Hi everybody! Just wanted to let you know that I started my own Quick Topic, kind of like this one if anybody would like to contribute. Thank you!
http://www.quicktopic.com/22/H/eW7SjDXPD7ZY

I've always loved Willa's What We Carry site. Every couple of months I like to go to it and reread what everybody carries. It helps me realize that I really should carry more than I do!!! I was so happy to find this!!!

Okay, here's what I carry. It's a khaki corduroy Dickies purse, about to fall apart, and I'm looking for a newer, bigger bag, maybe a guide bag?

Inside is a brown leather garfield checkbook cover containing: Garfield duplicate checks from deluxe, current driver's license, my WAMU debit card, PayPal debit card, and Costco card with a black bic pen and $40 tucked inside the register.

There are two small slots in my purse, these contain: a gag drivers license (evidently I'm Marge Simpson), my two daughters medical cards, my expired driver's license (I love the picture on it! I use it when I can get away with it), my Disneyland annual passport card, library card, Hot Topic frequent buyers card, UCLA gate entry ticket from the day my dad got his heart transplant and my husband's cousin's traffic ticket from March (you know, I don't really know why I have that).

Floating around in my purse is: a bottle of Metabolife that I've carried around for a month but have never opened, my Motorola cell phone with Spongebob Squarepants faceplate, an Altoid's Tiny Tin full of replacement tongue rings in case I swallow mine (again), Honey Kiss lipgloss by Bonne Bell, a purple eGrip pen, four rolls of film that need to be developed, three safety first diaper pins (don't know why, we don't use cloth diapers), Altoids tiny tin of cinnamon altoids, Lilo and Stitch keychain holding our house key, mail key, car key and safe key, spare keychain with a hawaii keyfob that holds the key to my mom's house and the key to my neighbor's house, $0.91 in change, atm receipt from UCLA's cafeteria, shopping list, pocket calendar, that I use to keep track of my dad's care, that I have pictures of my kids shoved into.

I usually have nail clippers and a mini flashlight in here, but they seem to have disappeared.

I also carry a large UCLA tote bag as a diaper bag. I have four year old and one year old girls (Jillian and Aubrey), so we have the assorted diapers, wipies, desitin, sippy cups, bottle containing powdered formula (just add water!), and about a million little cups with lids for snacks, a bib, and a bunch of little toys, a measuring tape, etc. to keep the kids busy in line at the grocery store. We also have our own shopping cart strap, just like the regular ones, but you can clip it on and off of carts that we got from my cousin (cashier at Albertson's), it's in good condition (unlike the ones at the stores) and it's the only one we've found so far that my one year old daughter cannot escape from!

Well, I guess that's it! Thanks!

What I carry
=A cell phone (durnit - that electronic noose)
-Visa
-Driver's License
-Insurance ID
-A few dollars in cash
-Two blank checks
-Fine tip pen - black
-Lipstick

That and a smile seem to take me where I want/need to go

I carry a small eddie bower back pack (like school book size, not tiny!), with my wallet, which is a tiny purse all its own with a shoulder strap, and fairly often my knitting bag, which is soon to be a Knitting Zen tote bag, 'cause the one I've got now is from one of the LYS who I don't like very well (they gave it to me years ago when there were nicer people working there), plus I've got the kid's back pack (big eddie bower one) with a few changes of clothes for her that's alwyas in the car but doesn't have to go in places much.

So Let's see:

Back Pack
1. wallet
2. screwdriver w/ multi points
3. mini mag light
4. a pen/pencil/highlighter if no one's swiped them
5. my "life" a day timer with its own pen & pencil
6. spare bandanna to keep my hair out of my face
7. a few hair sticks (same as above)
8. a brush, sometimes
9. some hair bands
10. a zippy bag with a few toiletries, bandaids, condoms, lotion, nail trimmer & file, etc
11. my check book
12. savings act book
13. return address labels
14. a little auto everything camera
15. spare glad rag
16. kid's folding toilet seat (sometimes) (big toilets are frightening when you're two evidently.)
17. sometimes a knitting project or two
18. sometiems a book I'm reading
19. spare medications & tylonol & advil

Then the knitting bag has the rest of the projects in progress, and a whole bunch of things I might need (less since I got a bin at home to keep needles in - I was carrying them all around with me!

