What's in my bag?....

People say what's in your handbag says something about you so here's what's in mine this rainy bank holiday Monday and we'll see just what it says about me!

Cath Kidston Zip Up Hand Bag in Summer Blossom Putty

My handbag is a fab sized zip up handbag from Cath Kidston. Designer yes but last years print purchased from the Outlet, so draw your own conclusions....
On to the contents.

I do like to be organised ("really?!" I hear you cry!), so my bag contains a variety of other bags. Zip up wallets, purses and make up bags so I can find things easily without losing them in the bottom of my cavernous handbag. As a bust Mother of 3 I carry an awful lot of their (and my) tat, so at least I can locate it all easily.

CK clasp purse, Vintage fabric zip coin purse

CK giant zip up wallet

The Purse Collection: Keeping track of my finances is really important to me and so the easiest way I know to do this is the whole separate-purse thing. One is my personal money, the cute vintage fabric purse I bought on my fab birthday trip to Vintage Norwich from Poppy Valentine.

The large Cath Kidston one is the household stash and is large enough for cash, cards, receipts and my Costa card (again, draw your own conclusions!) It was a Christmas gift a few years ago and is a great size. The other CK clasp fastener is my Business wallet so I don't have to spend my life borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. When I was a student (in the dark ages) I used a book to list my outgoings. Tracking your spending is crucial to good stewardship and money management.

vintage 1950s sunnies and cheap-chic case

Next is my cheap-as-chips Sunnies case from Primarni and my rather more expensive Vintage 50s Sunnies.
I also have my reading glasses (yet to buy vintage frames) in another Cath Kidston Christmas present case.

Real glasses in CK case

With 3 daughters (all with long hair) I also have a make-up bag for our combined Girly-Tat. I try to only carry the bare essentials around on a permanent basis and am a big fan of duplicate lipsticks- one at home, one in the handbag. At present the Tat-Kit consists of emery boards, red nail polish (Rimmel 'Double Decker Red'), red lipstick (Boots No7 'Glam') and liner (Max Factor 'Red Rush'), hair clips, 'Dirty Works' under eye cream (like that works!) and a mini mirror. I probably should add tweezers and plasters but I'll get around to it! I also carry an emergency pink lippy for those rare occasions when Red is just too hot!

Make-Up essentials bag

I also have my business cards in a CK wallet and use another one as a pencil case.

Business Cards

Pencil Case

At the moment I also have a Boots magazine, hairbrush and of course a cute cherry print umbrella!

And yes, my arms ache!!!!

I'm thinking there are definitely two immediate thoughts from the contents of my bag- the first being that I do love a bit of Cath Kidston, or a lot in fact but am not bothered by whether its the latest fabrics. I think that's because I just love a timeless classic with a huge nod to vintage chic.
The second is that my bag is pretty full and therefore pretty heavy! I like to have everything I could think of with me though, both for my needs and those of my girls. I like to think of myself as prepared for most occasions.

Although we started with my handbag, this philosophy carries on through the rest of my life. If you are prepared for a situation then it doesn't intimidate, threaten or shake you. The key is to never take anything for granted and to really appreciate every day (even the wet ones). Life is full of surprises so tackle them with a clear sense of your identity as a woman, a self-control that produces balance and, as I have found, a good red lipstick can also help!

What does your hand bag say about you?
                          x