Found a cute little Nine West cross-body bag on sale today at a fantastic price. Got it home and started putting my stuff in it, and realized it was even smaller than I had thought at the store! :lol: So it is really forcing me to minimize the stuff that I carry, and it won't have any room for junk to accumulate. So I think it will work out nicely! And if not, you guys have given me lots of other great ideas to pursue. So thank you again!

I can't seem to multi-quote today, and I've apparently run out of likes. So if you post in this thread, just assume I like your post. :) I appreciate all the responses! Thanks, Pawz4me - I do think that being able to throw it over my shoulder and be hands-free is pretty important for me. So I think I will look for a tiny cross-body handbag instead of a wristlet. Thanks for the links, LadyFlorida. The Vera Bradley one is in my price range - I just don't want to go over $100.

Me too! :D Thanks, Patty Joanna. I'm having a lot of fun following all your links. :)

I'm intrigued by the wristlet idea, but I have two concerns. 1. Do you get tired of having to carry it? I'm so used to something with a shoulder strap that I'm not sure I could make the adjustment. 2. Are any of them big enough to hold sunglasses and a cell phone?

It is insanely sunny and thus quite hot where I live much of the year too. Few things will survive being left in the car, so I will have to choose carefully. I did not know about the exploding hand sanitizer so thank you for the warning!

Yeah, that would be a pretty powerful motivation for minimizing! Yes, a big part of the problem here is that my most recent (few months ago) purse purchase was a larger one than usual. It has become more and more full as the months have gone by. So I'm planning to switch to a tiny one that will simply refuse to hold so much stuff. :)

Good to know! I tried Amazon before but didn't have much luck with patterns that I liked. I didn't think to look for a coupon code, though. And I haven't checked at TJMaxx or Marshalls. I'll have to try that. Thanks!

Oh, yeah, welcome to the 21st century, Greta! :lol: I have a cheap pre-paid cell phone, but it DOES have a notepad app already on it! Thanks!

Thanks for all the replies! Lots of great suggestions here. Lucy Stoner and Laura - neat suggestions regarding non-traditional wallets! :) I use an empty mini Altoids tin as my miniature pharmacy. It has a few advil, benadryl, one tums, that sort of thing. It's handy and durable. Never thought of using a full-size one as a wallet! Also, the men's wallet suggestion is good, because my husband's wallet is less bulky than mine, and he's had the same one for like 20 years now, so I think they're built to last. I definitely have to have room for my prescription sunglasses. I live in Albuquerque, so I use them year-round! I always have either my regular prescription glasses or my prescription sunglasses on my face, and the other in my purse. I always need a lip gloss or tinted moisturizer of some sort too, because I have chronically dry lips. Wallet, keys, cell phone. Those are the true necessities. I also like having a tiny little notepad and pen on hand, because I'm forgetfull and can't trust my brain to retain needed info. But beyond that, most of the stuff I'm carrying around isn't truly needed. I just checked and I have FIVE lipsticks/glosses in my purse, plus TWO clear chapsticks. So, yeah, that can be reduced! :lol:

I love the idea of transferring some of this stuff into a bag that I keep in my car instead of keeping it all in my purse! That is a brilliant, simple solution! Regarding coins: I got into the habit of always dumping them into this jar that I keep on my desk (which doubles as a book-end) when I get home from shopping. Once the jar is full, I take it to my credit union, and voila, some extra cash that I didn't even have to work at budgeting/saving for. My daughter doesn't like having to carry a purse at all, so thank you Amira and EKS for the "purse free" suggestions! (ETA: and Sparkly, too! Just saw your post.) Shopping cards -- uggh, I hate having to carry a stupid card for every store! I have so many shopping cards that they would fill four or five wallets. A lot of stores will allow you to just give your phone number at checkout so that they can look up your frequent shopper number (assuming you have already set that up online), so I need to go through those cards and make sure that I have set up online accounts for all of them, and don't have to actually carry around the physical card. It just dawned on me after posting that I have a zipper compartment in my purse full of period supplies of various sorts. And I only have a period once every three months. So why am I carrying around all that stuff all the time? I need to go through every item in my purse and ask myself "do I really need this with me at all times?" And then buy myself a purse that's about 1/3 the size of the one I'm currently carrying, and limit myself to what will easily fit in it!

