Monkey Supermarket are currently running a competition in order to win a Mulberry handbag and for a chance to enter, they want to see inside our handbags!
Their home insurance expert estimates that women carry around with them on average the sum of £850.00 worth of contents within our handbag and I must confess, I was very curious to see what my total would be.
When it comes to my week day handbag, I like to cover most eventualities. The thing about having a large bag however is that things seem to disappear into it, never to resurface until you have a clear out.
I took the opportunity of this blog post to go through the contents of my handbag and remove the excesses, including more lipsticks and glosses than I would admit! I have never really thought about the value of the items I carry around with me so this has been an interesting experiment.
My bag is from Fiorelli and cost me £60.00 about three years ago. It it a classic shape and style and is perfect for my day to day use as it goes with practically everything.
I have divided the contents into sections, all of which help me in my daily life and are permanent fixtures in my handbag.
Every Day Essentials
Purse - £5.00 from Primark
Cash inside - £20.00
Blackberry - £200.00
Monthly bus pass - £39.00
Face powder – approx £6.00
Powder brush - £3.00
Lip tint from MUA - £3.00
Crystal cat keyring - £5.00
If I were forced to use a smaller handbag during the week, these would be my absolute essentials. Yes, three items are makeup, but I fail to see the point in applying it at the start of the day only to end up with a shiny nose and dull lips by the end of it. I am a woman after all!
To Wear Off Boredom
Book - £9.99
Notebook for blog ideas - £10.00
Pen – £1.00
Apple Earphones - £25.00
Blackberry – already listed
For my daily trip to work on the bus or when I am travelling in general I like to have a variety of options to entertain me. I always have a book with me and a notebook for jotting down blog ideas. In addition I like to listen to music on the way to work on my phone which also obviously offers the connection to the internet and my addiction that is Twitter.
Helpful Items
Umbrella - £10.00
Dorothy Perkins Sunglasses - £7.00
Spare Blackberry battery £15.00
Blackberry charger £15.00
The three things I detest are getting caught in the rain, being caught in bright sunshine for over an hour without sunglasses and my beloved Blackberry running out of charge (hence the two options on the battery front!).
My Fix Me Up Kit
Marc Jacobs perfume - £20.00
Benefit They’re Real Mascara - £19.50MUA Red lip tint – already listed
Pink lipstick from No 7 - £9.00
Little Pink Tin of Lip Moisturiser - £3.00
Soap & Glory body butter - £7.50
Two different hair slides - £8.00
No 7 Slanted Tweezers - £8.00
Two hair bobbles – 50p
I always like to have a little fix me up kit in my handbag. This works twofold in that I have the everyday items that I use to touch myself up with and also some additions such as the earrings, the mascara and the hairslides/bobbles which I can use to change up my look if I am going straight from work to a catch up with the girls.
One of my pet hates is having to lug another bag to work if you intend on going out for the evening straight after, so I have whittled my kit down to the utmost essentials that can easily and quickly take me from a day to a night time look.
If I had to chose just one item out of everything in my handbag to carry around with me it would have to be my Blackberry. My phone is the most multi-functional item in my handbag, it would get me most things at the touch of a button and it is what I would chose in a crisis.
Taking into account the cost of the handbag and the contents, this equates to a handbag total of £509.49. Considering that the average is £850.00 I am quietly impressed with myself!
What do you carry in your handbag?
