Big bag or small bag? - YouLookFab Forum

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Big bag or small bag?

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

CocoLion's red purse dilemma really got me thinking about what we carry around and if we really need all that stuff. Realistically.

I confess my purse/handbag gets cluttered in no time, as does my wallet/purse (this UK/US English really confuses me), regardless of their size. I try to declutter both of them regularly, but they have a life of heir own.

About half a year ago I went abroad and needed a small cross-body bag just to have quick access the ticket, passport and money at hand. I found a simple and pretty one. From then on, unless I need or want a bigger bag, it is my main handbag until today - and it holds everything I need. I have tiny leather cards/money holder, I carry a mobile phone, a pack of tissues, makeup, pen, work pass, hairband and that's mainly it. From someone whose posture could have been affected by the amount of stuff that was hidden in the deep dark depths of my handbag and which equaled cabin baggage allowance, I had downsized to very minimalist bag content and I love it.

My conclusion is that we often tend to fill the handbags just because we have all that space available. I prefer to choose when to carry the handbag that compliments my outfit, as opposed to making sure I have everything on me in case I might need it.

Any thoughts on that?

General

21 replies

Latest reply was from taylor

Louise

Veteran

I used to be a 'carry everything just in case' girl but realised I never used any of it. I now carry an organiser, pen, purse, tissues, car keys, phone, make up bag with hand sanitiser, inhaler, lipbalm etc. i just weighed these and they came to just under 1lb. I have bags in a variety of sizes but even with bigger bags I rarely carry more than this unless I need it. Went to the hospital with BF last week so added in my bag a drink, snack and book, but as soon as we got home I removed them. I keep odds and ends in the car like extra painkillers tissues deoderant etc to save lugging them about in my bag. I think swapping bags regularly helps to cut down on clutter and rubbish x

An

I'm carting around a nappy bag at the moment that gets filled with who knows what - nappies (obviously;)), wipes, hand sanitiser, change mat, wallet, card wallet, phone, keys, snacks, toys, changes of clothes, drinks, mirror, mini perfume. nail files, tissues, lip balm, hand cream, hats, undies (for my son, not me!!) ... crazy! I can't wait to downsize!

Louise, such a good idea to keep the extras in the car. I have done this in the past with changes of clothes etc but seem to have got out of the way of it now.

Ljubica

Most of my bags are big, at least the ones I'm currently using, but they are never too heavy, because I don't tend to carry my household with me :). Also, I don't own a mobile, so it's one thing less I have to worry about when I switch bags. I love bags but end up wearing a lot only the most practical ones. For example, I have a beautiful grey tote, but the zipper is very impractical, so it gets rarely worn, while a highly practical (and much cheaper) one from Mango gets out all the time. I also find synthetic bags to be less fussy than the real lether ones - they are less heavy, durable and if you haven't paid a lot for such a bag you're not devastated if it gets ruined or starts getting dated.
The color also plays a very important role in a bag's wearability - I sometimes get carried away by a beautiful color, but most my bright or in any other way unusually colored ones just sit in my closet for years.
My favorite colors beside neutrals are purple and pewter. I find red very hard to manage, and blue is also pretty difficult for me.
In summer, though, I forget big bags. I have a tiny black cross-body which I have been wearing for years, and it's my holiday bag. It can hold only my purse and my keys, but I usually don't need much more when I'm on holiday. The only drawback is that the bigger bags come in handy when you have to smuggle some new purchases, and you don't want your family to see them :D.

Diana

Veteran

I don't actually carry too much, but I need a biggish bag anyway. My problem is that, on work days, I carry my lunch in my bag, which significantly increases its size and weight. Otherwise I have keys, wallet (a small man-sized one, not one of the big ones that are the size of a clutch purse), phone, sunglasses (these are kind of big though and have a bulky case), magazine or book, ipod shuffle, kleenex, lip balm, and maybe hat/gloves (in winter) or cardigan (for lab). I refuse to carry multiple bags and I commute by walking/bus, so I have no car to stash stuff in!

