Freedom From Purses

The Problem

Most of the junk women carry around in their purses are just that, junk. Very few items are really needed on the regular trips we make. When you go to the fabric store, do you really need to carry your makeup kit, a pack of tissues, family photos, postage stamps, emergency sewing kit, prescription pills, bobby pins, rubber bands, hairbrush, toothbrush, tictacs, folding scissors, ink pens, post-it notes, day planner, empty eyeglass case, fingernail clippers, travel-sized hand lotion, chewing gum, emery board, coupons, library card, tweezers, aspirin, calculator, mace and so on? Heck, if you did need to get to your mace or concealed weapon, how would you find it when you needed it? “Excuse me a sec while I look for my handgun. I know it’s in here somewhere…”

How to Get By Without Your Purse

Carry the basics and carry them all the time. Then if you’re going someplace that requires something extra, take the one or two items you need. Going to the library? Take your library card. Is it windy out? Then take a travel hairbrush, too. Just remember to think before you leave the house about what you’ll likely need.

Where do you carry the basics, you ask? Well, most of what you need will go in a billfold. It’s where you’ll put

• Folding money
• A blank check or two
• A credit or debit card (you really shouldn’t have but one or two of these anyway)
• Your driver’s license
• Emergency contact and health insurance card (if you are lucky enough to have on)

Try to keep the number of items down so that the billfold doesn’t become so bulky that it slips out of your pocket when you sit down. However, depending on your lifestyle, you might want to carry a few other small items that don’t take up much room

• Stamps
• Safety pin
• Bobby pin
• Condom
• Folded panty liner

One of the keys to freeing yourself from a purse is to wear clothing with pockets; jeans, slacks, jacket or coat. Put the billfold in one pocket. I find the back left one works best for me. Then put bulkier items in the other pockets. I carry coins and a pocketknife in one. The pocketknife comes in handy, especially if you buy the kind with little scissors, a toothpick, screwdriver and fingernail file. In another pocket, I carry my keys and chapstick. For those unfortunate times when I need them, I stuff a tampon or two in the same one. I have long hair so I often carry a folding hairbrush in the other back pocket. I don’t carry a cell phone, but if you do, you might want to consider a case to clip to your belt.

And that’s it.

What You’ll Need to Buy

• Sturdy billfold – you’ll need to buy a new one every few years, but only one instead of a new purse to match every outfit
• Clothing with pockets – if the pants don’t have pockets, don’t buy them or else be willing to sew pockets in yourself

Just think, you won’t have a purse strap slipping off your shoulder or getting caught on the staircase handrail and jerking you over backwards. And your significant other won’t ever have to carry it red-faced when you have an armload of clothes to try on.

Take a chance, sell your purses in a garage sale and enjoy your freedom!