What's In Your Wallet?

You might recall, I carry a large tote.  It's large enough for any kind of pad, legal or illegal.  I can also put my lunch in there and even bring my laptop home in it without carrying a separate laptop bag.

I purchased it used  about a year and a half ago, and it didn't last long.  I bought a new one that's not vinyl like the first one but serves the same purpose.

It's just as large.  It has a small zipped pocket in the front (outside) where I can put Things I Don't Want To Put In My Pockets, and a small zipped inside pocket for little miscellaneous items: lip balm or gloss, a few extra dollars, tissues, breath mints, cough drops.

I don't like carrying things in my pocket.  I have occasionally carried a traditional wallet, but things would escape and never return.  I'd pull out a credit card and it would sit in my pocket, happily ever after.  So the tote acts like auxiliary pockets.

What do I carry, between the tote and my pockets, that I really need to carry?

Keys.  I never used to carry keys, but for the apartment I have three.  I'm still looking for a nice, girly key ring.

Cards.  My credit cards, insurance cards, driver's license and such are in a little bulging Coach card

holder like in the picture to the right.

Cash.  I keep some cash, just in case.

Car fob.  Priuses (Prii?), like more new cars don't have a key.  You keep the fob in your pocket (or purse) and just grab the door to lock/unlock and push a button to start/stop.

Cel phone.

Cough drops.  Because I don't like to interrupt people by coughing.

A pen.  It might be "idea day."

That's a lot for pockets, but mostly the junk goes in coat pockets in cooler weather, and is shared with my tote at work.

So I might go to get coffee carrying only my phone and cash.  Or to the grocery store with my cards, fob, and phone.  Or to a meeting with cough drops (I HATE disrupting meetings!).

Sometimes, I wear women's slacks (my jeans are all from the other side of the aisle) and their pockets are smaller.  Even my wallet will often peek over the top of a pocket, and when I sit I'm worried that things will fall out.

What I want is some way to carry all of my essentials (and not-so-essentials) in one place, so I have everything and don't have to worry that I'm on line at the grocery store and my credit cards are in the tote in the car.

A purse would be ideal, but not suitable for all occasions.  I think you ladies know where I'm going with this.

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Peeking Out

Last week, at a meeting, I noticed one of the women I interface with had a Coach badge holder around her neck.  It had a clear plastic side and a classic Coach brown pattern on the obverse.

The other day, we were chatting and the badge holder was turned with the Coach side facing out.  I said "cute badge holder" and she said she loves it for travelling because she puts her driver's license in there for airport security and she can just wear it through the metal detector.  I said "well I carry one of these" and pulled out my Coach mini-wallet.  She said she'd seen those and loved them.

No other comment on what I was carrying.  Or my Pandora bracelet.

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