I posted a while back (as in two years ago!) about how the contents of my purse have changed. For one thing, I never used to carry a purse, preferring to stick my driver’s license and money/debit cards in a back pocket of the inevitable pair of jeans. When Jen did a photo shoot post about her purse, the temptation was too great. I just had to play along. 🙂

My current purse of choice is a Vera Bradley* red handkerchief design (a color they don’t carry anymore, sadly, because it makes me instantly happy) handbag that was a gift right before Baby 2 was born. I foolishly thought it would take the place of a diaper bag. It didn’t at first, but now that the Diaper Wearing One is out of the pooping-through-everything phase, it serves the purpose pretty well.

In the front outside pocket, I found a clip barrette, two small belonging-to-someone-who-wears-pigtails (not me) hairbands in orange and yellow, a rubber band, a different kind of barrette (the kind I actually use to pull my hair back), a crumpled up coupon, and a beige hairband (the kind I use at least daily to pull my hair back).

Instead of a wallet, I carry a mini-hipster, also red, inside. This is basically a small “I don’t have kids” purse that is perfect for grabbing and taking into the store/library/etc. The string is long enough to go across my chest, which makes life so much easier. I used to carry a wallet-on-a-string instead of the hipster, but it didn’t have a place for my cell phone and iPod, and there was never a place to put the little “stuff” I seem to need to carry (receipts, coupons, etc.) when I don’t have pockets.

Inside the hipster is all the stuff I used to keep in my wallet, plus a holy card with the Divine Praises and another one of St. Joseph, Protector of Homes. There are also stamps (if I don’t keep them in my purse, I can never find them), last week’s shopping list, and the coupons I didn’t use at the grocery store. I have a couple of blank index cards (“just in case”) and the free towel redemption booklets from the grocery store (oh, this is a wonderful thing, let me tell you!). There’s also two pens, another barrette (I have a fear of not having a way to pull my hair back, can you tell?), and a baby blue knotted rosary.

My purse is big enough to tuck a book and/or a notebook in, and when I’m going anywhere where the opportunity of reading could remotely occur, you can bet that one or both of them are included. (And when I find myself bookless, I can only pray that I’m not iPodless too!)

As I dumped out my purse for this post, here’s what I found among the junk (listed as I pulled them out, with no rhyme or reason):

  • a baggie full of little Halloween treat bags, that Babs made me promise to keep for her to play with when we got home (in the office the other day she sorted all her candy out of said bags)
  • my keys
  • a diaper
  • a pink Ohio State toboggan
  • a pair of baby anklet socks
  • a ziploc with a couple of wipes in it
  • another pair of baby socks
  • a yellow bow barrette
  • the lid to a sippy cup (I’ve been looking for that!)
  • two little girl hairbands, one in blue with a little bow on it, the other in sparkley yellow
  • a fake pearl necklace my mother-in-law let Babs bring home, but which never made it out of my purse
  • a little cosmetic bag with personal items, gum, a neat pill case (but no pills), some more barrettes, a few more of my hairbands
  • a penny
  • a coupon for a free kid’s meal at one of our favorite local restaurants (hey, it’s still valid!)
  • a fine amnesty card and bonus video card from the library’s summer reading program
  • a “just in case” pair of little girl underpants
  • more hairbands
  • a bunch of my favorite pens (becauase if you need a pen, it should be one of your favorites – these things matter!)
  • a bright blue knotted rosary
  • hand sanitizer
  • a binky clip
  • small package of tissues
  • a booklight (hope springs eternal)
  • Tylenol meltaways
  • thumb drive
  • another rosary – white-and-gold knotted this time
  • a baby spoon (in a state not to be photographed, to be honest, it’s headed for the sink!)
  • Baby Oragel

So. That went longer than I thought it would. (Sorry to bore you, but I’m guessing you didn’t keep reading if you were that bored…)

What’s in your purse?

(Apologies for not taking pictures. In the interest of actually posting this (as opposed to letting it rot in draft-land), I decided not to go camera crazy.)

*Lest you think I have real fashion sense, let me set you straight. My mother-in-law works at a high-end gift shop, and she gets these crazy deals on Vera Bradley, among other things. I just like the red. Now I have more Vera Bradley in my life than I care to really think about, but I haven’t spent all that much, and some of it has been of the “oh, you liked that, so it’s your birthday present” variety. And I’m finding myself rather liking it!