The Downsized Bag Lady…Sort Of

For years I have hauled around more than I needed to, at one point, I had an entire change of clothes. Why? Not sure. Guess I figured if I ever spilled coffee down the front of me, I could change in a flash.

A few months ago I decided to downsize.

No longer would I carry a big ass purse, a jumbo day planner, and a tote bag the size of Texas. No from now on I was going to be a single, small purse toting gurl. If it couldn’t fit in my purse, I probably didn’t need to carry it around with me. I moved to a smaller calendar (free, courtesy of Benefit cosmetics with a purchase I made in January). I purchased a tiny, pencil-case sized cosmetic bag that only held my lipstick and blush. I even reduced the size of my pen, carrying one half the size of a regular size pen (again, free, thanks to my man purchasing an entire packet of Pilot pens).

I had reduced my baggage and it felt good. 

And then, today, as I struggled to get from my car to my office, I noticed I had once again become a bag lady. 

Oh, I was still carrying a small purse, but it was now overflowing to the point where I couldn’t zip it shut. And instead of a big ole Texas sized tote, I was carrying a re-usable shopping bag from Whole Foods.

 Once I finally made it to my desk, I decided to see what was so important that I felt the need to lug another 10 lbs with me.

 Here is what was in my Whole Foods bag:

–a sweatshirt (it’s 85 degrees today, I did not need a sweatshirt. Then I remembered I took it with me the other day to see Harry Potter. I put it in the bag to bring into the house, but I never took it out)

 –tennis shoes (ok, this was actually a good thing. I brought them with me so I would take a lunch time walk. Only problem is I went to lunch today and no, I didn’t walk there)

 –my netbook (ok, this too was necessary as I brought it to do more novel editing and boy did I ever! Blog post coming up tomorrow on what I noticed about my writing)

 –the brown paper Whole Foods bag from yesterday’s lunch trip

 –another re-usable shopping bag from a trip to Turks and Caicos (why am I carrying a re-usable bag full of re-usable bags?)

 –the Uncommon Goods catalog (so I thought I might look at this on a 5 minute break today, but alas today was super busy so I never took that sunshine/reading break)

 –a two page print out on the details of the upcoming Enter the Haggis tour in Ireland which I got the other night at the concert. You know, I think that was supposed to get unloaded into the house, too)

–a Ghirardelli dark chocolate square (I am pleased to report, that will not be traveling home with me. Whew! Got rid of one thing)

–the July/August and September issues of Writer’s Digest magazine (oh, yeah, I definitely remember putting them in this bag at the beach house)

–the latest book from Gail Carriger “Heartless” (see aforementioned statement about magazines)

–a 25% off shopping pass good for this weekend at CVS (ut-oh…we know what happened last time I had some “free” money at CVS)

–and one Allegra (gosh darn it! I needed that sucker yesterday! You know you’re officially carrying too much when you bring something you need and then forget that you brought it)

So out of all that stuff, the only two things I actually needed to bring in with me were the tennis shoes, which as you now know, didn’t get used so maybe I should have left them in the car and walked out to get them if I had the opportunity to put them on.

And the Ghirardelli. Cause, come on, who doesn’t need to have a little piece of chocolate? And good chocolate like that is worth its weight in gold.

Happy Moment of the Day: My co-worker bringing in a six-pack of Diet Coke to share.