Another Day, Another Bag

I am once again engaged in a struggle to find my "just right" bag for work. This is especially ridiculous, given the fact that I sell bags, but there you have it.

Then again, maybe that's part of the problem; too many choices can, indeed, be a challenge. And finding a bag that holds everything isn't my problem.

The issue is finding a bag I can still lift after I've filled it with everything I need.

The perfectly appointed bag would be stocked with all the stuff I know I need, along with the stuff I might need and the stuff I used to need a few semesters ago, but haven't needed recently.

Hmm. Is that what I need or what I want?

I have a great rolling bag, but it's so...conspicuous. I could get past that -- and I often do on days when I have a lot of stuff to transport -- if it were less challenging to lug my wheeled bag up and down stairs. I could always take the elevator, I guess, but that's a habit I've been trying to break.

For now, I've (once again) settled on a combination that works -- a tote bag I can throw over my shoulder, coupled with a laptop case (I have several of those as well). There's room in the tote bag for the laptop, but its addition makes the bag a little too heavy, since the bag is already stocked with all the stuff I know I need, etc., before I put anything in it.

As I write this, it occurs to me that perhaps I've reached the point in the semester when it's time to check the need/want ratio for the contents of my bag. Like any other container, the ones that we carry with us routinely tend to collect both essential and non-essential items, and it's only when they overflow or we begin to have trouble lifting them that it occurs to us that some sorting and -- gasp! -- purging might be in order.

Although this process looks similar in both containers that are primarily stationary and containers that are portable, it can be harder to cull the contents of the bags we carry with us since we're often planning for a variety of eventualities. Not having something in a purse, diaper bag or work tote often means doing without; we can't simply walk into another room to get the item we wish we had.

Still, there comes a time in the life of every bag, tote and purse when a little sorting and re-organizing is necessary. When we reach that time, we have to confront the balance between the essential and the non-essential, as well as the too big, the too small and the "just right."

I know my bag fits my personal and organizational styles. Now it's time to make sure its contents are a perfect fit as well.