Fifth Salon: Things we carry with us

[jenett]

Welcome to our fifth salon discussion thread. Wander in, invite a friend to come along, and chat! (Not sure what's going on? Here, have a brief FAQ.) The first three went wonderfully - you can find them in my salon tag. Please take a quick look at the reminders at the bottom of this post, too.

Topic of the day: What do you have in your pocketses? Or to be more useful, what stuff do you carry with you? I ask partly because I want to talk about what I have with me, but also because I'm contemplating being more systematic about some of it, and I suspect you all will have interesting ideas.

My usual bag is either a backpack (if I'm walking to work) or a small messenger bag. (My backpack is Tom Bihn'sSynapse 19, and my smaller messenger bag is their Medium Cafe bag. They wear amazingly well, come in nice colours, and have pockets and interior design that make me immensely happy. I own various others from them.)

What I usually have in my pockets at the moment is my keys (work key, house key, car key, car key fob) in the left, and my iPhone in the right. What I usually have in my bag is my asthma inhaler, a pen, and a few other minor things.

I'd like to do better. Things I'm currently contemplating include:
* Minor first aid kit (ibuprofen, several sizes of things to put on cuts or blisters, etc.)
* Whether I want to get some sort of pocket tool. In specific, the thing I need most and don't always have handy is stuff for opening computer cases/removing components. (And, y'know, in case of zombie apocalypse or getting stranded in back woods rural highway, a small knife blade and scissors and such wouldn't exactly be a *bad* idea)
* A small actually useful sewing kit (which probably means putting it together myself. because the pre-made ones never make sense to me.)
* Some combo of other useful self-care stuff. (Portable "I need food" object? I usually have a water bottle with me.) Lip balm. That kind of thing.
* A USB with useful stuff on it. (I have been creating one of these for work, with things I use all the time, but I could probably stand to have a personal one.)

Music in the background: I am very much about the comfort listening this week, which lead to my creating a playlist of Enya and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach cello suites. (Look, I'm a person whose comfort reading has long included Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. I never claimed to be normal about these things. Whatever normal is.)

Other possible topics: (plus whatever you suggest!)
* The annoyances of weather. (Weather is my current most annoying migraine trigger: it threw me for a loop Monday. I am still cranky.)

* Ways you make things like waiting for laundry at the laundromat or waiting for car repairs more enjoyable. (Guess what I'm doing this week.) Both places are noisy enough that complicated reading is not generally viable. Neither place has wi-fi, so if I want Internet, I am limited to my phone, and neither has a table, so I can't type easily. And neither has somewhere near enough by I could go grab coffee and sit there instead.)

* Nifty things you have read/watched/listened to this week/month/year and why we ought to check them out.

Quick reminders
- If you want to post anonymously, please pick a name (any name you like) that we can call you - it makes it more conversational and helps if we have more than one anon post.
- Base rule remains "Leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse". If you're nervous about that, I'd rather you say something and we maybe sort out confusion later than have you not say something. (People here have been excellently friendly and helpful so far.)
- I am still working on finding the balance on how much I talk vs. how much other people talk, so I am sometimes taking a bit before I reply to things. (An hour or two, usually.) Also, it is a slow brain week for me, please excuse.
- The FAQ still has useful stuff, but I have not added to it recently.
- Comments tend to trickle in over the course of a day or two: you might enjoy checking back later if you're not tracking the conversation.

Comments

My purse doubles as a craft bag

[untonuggan]

I like to have things to do with my hands, and I don't like to be bored.

Mobile devices are useful for this, but they don't suit all my needs. (See: when there's a dead zone, when I just want to do something crafty, etc.) So in addition to the usual keys, phone, wallet stuffed full of receipts, etc...

I also usually either have knitting with me, or a drop spindle and wool. In my purse. Yes.

I know I'm not the only one, because the person who taught me how to spin sometimes spins while in line at restaurants.

I admit to spinning while in line at a coffee shop; in the waiting room at the doctor's; at the farmer's market (where someone thought I was doing a demo, which I guess I was); and basically wherever I have an extra few minutes.

Places I am not allowed to spin: the car when it is moving. But I am allowed to knit then. (I don't drive, these are partner's general requests for when I'm passenger.) Which leads to the perennial question, do I carry knitting AND spinning with me? But that makes my bag really unwieldy, so I usually have to pick based on what I'm working on or how much time I think will be car time.

/ramble

Re: My purse doubles as a craft bag

[jenett]

The place where I'm stuck with my current knitting (which is very portable: I use Tom Bihn knitting sacks for that) is that I need slightly more to keep my brain occupied than knitting. (Also a place to prop the iPad with the chart on it, usually.)

(My current knitting is access-locked, but over here. Or I'm jenett, too.)

But anyway, it means I don't routinely always carry it with me.

I also spin (or at least, when I was spinning regularly, I did) while standing in lines. Also in airports. (seriously, best way to occupy small cranky other-people's-children ever.) But yeah. Spinning in public is *always* a demo, in my experience.

Music while grieving/sad

[untonuggan]

My music choices have been really persnickety lately, because I'm in a grieving (or pre-grieving, I dunno) process. So while my brain gets mad at the very cheerful songs, I also burst into tears at the really sad songs. I need something in between. Some days a song will work fine, and another day it will make me All The Feels or just turn off the speakers.

Has anyone else ever experienced this kind of musical dissonance when they're going through an extreme emotional event, or something else? What did you do?

