Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Preparing for every day: Purse

Yesterday, I wrote about preparedness and the goal of being prepared the exact right amount. Here are some suggestions of what to keep on hand to have a prepared purse (or satchel).

(It doesn't count as prepared if you can't find what you are looking for!)

The 8 things that should be in every purse:

  • lip balm
  • Emery board
  • tissues
  • ONE place that keys always go
  • ONE place that a cell phone always goes
  • id/wallet/billfold that has a stash of emergency cash for parking etc.
  • feminine products” (even if you don’t need them, you’ll be able to come to a friend’s rescue once in a while)
  • chocolate (or something else to nibble on when stuck in traffic. I like Tootsie Rolls because they don't melt)

That is my no means all I have in my purse, but these eight things we use all the time, need almost every day, and are real time savers when we have them at our fingertips. However, a purse (or briefcase or satchel or man-bag) is practically a sacred space and I’m sure there are things you must have in yours that wouldn’t occur to me to have in mine. What must-have preparedness item do you have in your bag? Matches? Band-aids? Share in the comments.

Creative Commons purse photo 1 posted to flickr by eyesogreen

Creative Commons purse photo 2 posted to flickr by all of olive

Lelah Baker-Rabe is a Los Angeles-based professional organizer. To discuss your organizing needs, call her at 818.269.6671 or email lelah@lelahwithanh.com

2 comments:

  1. Love this post! Also, I like to keep in my purse eye drops for my contacts, a magazine (I'm a NYer so I'm on the subway often and hate to be stranded without reading materials), earbuds for my iPhone (in case I am stranded without reading materials so I can listen to music or a good podcast)

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  2. Glad you liked the post. Reading material is a definite must for me, too! I just thought of another good one...any medicine that you might need while out and about, from Advil and Tums to prescriptions.

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