Bag Lady . . .

. . . . you gonna hurt your back, dragging all them bags like that. I guess nobody ever told you all you must hold on to is you, is you, is you . . .

—Erykah Badu “Bag Lady”I carry/transport a lot of stuff. Stuff I didn’t realize I was carrying/transporting.

I carry a relatively small purse that contains my wallet, my phone, my keys, and my “make up” bag.

I also carry a tote to work on the daily. Inside my tote: small, aforementioned purse, iPod and iPod accessories, four pens, umbrella, bills to be paid, at least one copy of my resume, Udderly Smooth udder cream, work keys, lunch bag, random snacks.

In the car you’ll find Lovegirl’s diaper bag which contains: 3 or 4 diapers that she’ll never wear (we’re in the throes of potty training), various 2T/3T panties, a few pairs of plastic pants, peanut butter crackers, raisins, tissues, wipes.

*I’m not a “carry it everywhere” kind of gal when it comes to the diaper bag, so while this bag is always stocked and ready to go, it doesn’t really leave the car unless we’re going to be physically separated from and unable to get to our car for at least two hours – trips to Target don’t count*Also in the car is Lovegirl’s “oh, what if we just happen to be stranded for more than a few hours without access to an ATM, a WalMart, a friend, or another mother kind enough to hand over a few baby wipes” bag. Contained inside: about 15 diapers (need to replace with more 2T/3T panties with some character’s face plastered on them), more wipes, a change of clothes for Lovegirl, a blanket, her winter hat, plastic baggies.

There is a collapsible bag velcroed to the floor in the back of my ride. What’s in it? So glad you asked: a change of clothes for me – including socks and shoes, two UAPB pom poms, a Callaway pom pom, a first aid kit, a pair of old shades, water, a flashlight, and a UAPB spirit flag to stick out of the window on our way to football games.
Those are my with-me-all-the-time bags. In my trunk, I’m also currently transporting two bags full of Lovegirl’s clothes that I’m giving to a friend that just had a baby girl, a baby shower gift for another friend(I forgot to go to the shower and have failed to drop off the gift), Lovegirl’s stroller, the large umbrella and my leather tote. All of this stuff for two people – one of whom barely weighs 30 pounds!

So, my question of the day is: does anyone else lug/transport all this stuff around on the regular?

(I am distinguishing between lugging and transporting, because (thank God), I don’t actually carry all of this stuff with me all the time. It is however, very nearly always close by.)

Do you ever use it? Have you ever cleaned out your car/purse/bag and then needed something you just purged? What’s in your bag? Okay, I realize that’s more than one question, but I really, really, wanna know. There’s a thing on Flickr where people post pictures of stuff in their bag, and I guess looking at some of the things others tote around motivated me to take a look at what I carry. So go ahead, head over to the comments section and tell me what you tote/transport on the regular. The totally harmless voyeur in me is dying to know! Ummm, okay I just looked up “voyeur” to make sure there’s an alternate meaning. There isn’t. So please, scratch the voyeur part and just know that I’m harmlessly nosy sometimes!

Peace!