What's in your bag and what does it say about you?
Q&A With Shay Each Sunday
My bag isn’t filled with anything that writerly and it’s probably pretty boring because I hate clutter and collecting a bunch of stuff to carry around that I don’t use—but with a purse, it seems like it happens to everyone. I never really thought about what’s in our bags speaking to us as people, kind of like what’s on our playlists can tell you a lot about us as people. But, after reading writer friend Lissa Johnston’s blog post on bag contents, I’m thinking there could be more literal symbolism to dissect here, especially since—as she pointed out—our bag contents will probably outlive us! Though hopefully that’s many many bags from now.
Q: What’s in your bag and what does it say about you?
A: My wallet, I’d hope anyway. There’s not usually much bulk in there either: a couple credit cards, health insurance card, my license, and very rarely cash, though I do tend to get a good collection of coins going, which is weird for how rarely I have cash. Every couple weeks I find myself emptying a bunch of coins into our coin jar, and when I find myself at a parking meter I am always without quarters, even though I leave some in my car when I remember for that specific purpose. I know these days that you can usually pay for a meter on an app through your phone, but I’m not sure if you have to download a few different ones and enter your credit card every time or what. At that point, I’d rather risk the ticket than spend ten minutes trying to pay. Quarters, when available, are far easier.
Other contents include mints, a hair tie, bobby pins, tissues, lip balm, a face powder compact, one of those nasal vapor inhaler thingys, a few spare contacts (probably my old prescription since I’ve never actually had to use a spare, but ever since that time I visited my friend and accidentally threw out my contacts when I knew I forgot to bring new ones, I’m paranoid. Because I also don’t know if I even have a pair of glasses anymore—they’re somewhere... That was a long day of being fairly blind.), saline solution, and business cards.
I also have a peppermint essential oil that I keep with me: it’s amazing for headaches. If you have a headache rub a couple drops of peppermint oil into your temples. It feels great but is extremely temporary relief, so I also carry Tylenol because the essential oils will wear off.
I keep any gift cards and reward cards separate from my wallet, because they would totally clog it up. I try not to carry many of the reward cards because I’m pretty sure most places just look you up with phone or email, but somehow I still have a few.
I typically stick with the same bag for several months at a time and switch it out when I get a new one or get bored or it gets really worn down. Here’s a few of my bags pictured (pardon the unartistic quality—I’m a writer, not a stellar photographer no matter how many times I try). I wouldn’t use just any purse, because I like fashion a lot also, but it would be way too much of a hassle to switch it to go with every outfit, I am simply not that dedicated. I like them big enough to fit a book or my Kindle if possible in case I have an appointment or something and want to bring my book with me. I’m into crossbody bags for the most part due to their ease and practicality. I’ll switch to a smaller one if I have some sort of event or night out and I’ll just try to bring less stuff, but I always feel like I need everything in there!
I also now have a clear purse after a few run-ins with bags of a certain size not being permitted at sporting events or concerts. Luckily most of the times that happened I was able to leave my bag in the car and just bring a few things in my pockets. Though once Pat walked like a mile back to the car in the rain to put my bag back, and once we took an Uber to a concert and worked out with the restaurant we went to beforehand to leave my bag there for safe keeping during the show. I actually floated the idea of burying it somewhere before we thought to ask the restaurant manager. This is weirdly making me realize what an ordeal purses can be when we hardly use much in there anyway! So, safe to say this has happened enough where I always remember the bag policy before an event now and bring my clear one if I need it.
I used to carry a notepad for my writing, but now, I just use the notes in my phone which is so much easier, especially because I, like everyone else, always have my phone with me. I’m not writing whole novels in there, I’m just writing some ideas or lines from time to time and every once in a while I’ll dig through the notes app on my phone looking for that brilliant line, which usually isn’t as good as I initially thought it was. Or else, they just linger in there forever until I delete them, not even knowing why I wrote it down in the first place. So, maybe I shouldn’t feel so bad when I do forget to write things down, because maybe it wasn’t that good anyway!
I also have a separate computer bag that I’ll switch some of my purse contents over to when bringing my computer somewhere. All that’s in the computer bag is my computer, charger, an iPhone charging cable, a flash drive, and a few business cards. (I rarely ever need my business cards btw, especially since I have social anxiety and hardly talk to anyone out in the world. But I’m prepared!)
I guess my bag is pretty boring and typical, to be honest. I’m not entirely sure what it says about me: Practical but also prepared? You tell me.
I’m not like Phoebe with a deck of cards, a trick deck, a slinky, a goldfish in a bag (really don’t agree with that btw), or a bag of quarters (which would really help for that parking meter dilemma). I hope you’re a FRIENDS fan. Should I do a “Which Friends character am I?” blog?? I’m pretty sure I know, but I totally have a tad bit of all of them—I’ll save that for later.
If I could fit my 90 lb dog in my bag, and he didn’t dropkick me in the process, it’d be a lot more interesting. Do any of you have interesting items in your bag? What do you think your bag says about you as a person?