Re: Music while grieving/sad

[eeeeka]

Very much. I'm in the final stages of packing up my entire life and moving to a very different state. Perky songs are sometimes fine, but it really depends on the subject/actual song. Sad songs are likely to cause tears. My current bugaboo is For Good from Wicked. Love the song. Can't listen to it (or even think about it) without tears popping up.

[eeeeka]

Stuff I carry with me:
Purse with wallet, keys, small bag of things I need to carry with me (inhaler, ibuprofen, chapstick, nail clippers, nail file, couple of hair elastics, used to have an epi-pen, but don't need that anymore, thankfully), phone, iPod, iPad, small cross-stitch project. Given that my bag is only 12x4x8" or so, it's kind of packed. I need to get a smaller wallet, which will help immensely.

I don't usually have pockets because women's clothing is stupid, so I can't carry anything there.

[untonuggan]

What is UP with the no pockets thing? I don't care if it messes with the "lines" or "shape" of a garment. Particularly not if it's frelling exercise pants or something which I'm going to look sweaty and gross in anyway. And it would be nice to carry, you know, my music player in a pocket without resorting to one of those arm things.

We wantsss pocketses precioussss, pocketses.

[eeyorerin]

Things in my (very tiny) purse: prescription sunglasses (or glasses) in case, small notebook with an otter on the cover, wallet (which is actually a pouch I got while in Sweden visiting some ancient carvings), several pens that I keep taking from work and forgetting about, cell phone. I used to have a small tube of ibuprofen in there but I keep forgetting to refill it; fortunately it is no longer quite as urgent post-gnome-removal.

I used to buy purses based on whether or not I could fit a book in there, but now I just carry my e-reader with me or fit it into a larger bag.

[untonuggan]

Otters! I love otters! I should read Daily Otter more often, it brings me such joy.

[kakiphony]

I have several permutations of answers to this question, mainly because of the difference between in-town me and commuting to work me. Pockets are NOT adequate to my needs. Not even big pockets. This is because my kindle comes with me everywhere and my keys are rather bulky. (We are a two VW family and so I have two clickers/switch-blade keys, plus front and back door keys, a bike lock key, my office key, and keys to my house down-state).

For days when I commuting to work (a 20-25 minute drive each way in the next small town southwest of where I live):
my red Computer bag holds:
*MacBook Air in a grey zip case
*iPhone (in one of the outer zip compartments (gets put in the back zipper pocket of the bag below when I go out in-town)
*umbrella (in one of the open end pockets
*Keys (these get switched to the bag below when I am not commuting)
*small pillbox with 2-3 allergy pills and and 6-10 ibuprofen
*2 empty plastic sandwich sized containers (to bring dining hall lunch back to my desk -- I wash them every night at home)
*Business cards in a flat metal case
*Cheap sunglasses
*Small hairbrush
*a granola bar and a packet or two of snacks from graze.com
*2-4 prepackaged wetnaps (from restaurants and food trucks)
*a couple of tea bags, Emergen-C, sticky notes, a pen, a handkerchief, emergency feminine supplies, a bpal imp or two, and a roll of tums all live in the inside small zip pocket

Tucked inside the bigger bag is also my small Travelon messenger bag which in turn contains:
*Small orange leather credit card case (with cards) in the front outside zip pocket
*Small felt coin purse (in the snap pocket)
*My Kindle (original keyboard edition) in its black leather case
*Another tiny pill case with some allergy pills and ibuprofen (in the snap pocket)

When I go out in-town (to the grocery, out to eat, etc) I just lift the Travelon bag out and carry it (adding the keys and phone to it). It's easier to leave it fully packed with the essentials (wallet, kindle, etc) than it is to repack them in different bags and it's small enough that it fits easily in the computer bag.

When I am commuting I also carry a large black zippered bag that I got an APRA convention in the car. It's my yoga studio bag and contains:
*Hairbrush
*Toothbrush (for grooming my eyebrows!)
*deodorant
*Headband for my hair
*Yoga pants
*Sports bra
*t-shirt or tank top
*several jewelry choices (usually a couple of pairs of earrings and a necklace or two)
*Yoga mat rolled up in a Velcro mat sling that attaches to the bag with the velcro so I can't accidentally leave one in the car

During the summer I also throw a skort, a nicer t-shirt and my Chacos in the yoga bag. (Since I wear a uniform to work in the summer, it's nice to have non-yoga clothes to change into if I want to go run errands or go out to ear before I go home.)

I often also carry with me: An extra cardigan sweater or zip-up hoodie and my Contigo mug is usually with me.

[untonuggan]

Wow, you are prepared! I cannot carry heavy bags with me, so I have to slim down what I carry. But color me impressed at how prepared you are!

[redbird]

At the moment, what I am keeping in my pockets is a wallet, keychain, handful of coins, and a few tissues. Bare minimum when I walk over to the building fitness room is the keychain, and I usually have a $5 bill in case I want to stop on the way back and buy a roll or a piece of fruit.

The daypack has an ever-shifting set of stuff, depending partly on time of year. What lives there at the moment includes a notebook, some pens, a small container of over-the-counter pain relievers, tampons and sanitary napkins, a couple of teabags, and a bit of chocolate. The last two are because I am somewhat particular: if I don't carry chocolate I like, sooner or later I will either be unhappily chocolate-less for several hours while in transit, or buy much-less-preferred stuff from a vending machine or snack bar, eat some of it, and still not be satisfied. Again, those places may have only decaf, or Lipton's, or Earl Grey (I don't like bergamot), and 2 or 3 teabags weigh next to nothing.