Oh, and two pocket knives in my pocket, plus baby nail trimmers, the cell phone & car keys if I'm not at home, sometiems some money, and whatever bits of paper had important info on them that I shouldn't loose, which works until I wash the jeans in question.

And I suspect there's a bunch more misc junk that I shift in and out depending on where I'm going, or where I need to remember to take it.

Regular purse is a compact, black leather Fossil shoulder bag. Too compact. The bag was great for a European trip last summer, but come this spring, I intend to find a larger purse. Need more room and stuff. Inside:

1. 2 ballpoints
2. Doctor visit statement
3. Black leather wallet containing $25.92, a $20 gift certificate for a quilt shop in Sun Prairie, WI, Kohl's and Boston Store credit cards, Visa, checkcard, gym membership card, driver's license, insurance card, and my daughter's Peace Corps business card.
4. Punchcards from 7 quilt shops, a bead shop, a yarn shop, two bakeries, a bookstore, and a health food store.
5. SS card
6. Phone card
7. Two library cards
8. Milwaukee Art Museum membership card
9. Three fabric swatches
10. One crumpled but unused kleenex
11. Checkbook
12. Kids' college savings account passbook (neither kid has attended college in the last year.)
13. Purse-sized tube of Clinique hand lotion
14. One dead AA battery
15. Car keys, library key
16. Small blue plastic Clinique pill box containing 3 spearmint tic tacs, 4 calcium pills, 6 Aleves.
17. Box of spearmint tic tacs
18. Pack of Wrigley's Extra gum, also spearmint
19. Revlon lipstick in Slate
20. Clinique lipstick in Blushing Nude
21. Clinique lipstick in Fizzy
22. Kiehl's lip gloss in Black Raspberry
23. Burt's Beeswax Lip Balm--the staff of life!
24. Tiny Zippo flashlight
25. Zippo tape measure
26. Laminated card with list of family phone numbers--too many to memorize.
27. Nail file

I also carry a tote to work. The current tote is a freebie U.S. Peace Corps bag. It usually contains:

1. TeNeuess spiral bound calendar. This year's showcases the works of Miro.
2. HTML manual
3. Whatever I'm reading. Currently, it's "The Little Friend", by Donna Tartt
4. Knitting project. Right now: the beginnings of a felted bag, in chartreuse.
5. Sunglasses
6. A ziplock filled with Atomic Fireballs. Some people crave chocolate; I crave cinnamon.
7. Another Burt's Beeswax Lip Balm.
8. Blank spiral-bound notebook

Oh, boy. Here goes:

Small address book, wallet, checkbook, utility thing with corkscrew, knife, bottle opener. Advil, Motrin, Gas X, gum.
Two different key rings, Merle Norman Lipstick in berry color. Avon chapstick in gingerbread flavor, brush, small Regions Bank bag for change. Lots of change, a few dollar bills. Nokia cell phone. Calculator. Hallmark thank you note cards. Several ink pens. Tape measurer. Burt's Bee's lemon lime lip gloss, electronic key card thingy to get in my office at the courthouse. Assorted receipts from Walmart, Bruno's. Listerine tabs. Guest list for a party I'm giving.

I need a bigger purse.

I like that Barb inventoried lint. :)

oh geez, this may frighten me:

purse is black leather tote that is most woebegone and bedraggled and has a very reluctant zipper- gotta buy a new one- ah, 'retail therapy'!

2 cd discs- 'sanctuary' by the adagio trio
            'hitting the road' by rusty ellis
4 wrapped peppermints
unopened roll of wintergreen lifesavers
blue and black fine-line felt tipped pens
small notebook
checkbook case with checkbook, driver's lic, charge cards
paperback book- 'the empty chair' by jeffrey deaver
printout of dh's medications
zip change purse for cash/change
cosmetic bag- nail file, chapstick, mascara, folding mirror
hairbrush
tube of tylenol
'junk mail' (6 pieces)- forgot to throw it away after trip
   to post office
book of stamps
envelope of paint chip samples
3 fabric samples
masses of lint/dust/purse fuzz

I have two bags. One big one that I carry if I’m going to school. It has pens, a stapler, Vitamin E stick, notebook, books for school, folders, bottle of water, sometimes food, sometimes a sweater, whatever book I’m reading for fun, my wallet, my Palm and my keys.
The other bag is small. I carry a bottle of water, the book I’m reading for fun, my wallet, my Palm and my keys.

