So, many of you know that I have a 35-40 min commute. My SO now also has about a 25-30 min commute to his job (essentially he lives outside the city I work in and I live just outside the town he works in). Prior to that he lived 45 min from his work and about an 1 hr 15 from mine. Last fall I spent 6 months of 3 days a week in a city 4 hours away. Currently I'm trying to spend at least 2 nights a week at his place, and in the winter anticipate spending a few more because of inclement weather.
I do drive and have a vehicle that I can leave things in, although without being properly insulated some things will freeze come winter.
This whole time I've been carrying either a duffel and a purse or backpack on overnight days and just a purse to work otherwise.
It is a big cheap vinyl bag that I hate (first actual handbag bigger than a wallet in many years) that hasn't been super functional for me.
Recently I had a intern steal some cash from my purse (we don't have a proper place to lock up bags, so i'd left it on my desk). Then we had a bed bug scare at work (turns out, we actually had bats in the attic) but during that I stopped carrying a bag. That wasn't great either, since I have to remember to keep medications on my person and all kinds of stuff I need for running errands in my vehicle-- plus, I still use a paper calendar because I don't have truly smart phone.
My duffel bag (which I think is actually a Nike gym bag) is about to bite the dust and I'm trying to figure out a better system than 12.9 million poorly designed bags.
Basically, on non-work days I need something to carry 1 bottle of prescription medication in the original tube, Excedrin, a wallet of some sort (I have a tiny leather card case currently), a checkbook, notepad and pen, clippers, hand sanitizer, lip balm, sunglasses, cell phone, keys, and sometimes a water bottle (but I'm not a stickler about it being in the bag). On work days I add my lunch and a big water bottle and sometimes a travel mug (I'm ok with carrying 2 of the 3 separately) my paper calendar, sometimes planner-size notebook, and a knife. A couple days a week, being able to fit my gloves, hat, and indoor shoes and or tossing in my lunch and bottles would be great.
On weekends or overnights I need a bag with minimal clothes and toiletries, plus a laptop and chargers, and my DSLR. I currently have it in a neoprene sleeve (along with my laptop) so that needs to fit into either the duffel or the purse/tote.
Currently the big heavy purse isn't working for me. I'm wondering if I need a duffle that will fit my laptop, clothes, and dslr (maybe in its own camera bag), a small cross body purse, and a third light tote bag I can toss the purse and maybe the camera in when I need to carry more stuff for work.
How on earth do you ladies do this? Any recs for techniques or bags? I'm so tired of living out of a suitcase --- I have some toiletries I leave at his house but can't duplicate my glasses, razor, and makeup, and making sure I have clothes should I need to stay on a whim has become a problem with my small wardrobe and increasingly tighter dress code.