The secret inner contents of a woman's bag.

A women’s handbag is a private and mysterious world where everything is personal and important to the owner of the bag. It is a place where no man dares to go.

I thought today, however, that I would share the inner most secret contents of my handbag. Now to be honest mine is not the most interesting or exciting bag, the contents are more practical. In contrast I will also show you the undiscovered delights which lurk in my daughter-in-law’s handbag. Gillian has a fascinating selection of things that she feels are essential to carry around with her.

Now I will say that my bag is organised, I change it a few times a week to co-ordinate with my outfits and clear it out whenever I change it. Yes, sad, I know. Receipts either need to be filed for checking against my bank account, kept as I paid in cash and they may be needed, or cash and they won’t be needed. (They go straight in the recycling bin.) I also clear my Filofax out a couple of times a week as there is no point having an organisation system that is in a state of disorganisation.

The 3 main bags I am using for work are 3 satchels that I got this year. One was given to me, one was from a charity shop and one was a bargain in the sales. I do have other lovely bags but they are my main ones for right now.

The contents of my bag on the day I wrote this are as follows:

·         My ochre Malden Filofax;  which also contains propelling and ordinary pencils, a selection of post it notes, a photo of my lovely children, a Donor card, my blog cards, Philofaxy blog cards and chameleon Upholstery cards.

·         My navy blue spotty Paperchase pencil case; which also contains spare propelling pencil leads, a pencil sharpener, my favourite pen, and my Welsh pen.

·         My sunglass case; which contains my prescription sunglasses, a glasses cleaning cloth and a mini cleaning spray.

·         My blue M2 Filofax wallet; this contains my shopping list, mini pen, reward cards, bank cards and paper money ( if I am really lucky).

·         My pink unicorn coin purse; this contains my loose change.

·         My phone.

·         Home keys and work keys.

·         Tissues.

·         A make up bag; which contains lip gloss, comb, mirror, floss and eye drops.

·         I also carry migraine tablets, anti car sickness tablets and an asthma inhaler.

·         I always carry a mini spray deodorant and a Charlie Pink spray too.

                                                   

I do also carry an extra little bag on work days containing an Eco water bottle, an Eco coffee cup for takeaway coffee, an umbrella and my lunch. I also always carry a fold up shopping bag at all times.

Now my daughter-in-law carries a far more interesting array of belongings with her than me and has been known in the past to pull some weird and wonderful things out of her bag. Examples are: a potato, clothes pegs, spare clean socks and a tin of tuna.

When I took the photographs for this piece Gillian had in fact two bags. One was a handbag and the other an over spill

bag. I have, therefore, split the lists into two. The photos are just a mixture of the contents of both bags.

Gillian’s main bag contains: ( In the order they came out)

·         A purse.

·         A hairbrush.

·         Glasses.

·         Sunglasses.

·         Make up dregs and new makeup.

·         Ibuprofen and paracetamol.

·         Rescue remedy.

·         Adrian Mole the Wilderness Years cassette 1.

·         A loose 50p.

·         Pellegere Woods hand book

·         Answers to Welsh language test.

·         A pen.

·         Adrian Mole The cappuccino Years cassette 1.

·         2 sets of headphones.

·         Half a phone charger.

·         6 hairgrips.

·         Antihistamines. 

·         Tissues.

·         Receipts.

·         2 random keys of unknown origin.

·         A deodorant.

·         A loose 2p.

Gillian’s overspill bag contains: ( In the order they came out)

·         Glasses case.

·         Beetroot seeds.

·         Squash sees.

·         Spring onion seeds.

·         2 notebooks.

·         Phone case.

·         Moisturiser – expired.

·         2 hairclips.

·         Five Get into Trouble cassette

·         Pine nuts and pumpkin seeds snack.

·         Five Go Adventuring Again cassette.... unravelled.

·         Third Year at Mallory Towers cassette.

·         Pair of clean socks.

·         Five Go off in a Caravan cassette 2.

·         Perfume.

·         4 2^nd class stamps.

·         Glasses.

·         AAA battery.

Gill's purse ....probably full of receipts?

I do believe that Gillian's bag, though slightly disorganised in approach, does show a sense of being ready for anything and also a fun side too. All the various cassettes to listen to in the car are fabulous.

My bag is structured and organised but does not show my fun side. I think this is because I do like to be ultra organised and it is important to me to be able to access what I need when I am out.