I usually put my iPod in there when heading out; not as a music device (I don't like earbuds) but as backup brain: appointment book, address book, transit directions, miscellaneous notes, shopping list, etc.

If I expect to be spending a lot of time on a train or airplane, or in a waiting room, there's at least one book. For this morning (I have a tedious medical thing scheduled at 10:00) I have the kindle and one paperback. Before I leave I will be adding an apple or other snack, and a thermos of black tea.

[untonuggan]

carrying TEA is the BEST IDEA ever.

why did i not think of that?

[magenta]

I have oodles of things in my purse, which I carry when I need to. Don't want to give the list because I am in a hurry.

In my pockets this morning are: my car keys, a beautiful piece of polished labradorite, and a talisman to mitigate the effects of Mercury retrograde.

[untonuggan]

I used to keep a worry stone in my pocket. I now forget what kind of stone it is, but it was lovely and smooth.

[branchandroot]

I'm actually undergoing a pockets-identity-crisis, at the moment. For about two decades, I've had a key chain with a leather card case attached, and carried my id, credit cards, library cards, etc. in that so I would be incapable of leaving the house without my driver's license and money. Thing is, I also, as a matter of course, stow in my (usually coat) pockets sunglasses, chapstick, and, these days, my phone every time I leave. Indeed, all these things live in a basket on the coat rack, along with my pill box and a small wallet of less vital cards, to be grabbed and stowed on the way out.

I'm considering putting all my cards in the little wallet and taking the card case off my key chain, for better pocket distribution when its my pants and not my coat. But it's a big and alarming step!

And then, of course, there's my actual work bag, which contains
-my iPad
-small pad of paper
-books for that day's classes
-my second largest usb drive
-a selection of pens and pencils
-chapstick
-a tiny and sharp switchblade for opening boxes
-a small umbrella in one outside pocket
-one sunglasses case in the other to keep them handy on walks to and from work

But the keys-cards-phone combo is always on me, and I feel irrationally anxious about breaking up the keys-cards set. Even if it probably will make stowage easier in anything other than my wonderfully oversized general coat with pockets that will hold a paperback book. (I love that coat.)

[houseboatonstyx]

Distributing important things in different pockets on different days, led to mad searches later. "What day did I last use that, what was I wearing, where is it, did I leave it in the car?" Sometimes the important item would turn up days later. If I was lucky, in the washing machine, wet and spun; if unlucky, in the dryer, clean, tumbled, and melted.

[mrissa]

The thing I have just now added to my keychain is a small flashlight. I used to have one, and it broke, and then 4th St. happened. Reminding me why I used to have one. I always have my Kindle in my purse, and that has served not only for the line at the post office but also for emergency room runs in the middle of the night--when you are awakened at 2 a.m., better to just be able to grab clothes and go, rather than having to determine where you left your current book and whether there's enough book left in it to keep you going if the ER visit goes long and like that.

I also have a Leatherman. This is good for aweing Utahn men, among other things. When Mark and I were moving out to California, our U-Haul got hit by a deer running straight into it. This totaled the U-Haul. We had to change U-Hauls, and since we had the insurance--seriously, get the insurance--they had to hire people to do it for us. Mark was in the office filling out ten million pieces of paperwork, and the movers came upon the places we'd used twine to tie down the furniture and boxes. "Do you know where your husband might keep a pocket knife?" one of them said. I said, "I don't know where his is, but here's mine." And the guy actually looked at me and blurted out, "Holy shit, Jungle Jane!" Which I found immensely satisfying. This is not that Leatherman; I lost that Leatherman in airport security once, so now the bottom item on my packing list template is, "REMOVE LEATHERMAN."

I also have fruit leather, ginger chews, and a small bag of nuts. If you're having a blood sugar/nausea emergency at a con, go ahead and ask me.

Oh, also I have a couple of cloth bags that fold in on themselves and secure with elastic but can be unfolded to be about the same size as the average plastic grocery bag. These are satisfying and useful.

[jenett]

Do you have a recommendation on model of Leatherman (or at least "stuff you use a lot and find handy on it?") I keep looking at tool models and going "When would I *use* that and is it worth carrying the weight around if I won't?"

I keep contemplating a flashlight, but I keep a flashlight app on my phone, and I've been unsure about adding another item just for that. (But yes, on the "do you need another book if the ER runs long sort of thing. Seriously, this is why I love my phone. There are always books I can read on it. In large numbers.)

On bags: I got a set of the Baggu bags (their website) and they come in awesome colours and fold up small. I really ought to get a couple just to live in my backpack, especially now that I sometimes do a quick downtown market run on the way home, and not everything always fits in the backpack. (also, the idea of a bag with blue elephants or alpacas on it delights me.) The bags hold up really really well and they're washable and they hold tons.

[cheyinka]

It depends on whether my son is with me or not. If he isn't, all I have are what's in my pocketses (no purse): wallet; phone; house, mailbox, & car keys; small notebook of some sort; pen; rosary; and sometimes my Pokéwalker. I try to remember my watch, too, but since the baby likes to try to take it off I don't always remember.

