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?
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Date: 2013-07-03 06:27 pm (UTC)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?