It's interesting because we just did this on a list I read. Here's mine:

Purse is a burgundy, fake snakeskin Aigner.
Palm M130, with snakeskin faceplate
prepaid cell phone
Olympus digital recorder
Aigner french clutch, in burgundy croc pattern
checkbook with plastic cover & red retro 51 pen
keys on an Aigner keychain that matches the wallet
cloth for cleaning glasses
small Buck knife
extra stylus
earphones for recorder
Revlon Berry Bloom lipstick
Aphrodisia Lip Food
Zi eye drops
GenTeal eye gel
turquoise nugget
mustard seed necklace
two emery boards
small green covered notebook I bought in New Orleans
red Phileas Waterman fountain pen, filled with burgundy ink

The purse is a lot classier than I am, since I'm out of work and still looking for a job. Snakeskin & burgundy are becoming personal signatures for me. I've tried a lot of different bags, but I really love this one.

I always carry 2 different kinds of reading material. Usually a book and a magazine.

CD wallet full of my entire collection. I like singing in the car, no matter how goofy I must look.

Water bottle, for good urinary health, ladies.

A small makeup kit in a copper case that was a free gift from Clinique.

My purse with standard wallet, keys, sunglasses and my asthma inhaler which I only need when I don't have it on me.

In my purse, I carry
1. Cell Phone
2. Wallet w/ driver's license, credit cards, business cards, medical cards, etc.
3. Check Book w/pen
4. Lipstick
5. Keys
6. Comb or small brush
And that's it.

These are so much fun to read! I know we all carry pretty much the same stuff, but it's cool to find out that Anu and Brandy and I wear the same color of lipstick, and that Mary Ellen carries 40 (!) CDs around with her, just in case . . . :) Several of the people on this thread were on my original list, too, which is cool--from 5 years ago.

I noticed that Sandy mentions her lunch--if it's a weekday, I have my lunch, too, in one of those nice two-handled gift bags. Sometimes I use a Bath & Body Works bag, if I have one, and for awhile after Christmas I was using various cheap Christmas bags. Right now it's kind of a cream colored one with weird black birds and animals on it, with black handles.

Lunch today was French bread and hummus, artichoke dip (that was WAY too garlicky) and Wheat Thins, and an apple.

how odd to see the old list - and how many (pointless) things i still carry in my black leather triangular shaped pack...

* office photo i.d.
* ny subway metro card
* plastic box of fresh cinnamon flavor peelu sugarless gum
* small folding wooden scunci mirror
* plastic tube of IGNATIA AMARA a homeopatic remedy
  for "nervousness, hyper sensitivity due
  to everyday stress"
* 2 pentel "encore grip roller" extra fine pens (black)
  (does anyone else remember when you could pretty much
  only get blue ink? ball point pens?
* chap stick (original flavorless version)
* small nylon hakuba storage pouch for ultra 256mb
  SunDisk compact flash in case i fill the 1 Gig
  hard drive (which I did last week on vacation in Mexico)
  for my Canon G2
* extra battery for the Canon G2
* Canon G2
* 2 cards from Union Square Cafe good for a
    glass of billecart-salmon champagne at
    sunday lunch through march
* $80 in Chase envelope
* keys
* Advanced reader's copy of Pattern Recognition
  by William Gibson
* small kipling pouch in lieu of wallet containing
  * emery board
  * checkbook and check register
  * 3 credit cards
  * gluten intolerance card
  * 2 more pentel "encore grip" pens
  * aarp card (didn't have that back then)
  * receipt from guadalajara airport duty free shop for
    don julio tequila
    meyers rum
    chocolate
  * 50 mg zoloft
  * chase serviceline info card
  * att access numbers card
  * continental airlines one pass card
  * reminder for april 16 eye doctor appt.
  * busines cards from
    * hairdresser @ aveda
    * gynecologist
    * eye doctor
    * interist
  * oxford hmo card
  * 3 discount cards for 1/2 off admission
    to the loews 34 st movie theater, expire 3/31
  * kim's video i.d.
  * receipt from Aveda
  * 32 cent Georgia O'Keeffe stamp
  * phone number of publisher's assitant
    who liked my photography and wants me to resubmit '
  * loehmann's insider club card
  * america west airlines flight fund card
  * chart to locate street addresses in manhattan.
    do any other cities have these?
  * suggested tip guide card
  * Smithsonian National Museum of the
    American Indian membership card
  * 2 Lotto tickets from December 28,
    never checked the numbers
  * xerox of article entitled 'drinking keeps you sane'
  * ritazza coffee card with one stamp
  * voter registration card
  * 37 cent stamps
  * prescription for bone density test
  * duane reade rewards club card
  * $40 in bills
  * $1.65 in change
  * 2 band-aid brand adhesive bandages
  * eyeglass repair kit containing tiny screwdriver
    and screws

