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I recently read a blog post by Everett Bogue called How to Live with 50 Things. It is a great piece about extreme minimalism. I am not interested in only owning 50 things (yet), but it made me think, at the very least, I should be carrying less in my purse. When I thought about the fact that some women carry more in their purse, than some minimalists own, I found one of my smallest purses and got to work downsizing.
The message from Everett’s post that really made me think about how great it would be to carry less was, “When you have 50 things there is no way to lose things. I’m convinced that once we pass 150 things our minds can no longer pinpoint the exact location of all our individual possessions.” If you’ve ever lost your cell phone, raise your hand. How about a pen? Business cards? Lipstick? Now, how many times were those items actually in your black hole of a purse the entire time you thought they were lost?
There is an actual Flickr Group dedicated to images of purse contents and it’s not pretty! Purses get bigger and bigger and we always fill them to the brim. The size of your purse seems to determine the amount of stuff you feel compelled to carry around. For me, it’s not even something I do on purpose. I could carry a larger purse with just a few items, and before you know it, the kitchen sink is in my purse. When I am too busy to think straight, my purse is typically a hot mess. It’s a sign!
I know situations differ depending on your career or how many children you have, or if you are traveling, but there are great benefits to carrying less.
- A smaller purse with fewer contents will not physically weigh you down.
- Carrying less means less to lose by theft, or accidentally leaving your purse behind.
- You don’t have to search for your car keys in a small purse.
- If your cell phone is ringing, from your purse, you can turn it off or answer the call with less distraction.
- You will feel lighter when you not responsible for carrying around everything that you think you might need.
Last week, I challenged myself to only carry 10 items in my purse and I never missed a thing. Here are the 10 items that I carried this week and I could easily drop items 4,5, 7 & 8. They are a luxury!
- Business card holder with business cards
- Business card holder with driver’s license, insurance card, debit card, cash
- Lipstick
- Lipstick Brush
- Lip Gloss
- Pen
- Eye Brightener
- Tea Bag
- Cell Phone
- Car Key
It all comes back to feeling like you have enough. When you start to believe you have enough and that you are enough, you can lighten up and let go of the stuff.
So ladies, what would you carry in your ten item purse? What is the silliest item that you carry now and never use, but keep “just in case”?
Men – you are not off the hook. If you carry a briefcase, backpack or wallet, could you carry less?