What’s In My Bag (And My Love of Pouches)

Compared to some, a purse swapper. I don’t change it daily but on a whim, but compared to others I could use three to four purses/totes daytime, plus others for date nights and events. It’s critical to keep things organized to ensure you don’t have that, “Ugh, I can’t believe I didn’t take that!” moment.

A few of my favorite tips:

1. Use pouches! As you can see below, I’m pretty serious about my pouches. In one I keep all my gift cards and any recent receipts (amazingly helpful to have this all in one spot!), in another key makeup like lipsticks, chapstick, a pressed powder and a sample-size mascara, and in a third my bathroom essentials. My wallet houses all my credit cards, cash and a few key loyalty cards.
2. If you’re on-the-go, consider a wristlet where you can pull it out of your bigger purse for errands, to happy hour or anything else. I move my ID, credit card, one lipstick, phone and gum. Takes two seconds and it’s helpful to have!
3. Store business cards in multiple spots. I’ve been frustrated too many times where I didn’t have my card on-hand. I now keep business cards in every bag or tote I use, plus even two extra in my wallet. I do the same for my clutches/evening purses when I remember. You never know who you’ll meet.
4. Go small. I could dedicate an entire post about this. While ironically I’m showing you this post with my larger tote (photographed a few weeks ago), I’ve been carrying around a smaller cross body lately (seen here) and I love, love, love the difference. It really forces you to edit down, frequently clean & not to mention, keeps me from carrying around a 20 lb. bag.
5. Keep snacks. On this day, I was stocked with the Clif Kids’ Z Bar that my kiddies love and to save kids and time I usually have a bar of some sort, plus almonds, maybe an apple or even the Starbuck’s protein pack. You never know.
6. And, lastly… have fun with it! As you can see, not everything matches but I suppose it all goes. My hot pink pouch where I keep my gift cards is an insanely old Kate Spade ‘pencil case’ (newer styles here, and yes, comes with pencils!), then there’s my fun camo Hayden Reis sailclothwristlet, my Tory Burch wallet I’m obsessed with (this style) that was a birthday gift one year, and my Louis Vuitton wristlet that came with my tote. And, I love this iPhone case, though I’ve been using this marble one until I just got this light-up one over the weekend (apparently key for a good selfie/outfit game!).