On occasion, I also carry my 15" macbook pro, but to be honest, on those days I just tend to use my gear-y backpack (unless for some reason I need to look super put-together, but that doesn't happen much as I work in lab!).

In the end, I need a medium to large bag for everyday, and my small ones pretty much only come out on weekends when I don't have the lunch.

Sarah

(website)

There was a summer where I got away with carrying nothing but a cute wristlet, so I know it is possible for me to use a tiny bag. But in general I like a bigger shoulder bag just in case I have more to carry, like magazines or new clothes. But I prefer medium-sized bags over huge ones, because I'm always losing things in them. It's the worst when my phone's ringing and I can't even find it.

Lynne

Veteran

My bag needs to be medium sized, because I carry water and a medium sized filofax....I know I should get with the times and use my smart phone calender, but somehow my brain relates best to the week-at-a-glance pencil and paper thing. I haven't been brave enough to weigh my bag :).

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I'm a medium sized bag girl, too. I don't always carry water with me, but I'd like the option of it being able to fit in my bag, along with a small container of nuts and any forms/fliers/papers that we always seem to be picking up. I do make sure my purses are not heavy for their size, and I don't just fill up the space with junk.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I have always had small to medium bags - likely because I'm not a very big person and because for years I never carried any makeup. Now I do, but I really don't use it. I often end up leaving my bag in the car and carrying my wallet, keys and phone by themselves. I clip my keys to my wallet (it has a chain on it) and put the phone in my pocket. I use the same bag day to day, but have a couple for evening and will put just the above mentioned essentials and a lipgloss in it and be good to go. Of course, once I do this the BF is sure to ask me for some aspirin or whatever else I carry in the daily bag that is not in my cute little one I'm carrying

Elly

Veteran

This is actually what I am trying to figure out right now. I have always had a small (slightly bigger than my hand when splayed out "turkey" style) black leather cross-body bag that was a gift years ago that I used to use when I went out-- dancing, ect. Essentially places where I wasn't wearing a pair of jeans or wanted to bring makeup or during that time of the month, ect. I also have two small clutches/wristlets that were both gifts-- one was used once, one is too fancy/impractical.

I bought a fossil crossbody last year but returned it because it was a little small and there was a major flaw in the leather. I still mostly use me bookbag at school or my pockets, but that isn't working the best. The bookbag situation works well, but I don't want to have to carry it everywhere and switching can be a mess.

I need my wallet with IDs, half a dozen library-type cards, cash, debit card; two checkbooks, two sets of car keys and one of house, my phone, the heart med that I have to take several times throughout the day with pill cutter (because you can't cut them beforehand or the crumble, annoying as all get out), chapstick, migraine meds, cover up, tissues, hand wipes, a days worth of girl things for "surprises", small daybook, pen, sticky notes, knife, clippers, sunglasses w/or without case. Seasonally I might need to stick sunscreen or my gloves in there and occasionally salty snacks and my small blood pressure machine. I would like to put a water bottle in there since I am always supposed to carry one and some salt at all times, but that is asking alot.

Polly (thunalata)

Veteran

I have a medium sized bag with too much in it and don't clear it out as often as I should.

It seems to get cluttered with small toys, small gloves and children's snacks etc because I'd prefer just to carry one bag with it all in if I can fit it. I wonder if this is the problem and I need to keep strictly to the bare minimum in the bag.I do carry a light bag within the bag that I use for unexpected shopping etc. Perhaps I need to use it more.

These sort of threads always help as they give me a bit of a push in the right direction! Louise I love your car storage idea.

Lena

I have very few things I carry out of the house on a daily basis, so small to medium handbag is just fine. I feel very lucky to be able to do this. If I were to commute in any way except car, I would carry more. I get an eye twitch thinking about it.

Recently I totally broke my commitment to minimizing the size and contents of my bag, and got a large wallet because I couldn't resist this print
LAMB b&w checkerboard like this -
http://cgi.ebay.com/L-A-M-B-BL.....0346585695
It's been unavailable for years, and it showed up again in TJMaxx of all places, so I jumped on it. I rationalized it because it fits a cell phone and could double as a clutch if needed. Heh.