If he is, there's also the diaper bag: between two and six diapers (if I've refilled it recently or not), wipes, a cloth diaper (for spills), a changing pad, a t-shirt for me, a t-shirt, a pair of pants, and a romper for the baby (used to be more than that, when he was pukier and his clothes were smaller), one or two kinds of snacks, one or two toys that can be gnawed upon, and pads for me.

A mini first aid kit would probably be a good idea, but I don't have anywhere to put it. (The pads are a holdover from the weeks immediately post-birth, so I guess they could go; what should go in a tiny first aid kit?)

[theora]

I'm very similar to this. The biggest thing I carry with me is a one year old. For myself I have only pocket essentials, which gets complicated when I have no pockets :P. Then a a pretty basic diaper bag setup for the baby, perhaps including a sippy cup and bib if we're eating out and I remember. The 4 year old usually doesn't need anything for short trips, maybe a water bottle for longer trips. I guess we travel fairly light, but the kid corralling leaves me short of wits for stuff corralling.

[sashajwolf]

What do you have in your pocketses? Or to be more useful, what stuff do you carry with you?

For the purposes of this thread, I'm going to answer for a casual clothing day. If I'm in formal clothing, I carry most of the same stuff, but distribute it differently. So -

Left trouser pocket: Mobile phone and packet of tissues
Right trouser pocket: Meds, in one of those containers with four compartments for different times of day, and a small bag of dog treats
Right jacket pocket or right waist pocket of my backpack: Oyster card (smart card for the London transport system), wallet
Left jacket pocket or left waist pocket: Anti-nausea meds (not used often enough to go in the regular meds container), keys with torch keyfob, spectacle wipe
Top pocket of backpack: E-reader (often also goes in the left jacket pocket), spare laces, emergency snacks
Front pocket of backpack: usually empty during the week, but at the weekend often a first aid kit and map wallet (with compass if needed) for hiking
Right side pod of backpack: water bottle
Left side pod of backpack: umbrella or spare water bottle, depending on weather forecast
Main body of backpack: Spare layers of clothing as called for by weather forecast, anything else required for the day's planned activities


Ways you make things like waiting for laundry at the laundromat or waiting for car repairs more enjoyable.

I meditate. Sure, it's not the deep kind of trance I can get on my own in a semi-dark, silent room, but it's good enough to make a positive difference to my day.

[houseboatonstyx]

Eye exercises are useful in waiting rooms, too.

[ckd]

Belt: iPhone on left side belt, work badge reel on right side (when applicable), FitBit on right side. I am have recovered from the situation a few years ago at which I reached Peak Batman; at one point I routinely carried a Palm TX, featurephone, pager, iPod, and pocketknife/multitool (Victorinox Cybertool 34) sometimes supplemented by a point & shoot camera and/or handheld GPS unit.

My phone now replaces all of those except the Cybertool, which I stopped carrying so it wouldn't wind up in the jaws of the TSA. That thing can field-strip an AlphaServer without any other tools; I've done it.

Pockets: (left) wallet, (right) Nexus 4, keychain, usually a ballpoint pen or two. The keychain has a leather ID folio for my CharlieCard and ZipCard, a fold-out iPod/iPhone cable (30-pin, so I'll probably remove this soon now that I don't have a 30-pin iPhone), and a small TSA-compliant Leatherman multitool. Also some keys. :-)

Bag (Brenthaven Trek laptop backpack): iPad, work laptop (if on call) or personal laptop (if traveling for long enough to make it worth bringing), miscellaneous batteries/cables/adapters/etc (including a 10000 mAh battery that let me recharge both phones at 4th Street), flashlight (also seen at 4th Street), medications (ibuprofen and other OTC, plus my usual prescription items), pens, headphones, sunglasses, windbreaker/emergency rain jacket.

Sometimes added to bag:

-"need food" supplies: I am a big fan of RealSticks, which are protein in a form that's tasty, quick, needs no refrigeration, and gluten-free (and also free of milk and nut allergens) for those who need it. They're available as singles at Whole Foods if you want to try them, but I now buy them by the box so I have 'em available to pack for trips etc.

- dead tree books (for plane flights or for reading before falling asleep).

[cadenzamuse]

I love the phrase "Peak Batman." :)

[cheyinka]

Music: am I the only one who finds it more distracting to have music on when driving than sing when driving? I started singing most of the time when I'd need to keep a very small baby happy despite no one being right next to him, and now that he's a toddler it's actively weird to listen to the radio or my ipod instead.

[jenett]

I talk to myself while driving a lot. (Um, embarrassing but true admissions.)

I work through problems that way, or larger things going on in my life. (And moving from a 15-20 minute commute to a 5 minute one made that *really* weird. Also, I listen to NPR a lot less now, and I want to fix that one a bit better.)

(I do also sometimes plug my phone in and have there be music that way, but often it's on low and I talk over it.)

[adrian_turtle]

I really struggle with the question of what to carry with me. I want to carry as little as possible, to minimize strain on my shoulders. Carrying any bag at all causes noticeable problems, though it's sometimes worth it, and carrying a backpack (even an empty one) is a disaster.

I used to be able to get away with just my smartphone case on my belt--I could tuck a $20 bill, my transit pass, and my bank card behind the phone, slide a small comb in the back flap and pin my housekey to the elastic tiedown. (But now I need reading glasses. And I need separate keys for the building door and the door to the apartment.) And even when I could sort of manage with that kind of minimalist approach, I often missed not having tissues or hand lotion or my little pillcase or those store discount cards that make my keyring so bulky. Or earphones or business cards or flyers or pens or thumbtacks or lip balm or change. Or graph paper or a protractor or a bottle of water or some convenient way to carry home a library book or a quart of soymilk or a bunch of fresh chard or a loaf of bread.

