Funny that you should ask that. I always ask Trish to hold my keys, tickets and plenty of other things when we go out!

Thanks

Merrill

I spent a good deal of money on a couple (of course, a girl needs multiple colors – at a minimum, black and brown – think “belts”, guys) small purses, as the price tag on a purse is not exactly proportional to its size. There, I had accomplished my goal! I had nice small purses which hold only the pertinent items- a wallet, a lipstick or 2, a cell phone, my keys- all the essentials, right?

At first, this worked well. I felt liberated from the heaviness of the large purse which, as Nicole mentioned, can weigh a lot just on its own. I wasn’t missing anything I didn’t really need. Then, I got a Treo. The Treo, like most PDAs/smartphones, is significantly bigger than an average cell phone. Now, my cell phone didn’t fit so well in my purse, but that’s okay, I’ll just leave it partially unzipped. I began walking around with my tiny purse open on one end so I could accommodate my larger PDA. Then, I added a headset for my phone. I need to carry this, too, right? These are still essential items. I’m not being frivolous. And what about sunglasses? Don’t I need them? I can’t always just leave them in my car. If I don’t have sunglasses, I could be damaging my eyes and that’s not a area of my body I’d like to sacrifice….for what? Carrying a smaller bag? You get the idea….as time went on, not only was my purse so packed that it could no longer close, I had several items sticking out the top! Now, that’s safe! I’m glad I’m protecting all my essential items so well, at least no one will be able to steal the crap I’m no longer carrying!

As you can tell, my experiment didn’t work so well. Sure, I tried to kid myself for the better part of a year, but in reality, I began carrying as much stuff as I did before I became “purse simplified”, I just had it crammed, unsafely and unattractively, in a much smaller area.

I certainly don’t think my problem is unique. There are so many things we, as women, need to carry, not only for ourselves, but others, such as our husbands or children. Many women with small purses may also carry a backpack or, if they are a mother of an infant, a baby bag that doubles as an extended purse, so really, these women are kidding themselves, just like I was with the overflowing small bags I convinced myself made me a less high maintenance woman. These days, I embrace the large purse. I try to clean it out from time to time and only carry my “essential” items, which is a much longer list than it was when my small purse era began, because, the bigger the purse, the more items you consider necessary. Unfortunately, I still rarely zip up my purse- bad habit, I guess.

So, if anyone is looking for a good deal on some nice, leather Coach bags in extra small, let me know. I only wish I had listened to my mother when I told her my plan. She said, “You know this isn’t going to work.” As usual, she was right.

This is really interesting research. I can relate as I have a big bag that I absolutely love. It’s beautiful and I get a ton of compliments on it - but it’s pretty heavy. Guys always say, “Can that bag be any bigger??” and women always say, “I love your bag!”. I would estimate that it weighs about 10lbs on an average day. I couldn’t believe how much stuff was in there when I went to clean it out last week. The astonishing part to me was when I had emptied its contents, I realized that the bag still weighed about 5lbs on its own - nothing in it. (I should do curls at my desk during the day!) But the point is the contents. I had everything spread out and thought, do I really need 4 pens, 3 lip liners, 2 lipsticks, 3 lipgosses, a wallet and a separate change purse and those lovely wrappers that had accumulated at the bottom? Probably not, but my thought process is “you never know”…I’m sure you can tell a lot about a woman by going through her purse.

Kelley, you can look through my purse any day and let me know what you think

Nicole

It is so good to see your work again! Appreciated your insights long ago at Frito. Look forward to seeing more.

So what do you tell marketers about those of us who will only carry small purses to save our necks, backs, and shoulders? My guess is those contents become even more important!

Healthy Regards,

Maryellen