine supplies
I rarely wear make-up, what is in my purse is from the family Holiday get together I attended. My hair REQUIRES that I carry a brush to smooth it sometimes, like on a windy day, or on a “Fraggle hair” day when it is frizzy. It is very, very long.
I’ve got a cheapie little black purse from WalMart - cost me $10. It holds:
my wallet (which holds my checkbook)
my calculator
3 pens
red comb
1 lip gloss
nail clippers
small mirror
small cloth for cleaning my glasses
1 small tin of dental floss
3 or 4 Hall’s cough drops
a few stray receipts
5 or 6 notes to myself
It has a pouch that’s perfect for my cell phone, but I’m not allowed to take the phone into work, so my phone lives in the car, and the pouch stays empty.
My purse is a small black one; it has in it:
- my wallet
- a comb
- some ibuprofen in a baggy
- roll of tums
- my changepurse
- my extra cards
- nail clippers
- lip gloss I don’t use (I think I’ll take it out)
- tube of vaseline I DO use on my dry, dry, dry lips
- gum
- tiny little rubber chicken (what can I say - it makes me happy to be searching my purse for my cheques or whatever, and see my tiny little rubber chicken)
I don’t know what women with handbags the size of duffel bags are carrying in there - I have everything I need in my little purse.
I’ll tell you what I have in my huge purse:
two vintage handkerchiefs
change purse (with drivers license, credit cards, frequent purchaser card from the yarn shop, various business cards, and assorted coins)
keys
Sigg cup with water
datebook (old-fashioned paper one)
two small notebooks…one a moleskine with goals and Important Stuff, other just a spiral bound notebook for notes and lists
one diaper & wipes & diaper wipe spray
6 matchbox cars
empty wrapper from a cereal bar
Kiss My Face lip balm
pen
tiny jar of Burts Bees almond hand cream
gloves
I have a rubber duckie for the same purpose.
I have a beanie lizard on my backpack. Sometimes I carry a backpack if I want to take a craft project, a book for me, a book for my husband, photo flip books, as well as maybe some drinks. It isn’t a huge backpack, but big enough to carefully fit that much in it. (Not big enough for school though, it isn’t even as big as some of those big purse things I’ve seen some celebritys carrying.) It is sort of my “going out of town visiting” pack.
I’ve got a small black purse with 2 front pockets and an inside change pocket.
Front pocket 1:
1 1/2 books of stamp
my 2008 car registration
2 expired 20% off Borders coupons
2 napkins
my driver’s license
my health insurance card
my expired car insurance card
my current car insurance card
my AAA membership card
my doctor’s business card
my sister’s Barnes & Noble membership discount card
my other doctor’s business card and appointment card with my next appointment on the back (2 separate cards)
my Jewel-Osco preferred card
the SuperAmerica/Speedway gift card I got for Christmas
my Mastercard
my sister’s Dominick’s Fresh Values card
my sister’s Speedway Speedy Rewards membership card
a bunch of receipts
Front pocket 2:
my car keys
my house keys
my work photo ID
Niece#2’s school picture
Nephew#2’s school picture
a 1 dollar bill
generic Sudafed pills
a Target receipt
a play ticket to Romeo and Juliet
Inside purse:
a 20 dollar bill
a paycheck stub
a bank envelope
several bank deposit slips
my cat’s rabies certificate and vet bill
three 1 dollar bills
Weight Watcher’s coupon booklet
another bank envelope
two $3.00 coupons for the cafeteria at work
an empty envelope with the Weight Watcher’s points value for several Noodles & Company pasta dishes handwritten on the back
two more 1 dollar bills
a Gamer’s Paradise receipt
A 5 dollar bill and a 1 dollar bill folded together
Weight Watcher’s “Eat Wisely” book
Weight Watcher’s PointsFinder
checkbook
another 5 dollar bill
In the change pocket:
Too much change to count
In my purse (which my sister-in-law-to-be insists on calling a “murse”):
-wallet, containing bank card, credit card, medicare card, library card, photocopy place discount card, bookstore gift card, bus pass, various other cards, money, business cards, receipts, etc;
-change purse, containing coins and batteries;
-handkerchief;
-comb;
-Tylenol (usually);
-one or more pens;
-breath mints/gum/breath strips;
-a book (today it was How to Become a Virgin by Quentin Crisp);
-my cell phone;
-a foldable shopping bag;
-pens;
-other detritus;
-a tuque and/or gloves (in winter).
