a quest
So, like many geeks, especially girl geeks, I am on what seems to be a never-ending quest for The Perfect Bag. When I’m carrying my laptop, my Timbuk2 messenger bag does really well with managing the assorted chargers and gadgets and whatnot, but I don’t carry my laptop around as much anymore and it’s sort of excessive when I’m not packin’ the axe, as it were.
So I’m trying to adapt what Robert Daeley calls Zen Pockets- the problem is just that, being a girl, I don’t usually have pockets. I’ve gone from the big pink clutch wallet to a little case that holds my wallet, debit card, and a couple of other essential cards with a little zippered pouch for cash. I’ve boiled everything else down to the bare essentials and the more important nice-to-haves.
Ultimately, what I need is a bag that will hold all of the following, while compartmentalizing it enough that I don’t have to root around for anything.
- ID/credit card case
- Zippered change purse
- pen
- lip gloss
- iPod
- cell phone
- PDA
- 6 index cards
- digital camera (a Canon ELPH model)
- 2 tampons
- keys
- prescription medication
- teeny bottle of hand sanitizer
- combination comb/brush
- Metro SmarTrip card
- Business card case
- Spare memory card for digicam
I’ve been trying out a Baggallini Large Wallet Bagg. It has the appropriate configuration of inner compartments, and would have been fine except my camera kind of ruins the whole thing. The camera gets shoved into one side, and it takes up so much space that there’s not a lot of “give” in the bag for other stuff. So if I need to put my keys in it, or if I get a receipt I need to keep for my expense report, there’s no way to put it away quickly because I’m trying to shove it into an already overloaded bag.
So I’ve got to keep looking. Any recommendations?
July 19th, 2005 at 11:21 pm
I have one purse. In it contains my keys, my wallet, cell phone, tampons if needed, and my ipod. It’s large enough to hold a paperback novel if I needed it. The reason I love this purse so much is that it has a LONG strap, long enough for me to have it across my body and rest at my hip.
It took me until my senior year of college to use a purse (and then it was the one I made out of duct tape) and I still don’t feel like I need anything more than what I can fit in my purse (of course, I’m not a techie, so there’s that)
July 20th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
I often carry the girl supplies even when I don’t expect to need them just because it’s nice to be able to help a friend out if she is caught without.
I don’t always use all that stuff on a day to day basis, but it’s stuff I want to have often enough that it’s worth it to carry it around. I got a hilarious photo the other day, for example, because I just happened to have my camera on me. I’m trying to photoblog more. The day I don’t bring my iPod is always the day I unexpectedly have a long drive or Metro ride to face. And since I don’t wear makeup every day, it’s nice to be able to fall back on the lip gloss to spiff up a bit if I have to run out to a client’s office or something.
July 20th, 2005 at 7:23 pm
well, my camera could fit in my purse as well, I just don’t carry it alot
iPod ALWAYS goes in the purse when I’m taking the bus. ALWAYS. if i go to a dance, make up comes a long too. The purse itself has three pockets - a small one in front (for ipod and cell) and the main body (wallet and keys) and then a zip up pouch inside (feminin article, pennies, makeup if needed)