I haven't worked it a good solution yet. I set out Monday in a skirt with small pockets but no belt loops. (I COULD hook my phone case on a belt, but it looked awful.) Skirt pockets had a wallet, pillcase, tissues and keyring. I wore a rain jacket with my phone, and hand lotion in the pockets. I carried a small purse with a pad of graph paper, pens and pencil, 6 flyers (folded), reading glasses. I was out for 11 hours. I brought home a reference book in another jacket pocket, because it was too tempting to leave behind. I came home painfully aware that I had been carrying way too much--was it the purse all day? The book, for the last couple of miles? The book in the wrong place? The jacket over my arm for a little while around lunchtime?

[untonuggan]

So much THIS the problem. Why do purses have to hurt so much? Why does stuff have to be so heavy? Why can't we all just have Mary Poppins bags?

I have played around with some of those ergonomic shoulder bags and they do help somewhat, but the harsh reality I've discovered is that if you have a bunch of heavy stuff to take with you it's going to hurt if you have chronic pain.

Grrrs at pain.

[edschweppe]

Swiss Army Knife on my belt. Pants pockets generally include wallet, bandanna/handkerchief, comb, car keys, house keys (separate keychains) each with AAA-powered flashlight, and sometimes AA-powered Mini Maglite flashlight. Shirt pocket (and I almost always wear pocketed shirts) usually contains reading glasses, smartphone and pen.

My backpack going to/from work has laptop, tablet computer, noise-cancelling headphones, towel, waterbottle, spare pens, spare reading glasses [1], spare smartphone charger and cabling, small paper notebook, and may have other small items hidden in it that I put there once and forgot about. (Note to self: restock bandaid-generic-equivalents in backpack.)

That Mini Maglite came in really handy during the most recent 4th Street!

[1] They're drugstore cheapies, so I try to have at least one spare pair in any bag I might be carrying.

[kiya]

I (about a year ago) acquired a purse, which is a weird thing for me because I have a hard time with presenting as female. (I have generally carried a backpack since approximately forever.)

The purse defaults to containing at the moment:
* my wallet and my keys (both attached to the purse itself by lanyards)
* my passport (expired, at the moment)
* a checkbook
* a sort of necktie thing that can be dampened and draped around the neck to help correct for Too Fucking Hot, full of some kind of magic cooling crystal
* a canister of cedar oil bug spray (effective vs. ticks, kind of mediocre vs. mosquitoes at least for me but there is no fucking force on the planet that will stop mosquitoes eating me)

It ought to contain, and usually does:
* my phone
* a book to read
* probably some snacks

It often also contains:
* a water bottle (either inside or clipped to the strap)
* kidsnacks

It does not contain but should:
* some goddamn pens

It contains and shouldn't:
* scrap paper and receipts and other detritus

[adrian_turtle]

Interesting that you carry a checkbook! I ran into a young man recently who didn't know how to use one. I mean, he HAD one, but it was very unfamiliar technology to him because he had so little occasion to use it. And I have one, but the checks almost always go into the mail as soon as I write them.

[oursin]

I usually carry round a fairly substantial shoulder bag with handy compartments containing: keys, home and work, and work pass; mobile phone; purse with cash + emergency migraine medication; wallet with plastic money; senior travel card; gym membership card; ebook reader; little wallet with various library/membership cards; a couple of USB sticks; assorted painkillers, indigestion tablets, throat soothers; small scissors and emery board (being in a job where one may well break the occasional nail); pens, pencils etc, which tend to drift to the very bottom and never be where I'm looking for them when I need one. And probably various bits and pieces that I should clear out or do something about.

On the whole this is manageable under circumstance when most of the time my bag is sitting around somewhere, but while we were away and out and about most days, after a day I was seriously going through and removing things from my canvas travelling shoulder bag that could be left behind when we were perambulating art galleries and so on.

Most days I also have either a backpack with my exercise gear (so that I can go to the gym on my way home), iPod, umbrella, or a shopping bag.

Managing pocket stuff

[theora]

So, a problem I have is managing the stuff I keep in my pockets. This being some of the most important stuff I need to keep track of: keys, credit card, driver's license, phone, and sometimes cash. My usual dysfunctional pattern is to have these things in my pockets (if I have pockets) all day, leave them there when I take off my pants (which typically get dropped on the bedroom floor :-/), then rummage the next day to find them and transfer to the new day's pants. However, if I don't have pants pockets that day, they'll get put into maybe a shirt pocket, or my backpack, or the cupholder of the car. Or if I get sick of having bulky stuff in my pockets during the day, they might end up on a handy desk, shelf, or windowsill. Chaos, basically.

It's to the point where last year I actually had to get a new driver's license and credit card because I couldn't find them for over a week and was convinced I'd lost them outside the house (later recovered in the house). My phone is visiting missing-land right now and it's out of charge so I can't call it. This situation leads to regular stress and delay and has caused actual monetary loss, yet I've not found a good routine to prevent it.

Having a dedicated place in the house for the stuff is the obvious answer, but so far I haven't managed it for reasons logistical (no good out-of-reach place) and mental (comings and goings are high pressure times, and I feel like I already have too many things to remember). So, yeah, if anyone has a system that works for them, I would love to hear about it.