Lena

It's true we tend to carry more just because we can. I have this bad habit of filling all available free space, and I constantly fight against it. I used to carry things I never used like extra notebooks, a heavy coin purse, extra sunglasses, hair brush, hand creams and napkins, extra makeup, etc. When I'm commuting in a large city or traveling, I immediately learn to pare down and it's very freeing. It opens my eyes to my real handbag needs, too (needs vs wants).

rae

(website)

Veteran

I always carry giant handbags, because I like the way they look, but I only have a few things inside. In fact, everything fits into a small makeup bag which I shift from handbag to handbag... I guess I am either too lazy to carry much weight or too lazy to do things that would require me to carry tools (reapply makeup or fix hair throughout the day, pack healthy snacks or emergency sweater, etc.).

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

What a thoughtful thread.

Items I was trying to get in the red chain strap bag:
Big heavy wallet/purse. Needs to be cleaned out.
Keys (large amount, home, business, 2 vehicles)
Burts Bees colored chapstick
Small container of my prescription meds and OTC meds
Emerency girlie supplies
Sunglasses
Pen
Cell phone
----
could not fit:
Hairbrush
Small hairspray
blush compact (which I never use, why do I carry it?)
Small tube hand cream in the winter, sunscreen in the summer.

Usually all of this fits easily in a medium bag.

I am that person who, if someone says, do you have a tampon, or do you have lotion, or do you have ibuprofen, I can always help out. Once I ran out of one of these items, and asked a group of 10 women if they could help, and there was not one person. I like to be prepared, so I guess I am not willing to downsize my bag.

Bags with lots of hardware are much heavier. So far I'm afraid of non-leather, but I do like the nylon look that Prada pioneered in the 90s.

rute

Veteran

I don't carry a lot only wallet, sunglasses, lipstick, keys but I do love big bags, love the proportions, love to see me in the photos with a big bag.. don't even know why..

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

Wow, so many interesting perspectives and views (and lists of necessities ).

Thanks ladies. You have certainly shed some new light on handbags in my case.
Louise, I am pretty sure my gloves compartment will take some of the mobile storage duties (CocoLion's scenario of having to ask 10 women for the emergency supplements is quite a good illustration of why).
Ljubica, I have never thought of it, but you are spot-on with leather vs. synthetic bags... for me, only leather counts as the 'real bag', but after reading your words I realized I had held on to some of them for too long because that - it seemed like such a waste to store away something of a high quality.

RoseandJoan

Veteran

I have both size of bags and in all honesty it mostly depends on how long I will be out of the house which size I choose to cover. I always carry an umbrella so that determines the minimum size of my day bags.

Kari

Veteran

I carry a medium handbag, sometimes a medium crossbody, but I'd like to carry less. Generally I weigh my bag down from my wallet, because I carry too much loose change and don't empty my receipts out often enough.

I carry some travel makeup (primarily just concealer and lipstick/lip gloss), nail clippers (I perpetually get hangnails), sometimes a tiny tube of lotion or silver dollar-sized tin of shea butter, the aforementioned wallet, a cell phone, and occasionally a camera, which are my essentials. But other stuff fills up the space.

I also don't have a smartphone that allows me to download my schedule or takes good pictures, so that's something I'd like to change soon.

Lisa

Veteran

I'm a small to medium size bag girl. I find large bags overwhelm my frame, and I stuff them too easily.

Elly

Veteran

Something to think about when keeping stuff in the car-- it really depends on your climate. I can never keep liquids (lotion, hairspray, water) or anything electronic in my car. We have below freezing temps all winter (left a drink in a glass bottle and forgot it for two hours, the thing cracked from freezing) and very hot temps all summer and that is really bad for electronics and things like sunscreen and even medications. Also be careful about throwing anything aerosol in the car in the summer because I've actually seen a can explode and go through someone's floorboard.

taylor

Veteran

I carry big bags...not sure why though!!!:)...but I love each of them!