It is decorated with a large number of buttons bearing a variety of seditious and unsavoury slogans.
Absolutely everything I could need for the day (or is it a week? 
). The denim purse I mentioned is one of my smaller bags, I have a couple of messengers that can potentially carry lots more, and an absolutely HUGE knitting bag/purse that I just bought because it looks more professional than nearly everything else I have. I took it with me on my short vacation over the holidays and was able to carry everything I needed, as well as everything my son might need for visits in it.
I do downsize at times, but I find that I like having a big purse to store whatever I need to.
Black and metal hobo bag:
wallet
prescription sunglasses
house and car keys
spare keys
classroom key
Altoids mints and gum
face blotting paper
mini lipsticks
eyedrops
lip balm
kleenex
a pen
hand cleaner
cell phone
compact mirror
Tylenol
fem. stuff
keys
book: Nam-a-Rama, by Phillip Jennings
scrunchi
barrette
2 pens
buncha cards (license, credit, library, insurance, etc)
brush
case with 3 Maxalt tablets
pill box (Excedrin, Dramamine)
cell phone
receipts
licorice altoids
2 Cape May diamonds
glasses
sunglasses
keys
chapstick
cell phone
small sudoku notepad game
pen
credit/debit/ID/health insurance cards
cough drops
DayQuil
Bob, the iPod shuffle
travel kleenex
travel Clinique lotion
birth control
I want more fun stuff in my bag.
I usually carry a black Kenneth Cole tote- a birthday gift from my sis. It has 3 large compartments and 3 small ones, one of which has a zipper. Contents:
Front compartment: Starbucks napkins, bills, work ID badge and keycard hanging on Anime Expo '07 lanyard, 2 packets of sugar, 1 packet of Splenda, purse-size deodorant, beige scrunchy in case of a bad hair day, pay stub, tin of mango Altoids, blue ballpoint pen, and key chain with martini-glass-shaped hanging hook, house key, Suncoast loyalty card, and 3 charms: Tinkerbell, Rukia from Bleach, and a Naruto cellphone charm with Gaara on one side and Rock Lee on the other.
Middle zippered compartment: at least 10 receipts and a coupon for $1.00 off a package of Lactaid.
Large rear compartment: Ralphs store coupon, store event flyer from Michaels, check book, tube of Blistex, black gel pen, credit card bill to mail, Marie Callenders gift card from my boss, skull-and-crossbones whistle left over from nephew’s birthday party in October, Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy eucalyptus/spearmint hand cream, hand wipes, 1 Always pad, 1 Lactaid pill, half-finished packet of Starburst candy, 1 purple plastic bead, and make-up bag containing Burt’s Bees tinted lip shimmer in Raisin, Estee Lauder Pure Color Long-Lasting Lipstick in Sunstone, lip brush, and magnifying mirror.
Small rear compartment: empty.
Other small rear compartment: cell phone, when not charging or in use.
Small zippered rear compartment: $5 bill, ATM card, California ID, health insurance cards for myself and the Princess, store credit cards for Target, Macys and Victoria’s Secret, Sanrio Surprises bonus card, Costco membership card, Starbucks gift card with $2 on it (bought myself a nonfat mocha earlier), stamps, Borders gift card from my sis with $15 on it.
When I go to work I also carry a black fabric tote with my walking shoes, water bottle, and a magazine to read on the bus.
So what have we learned from this? That I’m a lactose-intolerant otaku who wears little makeup, likes to carry many of her possessions with her, and really, really needs to clean out her purse.