Re: Managing pocket stuff

[jenett]

I do the 'dedicated place' and I found that after the first week or so, it got a lot easier to remember to put stuff there. The other thing that helps is finding a place that is mostly easy to keep clear. (I have a bowl on the top of the kitchen counter, and I stick stuff in there.)

Things that help:
- it is where the keys are, and I cannot leave the house without the keys (whether or not I drive, chances are I need them for work.) I don't know what the "I will notice if I don't have this" thing is for you, but including that in whereever you put it might help?

- it is also where the wallet lives (and I purposefully have a fairly small wallet so that I don't leave cards separate from it: whenever I do, I end up with them all over the place, and that's bad), and I like having the possibility of emergency caffination mid-day if required.

- my phone does not live there, because it is also my alarm clock and sleep tracker. But I have found I am not that likely to wander off without the phone, fortunately.

[stormyhearted]

I have an intense hatred of carrying bags. I enjoy shopping for purses, but the actual carrying has some problems: the straps are perpetually slipping off my shoulder, unless there is a decent amount of weight in the bag- but the amount of weight to keep the bag in place is enough to make my shoulders severely cranky in a short period of time. I also have a bad habit of setting things down and forgetting them, which is problematic when the thing you're forgetting has all the important things in it. I created a workaround by buying bags in bright colors so they'd be harder to overlook, but it's still annoying.

I was always jealous of my ex, who could throw his phone, keys, wallet, and chapstick into his jeans pockets and be ready. Most of the clothing I like does not come with adequate pockets, which is obviously frustrating (but why would they give us pockets if they can sell us a purse for every outfit?)

My messenger bag currently contains:
- phone & earbuds
- wallet
- chapstick
- housekeys & little pocketknife
- inhaler
- a pen and small notebook (usually a little Moleskin)
- a travel bottle of hand lotion
- sunglasses

I don't really want to carry much more than that- tea bags and a snack will probably get added, as they are both fantastic ideas- but I would love to have something small to keep my hands occupied when I am bored. Unfortunately yarn is a little larger than I'd like to haul around, especially because I'm planning to switch from a messenger to a small holster bag. (Hands free! Evenly distributed shoulder pressure!) My bead-weaving is small enough, but seed beads and public areas are not often a great combination.

An odd object

[redbird]

I went shopping the other day, looking for a new water bottle to take to the gym (I dropped the old one, breaking it in a way that is still usable but now has a sharp edge.)

What I found was a thin, flat, light-weight plastic thing. It's not going to be my everyday bottle because it doesn't hold enough (I think it's less than half a liter), but it lies flat or rolls up when empty, which makes it handy to take with me and fill en route. It's going into my carry-on bag the next time I fly, and I will fill it after I go through security.

Re: An odd object

[jenett]

LibTech gave those out as conference swag this year, and it is the most useful swag ever. (It helps that the college the conference is at has bottle filling water fountains all over the place, and bans bottled water.)

Anyway, like you, it's not enough for me as a daily use thing, but I really adore it for travel. Both because it rolls up really tiny, and because it is not insulated (my usual one is, and TSA throws small fits about swabbing those.)

Shifting paradigms

[aamcnamara]

In the past eight years of my life (high school + college) I have gotten extremely used to carrying a messenger bag everywhere. This has lots of space, so usually I carry in it, distributed to various pockets: wallet, keys, phone, inhaler, epi-pen, some tissues, pens and pencils, lip balm, flash drive, extra ink refills, extra pencil lead, eraser, spare change, swiss army knife, a full-size notebook (for lists or notes-to-self or bits of stories)...

But now, going on job interviews and things, I don't feel like a slightly-ratty messenger bag is quite the thing. So I have been using different bags, trying different configurations. And switching to a different mode of carrying means asking myself, Do I really need to carry (x) around with me everywhere I go? Often the answer is no. Having a handful of pens and pencils and a highlighter was pretty useful when I was going to class every day, but if I'm just going to go buy groceries maybe I only need one pen.

The list of Necessary Items When Going Out For Several Hours/A Day goes more like: cell phone, inhaler, epi-pen, one working pen or pencil, one Thing to Write On (can be a tiny notebook), key to current living place, lip balm, a couple of tissues, wallet.

Also frustrating is the fact that that that smaller list is more things than fit even in guy-pants pockets (the epi-pen pushes it over the edge). And I am not ever likely to carry a capital-P purse. Messenger bags are nicely non-gendered in this society--so what is the equivalent, but for kind-of-formal job-type situations? I don't know! If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Re: Shifting paradigms

[jenett]

My solution to that for interviews is the Tom Bihn Cafe bag. (I have the medium, which is big enough for iPad + keyboard case, a letter size folder (9x11ish inches), and I have it in black so that it looks professional when it needs to look professional. (when it does not need to look professional, I have pin-on buttons on the flap.)

Which is not to say you need *that bag*, but rather that this kind of thing might do? The things that I think make it look more professional include:

- Smooth lines (not a lot of pockets and straps visible, the foldover flap helps a lot, etc.) Also smoothish fabric finish.

- Solid dark color (you could do black or gray or navy, but anything outside that is a little iffier.)

- I tend to think the vertical alignment (rather than horizontal) makes it look less like a messenger bag-for-computers and more like something else.