NEprairiemom's thread about wanting a new purse that doesn't hurt her back brought up something that's been in the back of my mind for awhile. I have this habit of filling my purse with progressively more stuff, making it heavier and heavier. And, not surprisingly, I don't use most of the stuff, most of the time. For example, I have this wallet that I really like because it has compartments for absolutely everything, including a check book. But I write a check exactly once a week at church, and for *everything* else I use cash or cards. So why am I carrying around my checkbook and a huge wallet to accommodate it all week just for that one check? I could write the check at my desk on Sunday morning before leaving, and carry a smaller, lighter wallet. Any other ideas for minimizing? What do you carry in your purse? What do you find you do NOT need to carry? Any favorite purses and wallets for keeping your stuff organized and minimized?

I like LeSportsac bags because they are very lightweight. They also come in a nice variety of sizes, shapes, and styles. The only negative is that they don't meet your "less than $50" requirement. But I wanted to mention them anyway, because if you don't mind keeping an eye on eBay for awhile, you can occasionally find one in great condition at a great price. https://www.lesportsac.com/collection/classic-collection

Haha! Love it!

Oh, yes, I think there are many jobs out there that are well-suited to introverts! The problem is that even if you have one of those jobs, you're not entirely likely to have a boss who appreciates/understands introverts, or at least doesn't think less of introverts. At least, this has been my personal experience and observation, which I realize does not make it a universal truth. My husband is a scientist at a national lab. His particular job mostly involves him working alone on a computer. The work is well-suited to an introvert. And you might think a company filled with science geeks would be pretty introvert-friendly. But it isn't. The managers are, by and large, extroverts, and they connect better with other extroverts and relate better to other extroverts. So who gets the big raises, the awards, and the promotions? Not the people who did the best work, but the people who made the boss feel good about himself. (i.e. the extroverts) My best friend is a forensic accountant and an introvert. The work is well-suited to her, because it's dealing with numbers and paper trails, etc. She's very good at what she does. She has two decades of experience and she's a CPA. But who is the boss's favorite? The younger extrovert who has no experience and no CPA. I realize there are other dynamics at work in any of these situations, and you can't boil them down to just this one factor. But this one factor plays a HUGE role, in my opinion. Extroverted bosses tend to think that introverted employees aren't "team players", aren't working as hard and/or aren't as competent (because they don't talk about their work as much), etc. I've seen it so many times.

That was great - thank you for posting it! I recently bought her book, but haven't read it yet. I always seem to have a lot more books than I have time to read. :)

Another vote for L.L. Bean. I don't have the family sized bag, just the medium one, but it's really well made and durable, and has lots of nifty little compartments for keeping stuff organized and easy to find.

I said that my introversion isn't much of a problem in my life, and that's true. But you guys have reminded me that that's due in very large part to the fact that I haven't been in school or the workforce for 15+ years! It is HARD being an introvert in the workplace!!! Introversion is definitely considered a deficiency, and (in my personal experience and in the experience of other introverts that I know) subjects you to a lot of criticism and outright discrimination. Ugggh, I do not miss that at all! I'm going to be going back into the workforce in two or three years, though. Lord help me. I'm just as introverted as I always was, but I'm a lot less tolerant of people's crap than I was when I was in my 20's. I'm going to get fired the first week! :lol:

You can't count me as one of the exceptions. :) I lived in Dallas for a short time in the early 90's, and did not like it one bit.

Oh, I absolutely agree! I may be the most awkward introverted person you'd ever meet, but I *strongly* prefer cities! City people are, in my experience, more respectful of your boundaries, and that is HUGELY important to this introvert. Small town people are much more likely to expect to be welcomed into every aspect of your life, without reservation. And I can't handle that. ETA: And I apologize if I sounded insulting about small town life (see, it's that awkward, weird, always saying the wrong thing, thing again). I realize there are a lot of people who enjoy small close-knit communities, and that's GREAT. I'm just not one of them.