I have two bags - a work bag for commuting and a purse. I also have a gym bag that I carry to work on Mondays and deposit back home on Fridays. I look like a bag lady when I have all three with me!

The gym bag: gym clothes, small toiletry bag with the usual stuff, hand towel, bath towel, earphones, lock, hairbrush, elastics and sneakers.

The purse (very small bag): cell phone, wallet w/ credit cards, driver license, etc. (no pictures though), MAC compact, MAC lipstick in Del Rio, Clinique lipstick in Black Honey, and sometimes sunglasses.

The commuter bag (Baggalini tote from ebags.com): bus pass, umbrella, book (currently Gone With the Wind), hand sanitizer, Sony Clie handheld, pen, outgoing mail and NetFlix movies, occasionally knitting (usually just a scarf).

Yep. I like my bags. =) Was fun reading everyone else's.

My current bag is a relatively small shoulder bag. It has a separate zipped pocket on the outside for my camera, a pocket inside for my mobile phone, a zipped pocket inside for my PDA. The contents are as follows:

Small digital camera
PDA
Mobile phone
Handsfree earphone
Fountain pen
Spare cartridges (Herbin Sueur only - in neat metal tin)
e3 Bic pen (stylus/pencil/pen)
Notebook
Purse (for money, credit cards, gym membership card)
Keys
One lipstick
Tic tacs

I also have a larger bag with the same configuration of zipped pockets and if I use that bag I would probably also pack a book, my larger digital camera and possibly my iPod.

Wow...misty watercolor memories. I was one of the original posters, and re-reading it made me realize how much my life has changed.

Then: freelance writer in San Francisco.
Now: freelance writer in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. (The back of beyond.)

I carry far fewer things than I did in the SF days. Most days I wear shorts with big pockets, so frequently I don't carry any bag. I always have my keys (on a "National Trust for Scotland" fob I got on vacation a few years ago & a silver amulet my friend Laurie cast for me in 1968), baggie with doggie treats (just got a puppy), usually an extra scrunchy, and wads of napkins (easier and cheaper than kleenex for mopping my sweaty face.) Sometimes a teal and pink coin purse (came with a Clinique gwp) full of bulky colones. Hard sunglass case.

Other times I carry a small Eagle Creek guide bag with a real wallet (Calif license, VISA, ATM cards, Seguro Social health insurance card, biz cards), maglite, more hair elastics, lip balm, lip pencil, mini-Leatherman, baseball cap, Aleve, index cards, numerous pens and various lucky rocks and coins. Copy of my passport foto page and a tiny thermometer (the kind you clip on a parka), so that I can torture myself by seeing how hot it is.

Sometimes I put it all into a microfiber tote (Linda Dano from QVC) for trips to the grocery store, etc.

I carry a medium-sized Timbuk2 messenger bag to work every day (black and purple, custom designed by me!) because I lug around far too much stuff. In the bag right now:

Wallet
Checkbook
Little cosmetic bag filled with band-aids, Advil, lip gloss, eyedrops, a small mirror, and a baby bottle of Bath and Body Works lotion (Cotton Blossom)
CD case with 24 CDs inside
CD case with 12 CDs inside
3 or 4 random extra CDs (my commute is only an hour each way, yet I need so many CDs?)
CD player
Cell phone
Tins of cinnamon and sour tangerine Altoids
Extra batteries for the CD player
Assorted pens

I carry a black leather tote (approximately 8"x8"x2") with two shoulder straps. One side has a cell phone holder that I use if I'm carrying the cell phone that my husband and I share.