- The fact it's over the shoulder rather than hand-held (though it has a strap for easy picking up/etc.) helps too. (Maybe it's just me and my hatred of over-the-elbow purses.)

I've seen similar styles on Etsy in cloth, and in a couple of the leather bag places - which makes me wonder if you might also find a smallish leather satchel type thing (either in leather or in some other material) that might work.

About Bags and Everyday Carry

[cadenzamuse]

I am daunted by how much conversation there is already, so I will just start by responding to you, jenett.

First of all, I looooooove Tom Bihn. I don't want to dump my brainweasels on you, but I grew up middle class as a kid and secretly in poverty as a teenager, so I tend to stare and stare and stare at Tom Bihn bags and decide that I really don't need them after all, cheaper bags will do just as well. Which is...actually true, so I don't mind too much, but I think my Aeronaut was one of the best purchases I've ever made (and now that they have waist straps I can buy for it, it will be even better). That is the only bag I ever take anywhere, and it made moving to Europe for six months, and then making trips around Europe via train or plane and flying back to the States and then bringing more things back to Europe, and then doing a three week trip at the end possible and smooth. My partner didn't believe me--he thought it would be too heavy--but I ended up being able to trek around Europe easily with the Aeronaut plus a messenger bag, while he struggled with his bags. <3 <3 <3 Tom Bihn. Sometimes I think if I were rich, I would just buy all the Tom Bihn bags and not feel guilty about them. But I don't think money or brains work like that. I suspect I would still carefully weigh whether the bag was "worth it" no matter how much money I had (although money freedom might tip the scales slightly in different directions, but still, purchases are a matter of priorities as much as finances), and I suspect I would still have guilt over money, even if it also manifested differently.

Anyway, though, OMG. THE SWIFT. THE TRISTAR. THE CHECKPOINT FLYER. THE CLEAR-BOTTOMED YARN BAGS. THE CLEAR POUCHES AND STRAPS TO CONNECT THEM TO D-RINGS. THE SHOP BAG. THE FREUDIAN SLIPS. YES PLEEEEEEEASE. (I buy packing cubes from Eagle Creek, because I really like their fabrics and double-sided design, or I'd include those as well.) I suspect my next purchase will be another one of the travel trays, to corral my partner's dump-from-pockets when we are traveling, because when we were in Europe I used mine as a key bowl and then eventually sacrificed it to make my partner a key bowl, so that he would stop leaving receipts and loose change and bus tickets in a spray of detritus all over the one table in our apartment. It worked marvelously. So yes, a travel tray in a different color for T. for his birthday, and then when I have saved up to treat myself, a Checkpoint Flyer for me. (Although I do worry that an Aeronaut + a Checkpoint Flyer might not look as compact to airport officials as my current messenger bag does with the Aeronaut. Oh well, that's what eventually getting a Tri-Star for shorter trips is for...)

I don't like carrying a lot of things around, because I have pain issues (the bruxism muscles are connected to the tendoNIIIItis muscles...we love them body bones!), and I am not a huge fan of purses. For a long time, my EDC ("everyday carry", as they say--which the survivalists claim should include a knife, a light source, and a multitool, and possibly a firestarter, a first aid kit, a pen, a watch, and/or some paracord), was my keys in my left-hand front pocket, my phone in my right-hand front pocket, and my wallet in my right-hand back pocket. I'm a femme-leaning woman, so finding things with appropriately-sized pockets was always a challenge!

I suspect someone has already linked everday-carry.com, but I will as well, although I find the maintainer to be a bit of a prescriptivist. He has a way of explaining that feels like mansplaining even when he isn't talking to a woman, because he comes across as condescending and like he's trying to pretend to know more than his contributers--who are generally pretty educated on EDC as well!

Once I had finally had enough asthma attacks without my rescue inhaler to say "I really can't leave home without it," I switched to the smallest purse I could get away with. (Sized to fit stuff + one paperback originally--very, very necessary to my EDC!, now sized to fit stuff + my Kindle, with no extra room so I don't collect unnecessary stuff.)
So, my purse contains:
-wallet
-cell phone
-a pack of gum
-rescue inhaler
-cash and loose change
-Kindle
-earbud headphones
-earplugs (sadly, usually dirty)
-my awesome tiny knife (CRKT PECK in the Dark), which was a present from my family, who are all Boy Scouts and finally believed that I really wanted the smallest knife I could get because otherwise I wouldn't carry it, and which I use surprisingly often as a screwdriver, lever, or thing to pound a mallet on. Although I will say that it's designed very right-handed, and I would like it more if I had a left-handed version or a less incredibly handed knife.
-receipts before I sort them into our files

Like you, I'd like to prep out first aid kits, along with bug out/get home/trapped in car/bug out and survive for several days bags for home/work/car, just because I come from a Boy Scout family, and the fact that I don't have a first aid kit in my car or a good, lightweight toolkit on my bike makes me feel uncomfortable.

If I got a multitool, I would probably get an ID Works tool, because I think they are innovative, and if you haven't seen the theme already, I WANT IT SMALL AND LIGHTWEIGHT. *grin*

Re: About Bags and Everyday Carry

[jenett]

Hi there! (And replying whereever is great.)

I do know what you mean about Tom Bihn. (And, um, after this discussion, I just bought a new backpack - the Brain Bag - because they still had one in indigo (which is a discontinued colour, but the one my Aeronaut and my Synapase and my Side Effect and my Id are all in. Blue is a Jenett colour).

