Old Bags and Their Bags

My sister came today to talk about the bathroom remodel, and we got seriously sidetracked by troubleshooting the problem she's having with her handbag.

She carries the heaviest handbag on the planet.  It's a classic old Coach bag of the feedbag style, a giant bucket that she throws everything she owns into, plus an iPad.  It used to be black, but now it looks brown.  It's in the foreground of this picture:

This bag is heavy with nothing in it; full, it's giving her a backache.  Plus, she's sixty, as she reminded me.

I told her my new handbag strategy:  really small cross-body bags, no swallet, no make-up bag, just keys, lipstick, a handful of cards and a little cash.  Oh, and a angel medallion a friend gave me that I'm afraid to go without.

It's seen me through many plane rides

For the past month, I've used only tiny bags, and my rotator-cuff problem is GONE.  I can do up my bra with no pain.  I'm back to doing full arm strokes in the pool.  The secret seems to be a very small cross-body bag with almost nothing in it.  Any bigger and with more stuff, and my opposite shoulder hurts.

Here's the one I'm using the most:

 A mere 6" x 7-1/2"

It's a Marc Jacobs bag (I know, I know) that I bought a few years ago when I was grief-stricken after lunch with my friend Rob, who was dying.  The salesgirl told me my "fashionista friends" would love it.  I wondered what in hell I'd do with it because it held nothing.  I bought it, but I hardly ever used it, and every time I looked at it, I thought of Rob and then felt reproached by my extravagance.  Now it's come in handy.

Sometimes I switch to other small bags, which is easy to do, because there's almost nothing to move.

Here's a dress-up bag I bought on sale at Macy's a few weeks ago.  It's nylon and very lightweight.  Also, it was on an unbelievable reduction:  I gave $5 to the March of Dimes, and they let me have the purse for 50 cents or something.  (Not quite, but almost).

5" x 10"

The last bag, slightly bigger but very lightweight, is canvas with a bit of leather.  I bought this because my English friend Val told me about Cath Kidson bags, which are sold in England.  She showed me one she'd ordered, and right away my English genes screamed, "You have to get one!"  I went online and bought it (all the way from England for only $8 shipping).

 8" x 10"

My sister can't cope with such tiny bags, so we brainstormed, and I remembered that I had a larger black nylon bag that's seen better days.  I rummaged around in my closet and showed her.  Her iPad fit in it.  She relieved her wallet of change so it'd be lighter, and it fit, too.  Plus keys, cell phone, the bare essentials. The whole package was significantly lighter than the Big Crippler.

Here it is, next to her big bucket bag:

That settled, we got back to choosing light fixtures.

Have you given up on regular-sized leather handbags?  What's your solution? My next one might be to carry my cards/cash in a Ziploc bag and just stuff it in my pocket.