My husband is just as introverted as I am, but he is more socially adept. I really wish I were like that. It's true that I have more confidence now than I did as a teen. But considering that I started out with zero, that still isn't saying much! :lol: I'm so glad for you that you have that confidence, and feel no need to apologize for who you are! That is the way it should be.

I suspect that those extroverts who have come into my life and had a problem with me ended up leaving my life pretty quickly. So it's not something that's generally a problem for me. Of course, it helps tremendously that my husband and daughter, best friend, parents, and siblings are all introverts too. I enjoy being an introvert and have no wish to change (as if I could!), but in addition to that I am socially awkward, and that is something I wish I could change. I never seem to say the right things. I am not adept at carrying on conversations. I'm just plain weird. A few people seem to "get" my weirdness and like me anyway, and a few people is all I need. So I guess it works out okay. :) But I really wish that when an occasion comes up where I know I'm going to have to socialize with a whole bunch of people, that I could go into it with just a bit more confidence, and less dread! One principle that a few (not all!) of the extroverts I've encountered don't seem to understand is that if you want an introvert to talk to you more, then for crying out loud, when they try, DON'T INTERRUPT THEM! Because if I have to fight to talk to you, you're going to win that battle every time and beat me into silence. It isn't worth it to me to fight to talk. I'd much rather go home and read a book! It's very interesting (surprising) to me that several people have mentioned feeling really out of place as an introvert at church. My church (EO) has a very long history of placing a high value on silence, contemplative prayer, and monasticism. So perhaps that's why, or perhaps it's just the dynamic in my particular parish, I don't know, but I've never felt more out of place at church than anywhere else. In fact, I'd say that people there are very accepting of my quiet weirdness. :) Maybe when I'm too shy and awkward to talk, they think I'm so holy that I'm praying. :lol: I'm not at all holy, and if I am praying, I'm praying for God to please help me not make an idiot of myself in this conversation. :D

I didn't do great last week, and I did horribly this past weekend. But I'm determined this week (good grief, how many times have I said that???). Yesterday, I got only 30g for the day, so that was fantastic. Today is going well too, so far. My daughter and I went out for lunch, and I had a greek salad with gyro meat. It was yummy, and I gave dd the pita bread, so it was also LC. :)

If your area is generally safe and low-crime, I would definitely try it out! Running on trails in natural areas is so nice. Take some pepper spray with you if you are really worried (I do, because like I said, something awful happened where I run not long ago) but honestly it sounds like you probably don't even need to do that. Eagles?! How cool! I've never seen an eagle here, but we do see a fair number of hawks, usually red tails. The roadrunners are so fun to watch. We just love them. Especially when you get to see one hunting and catching some food. That coyote that I encountered was a lot more afraid of me than I was of him. It was pretty clear he was about to bolt, so I just turned and casuallly walked away from him, trying to let him know that I was no threat. I live on the edge of town, and this open space area is still pretty flat. But higher up, in the foothills, people do sometimes see bears. That would be a little scary when running alone, but what truly and profoundly TERRIFIES me is the thought of encountering a mountain lion. They are generally only over on the other side of these mountains, not this side, but that remains my worst (irrational) fear. With a bear, I know there's a good chance it's not going to be interested in me, and will just go about its business. But mountain lions (same thing as a cougar, right?) holy crap. I went back and did the Week 1 workout today. My ankle is twingey - not outright hurting, but not feeling exactly normal either. I'm really disappointed. This is so frustrating: I thought what would limit me would be my aerobic fitness. My aerobic fitness has improved more than I would have imagined (I could not believe how much easier Week 1 was this time than it was the first time!!!) but now I'm going to lose all of that progress because of my ankle. :( Ugggh!

I did not know this. Thank you for sharing it!

Thank you for this explanation of the flood story, T.Wells. I briefly mentioned this intpretation, but didn't really attempt to explain it because I knew I couldn't do so in a coherent way. But you did, and that was a great article too.