I've been slowly acquiring them over about 8 years, on the principle that I would rather buy something awesome once, and then use it forever, than buy something less awesome and be grumpy about it, or have to replace it regularly. (I switched from the ID when I stopped carrying a laptop regularly, but it's still handy when I want something larger over the shoulder: it actually did really nicely for "going to Boston for the weekend" last time.)

Anyway, this conversation convinced me that no, I really do need a backpack that will hold something like a raincoat or poncho *and* an extra layer of warm (because hi, Maine weather and sudden thunderstorms), plus the other stuff I'd like to carry more often. And I want to start swimming again this fall, and something that would hold everything plus lunch would be handier than having two bags. (Work to home is half a mile: the fitness center with the pool is more or less halfway. So backpack, so I can walk, but it needs space.)

Also, I'm more regularly walking home via the small downtown market (they have the Excellent Local Milk. Also now Very Excellent Local Strawberries.) and it'd be nice to fit more than a quart of milk and my lunch container in my backpack, so I don't have to carry bags in my hands.

But yes. A lot of why I love them is the balance and they do not make my body hurt when I carry them. Which is excellent. (No guarantees for other bodies, but I'll say they are *much* better than most other bags I've tried for their respective types, especially on the messenger side. And the straps stay put, which means I didn't do the "jerk the shoulder up reflexively that causes all the tension problems everywhere else argh" routine.)

Thank you much for the tool links, too! Those look along the lines of what I think I particularly want. (Ok, that and a backup charger for phone and iPad.)

Soliciting podcast recs

[cadenzamuse]

My background/comfort listening is usually All Songs Considered, The Moth Podcast, and This American Life. (It used to include RadioLab, but their racism is off-putting.) I especially love discovering music from All Songs Considered and from the monthly f.roots podcast, because then I have more music to go listen to!

I would love recommendations for other music recommendation podcasts or pop-science/pop-news themed podcasts. (Not funny, just...light and well-explained. Not specialist.)

Re: Soliciting podcast recs

[jjhunter]

Studio 360 ftw!

The Peabody Award-winning "Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen," from PRI and WNYC, is public radio’s smart and surprising guide to what's happening in pop culture and the arts. Each week, Kurt Andersen introduces you to the people who are creating and shaping our culture. Life is busy - so let "Studio 360" steer you to the must-see movie this weekend, the next book for your nightstand, or the song that will change your life.

The New Yorker: Out Loud and the New Yorker: Fiction podcasts are also brilliant. I really enjoy Backstory with the American History Guys - think 'Car Talk' with 3 historians who each specialize in a different century of US history. Also, NPR's TED Radio Hour curates the TED content (and adds in occasional interview bits) such that you can actually listen to content from 3+ TED talks straight without your mental teeth rotting out of your head from sheer, ah, exuberance of optimism.

[lisajulie]

Woofp! So much wonderful variation!

So, here's my scenario. I do not have a car, so I travel by public transit (mostly bus) and with friends in cars. Nearest bus is about .24 kilometers, best bus nexus is about 1.6 kilometers (.15 miles- 3 blocks, 1 mile). Also, I am weirdly fussed if my keys (house at this point) are _not_ in my pocket, along with my wallet and my cell phone. I blame the job that had me on call for the latter.

Pockets:

Left: cell phone and handsfree
Right: wallet, keys, chapstick
Right back: 3x5 cards - these are my paper brain - things to do for the day, long term tasks, and the list of words that are used for hangman
Somewhere there's a ballpoint pen.

Backpack: (this varies with backpack - details after the general description)
Front pocket: Ziploc bag with:
generally useful bus schedules
some menstrual products (pads, plugs)
small box of ibuprofen
mylar anti-static bag to store cell phone when it rains
Secondary pocket/main pocket:
a cloth bag and (possibly) a nylon bag for stuff that won't fit in the main pack
a book and possibly another book
a nylon bag with a zip fastener to store random bits of scrap metal I find by the
roadside (don't ask, just don't ask)

My various packs have all been gotten at thrift stores, so most of them aren't available in
general commerce.

My general day packs (not going shopping, thrift storing, whatever) are an Eagle Creek with three pockets or a Jansport rather like their current "Right Pack". Both work just fine.

If I know I'm going to do some bulky shopping (cat food, pasta, used book sources), I have an LLBean that is no longer made or a Jansport Digital Student.

And if I know I'm going to be gone out a long time and buying whopping amounts of stuff, I use a Jansport that they don't seem to sell anymore.

I don't carry an e-reader because of worrying about rain; same for library books.

Oh, and my bus smartcard (SmarTrip here in the Washington, DC metro area) is in a carrier on a lanyard around my neck.

I carry a backup portable brain almost everywhere

[jjhunter]

The absolute basics:

- small notebook (3.5 x 5.5 in); I'm currently on #21, and go through about 3-4 a year. This gets used less often if I have my laptop with me, and is absolutely essential if I don't. It is a cross between a Commonplace Book, an eclectic collection of temporarily essential sticky notes, and an initial drafting place for poetry, to-do's, and misc. thoughts. (I joke that this is the paper equivalent of a USB stick for my brain.) Also, pen(s) with which to write in it.

- sunglasses clip-ons + case to put 'em in

- wallet

- keyring with swiss army knife, house key, bike key, etc.

- small flip-phone

- tiny makeup bag that also has ibuprofen, chapstick inside ETA: and sometimes usb stick