I keep the following items in my purse:

• beige leather Liz Claiborne wallet with driver's license, Visa, ATM card, copier card for campus copiers, and usually around $10 with enough change to buy juice from a vending machine even if the dollar bill slot is broken
• lime green cosmetic bag that was free with purchase at the Clinique counter a few years ago containing nail clippers, Clinique Black Honey lipstick, Bobbi Brown lip palette with mirror and lip brush, Bobbi Brown opal lip gloss, Bobbi Brown pressed powder, small comb, and gray fabric scrunchie
• black 5"x7" notebook with lined pages in various colors and a burgundy gelly roll pen
• keychain that has a watch face because I hate having something on my wrists
• Visor Platinum in black leather case
• sunglasses in a hard black case
• pages that I've pulled off my cat and kitten daily calendar at work because the pictures are too cute to go in the trash
• something to read, usually a paperback but some times a story or novel on my Visor

Everything has changed since I got married...even what I carry. After trying to find the perfect huge bag (and dragging hubby around Kohl's for an eternity and driving him crazy), I downsized to a handbag. Now I carry: wallet (downsized from a planner), meds, Starbucks after-coffee gum, a Mary Kay compact with eyeshadow, lipstick and blush, lip gloss, pens, a rubber-banded pile of receipts, coupons and the operators manual on my cell phone, the phone itself, and a small purple velvet pouch with a rose quartz pendulum and a stone from Iona (my "magic stones"). I guess I haven't downsized very well.

Purse: right now a red large bag (almost a tote)

black wallet with credit cards, grocery card, cards for Sam's Club, etc., driver's license, work ID, Blockbuster card, AMC theatre card, casino players club cards, various coupons and receipts, a little bit of $$.

comb in a case with a mirror, Motorola phone in a red case matching the purse, small address book, book to read at lunch, my lunch in a ziplock bag (at least in the a.m.; after lunch it's just my used spoon in the ziplock bag), keys.

black and white striped Estee Lauder bag with hand lotion, mints, dental floss, toothpicks in a wooden holder, pens, chapstick, emery board, tiny flashlight.

Kleenex and my gloves -- at least until it gets warmer.

Edited by author 03-10-2003 01:03 PM
Purse (a taupe Sak™):

• small zippered Liz Claiborne leather wallet (old!) with driver's license, various credit cards, library card, grocery store discount card, a few dollars.
  
• small Le Sac floral cosmetic bag with nail clippers, lipstick (Clinique Black Honey), tiny Clinique lipstick mirror, small Clinique Aromatics Elixir perfume spray, bandaids, comb, more hair bands, nail file, pillbox with generic ibuprofen and Aleve.
  
• Clinique handcream, flashlight, Kleenex pocket pack, glasses, sunglasses, a couple of pens, a tiny spiral bound blank notebook, Mentholatum Soft Lips, cough drops, Certs mints.
  
• Key ring: Swiss army knife, tiny LED flashlight, keys.
  
• Motorola StarTac phone.
  

Knitting bag (a quilted faux-Vera Bradley bag with a zipper and a bunch of inside pockets):

• Whatever I'm currently knitting (right now: pair of purple Regia socks), pattern if I need one (not this time), notepad shaped like a foot, several pens, pad of Post-It notes, pack of Kleenex, spare glasses, more handcream
  
• Small cosmetic-type bag containing tape measure, crochet hooks, tapestry needles, knitting markers, safety pins, knitting counter, scissors, more bandaids.
  
• Handspring Visor Deluxe (blue) in a zippered leather Franklin Covey case.
  
• A book (currently: Walter Moseley's "Six Easy Pieces")
  
• A ZIP disk with current projects on it
  

Edited by author 03-10-2003 12:05 PM
Mark at Boing Boing asked what electronic devices readers carry with them every day.

A few years ago, I asked my readers what they carry, and they responded with some interesting lists.

I loved reading those lists, and thought it might be time to revisit the question because I think people (some people anyway) enjoy taking inventory. And also because it would be a good way to test out Quick Topic's message board service.

So, tell me what you carry.